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dhcping(8)		    General Commands Manual		    dhcping(8)

NAME
       dhcping - send a	DHCP request to	DHCP server to see if it's up and
       running

SYNOPSIS
       dhcping [-v] [-q] [-i] [-r] -t maxwait -c client-IP-address -s server-
       IP-address -h client-hardware-address [-g gateway-IP-address]

DESCRIPTION
       This command allows the system administrator to check if	a remote DHCP
       server is still functioning.

       Options are:

       -v   Verbose, print some	information.

       -i   Use	DHCPINFORM packets.

       -r   Use	DHCPREQUEST packets (default behaviour).

       -q   Quiet, print nothing on the	screen.

       -t maxwait
	    Maximum  time  to  wait  for an answer from	the server in seconds.
	    Default is 3 seconds.

       -c client-IP-address
	    Request this IP address. Note that this is also the	IP address the
	    answer will	be sent	to.

       -s server-IP-address
	    Send the DHCP packet to this IP address.

       -h client-hardware-address
	    Use	this hardware-address in the DHCP request. It  can  be	up  to
	    sixteen octets seperated by	colons (i.e. 01:02:03:04)

       -g gateway-IP-address
	    Use	this IP	address	for the	gateway	IP address in the DHCP packet.
	    This option	is currently broken.

RETURN VALUES
       If  everything  goes okay, it returns 0.	If there went something	wrong,
       it returns 1.

SETUP
       This program should be installed	setuid root or ran by root only.   See
       SECURITY	for more information.

       On your DHCP server, add	these lines to the dhcpd.conf:

	 host <your monitoring host FQDN> {
	    hardware ethernet <your monitor host mac address>;
	    fixed-address     <your monitoring host IP address>;
	 }

       Then try	it:

       $ dhcping -c your monitoring host IP address \
		 -s your DHCP server IP	address	\
		 -h your monitor host mac address

       It  will	either respond with "no	answer"	or "Got	answer from: your DHCP
       server IP address"

       The DHCP	server logfile will give:
	DHCPREQUEST for	192.168.1.1 from 00:20:18:56:29:8f via ed0
	DHCPACK	on 192.168.1.1 to 00:20:18:56:29:8f via	ed0
	DHCPRELEASE of 192.168.1.1 from	00:20:18:56:29:8f via ed0 (found)

       Running in DHCPINFORM mode with -i:

       If you see "DHCPINFORM from 192.168.1.1 via xl0:	not authoritative  for
       subnet  192.168.1.0", you should	add the	authoritative statement	to the
       subnet, See dhcpd.conf(5) for details.

       When running in very verbose mode, dhcping tries	to dump	 all  data  of
       the  send  and  received	DHCP packets. It will first dump the packet in
       hex-format, then	decodes	the header and finally the options.

HOW IT WORKS
       The client either sends a  DHCPREQUEST  or  DHCPINFORM  packet  to  the
       server  and  waits  for	an answer. Then, if a DHCPREQUEST was send, it
       will send a DHCPRELEASE back to the server.

SECURITY
       This program is installed setuid	root as	it requires the	privileges  to
       bind itself to port 68 (bootpc).	Root privileges	are dropped as soon as
       the program has bound itself to that port.

BUGS
       Currently  (this	 may,  or  may not, change in the future) the ISC DHCP
       daemon  does  not  write	 leases	 with  a  fixed	 IP  address  in   the
       dhcpd.leases file.

       DHCPINFORM  packets  can	only be	used on	subnets	the server is authori-
       tative for. If the monitoring script runs on a subnet the server	 isn't
       authoritative  for,  it	should	use  the  DHCPREQUEST  packets.	I also
       experienced some	problems with ISC DHCPD	v2 servers, but	that  is  also
       in the README of	it.

       The  -V option is still working,	but shouldn't be used for debugging of
       the packets. Better use dhcpdump(8) for that, which is available	on  my
       website.	 I  wanted  to	remove	it, but	decided	only to	do it from the
       documentation, not from the code.  Maybe	 I'll  need  it	 one  day  for
       debugging.

AUTHOR
       Edwin Groothuis,	edwin@mavetju.org (http://www.mavetju.org)

SEE ALSO
       dhcpd(8), dhclient(8), dhcpd.conf(5), dhcpdump(8)

3rd Berkeley Distribution      Januari 27, 2002			    dhcping(8)

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