[ale] Problem with using dhcp and cable modem

[Joe Knapka]

OK, I don't know what the exact problem is, but here are
some more ideas. Hopefully someone else on the list knows
more.

- The recent traffic on this list regarding DHCP, DNS, and
anonymous FTP access seems to imply that forcing your machine
to keep a non-DHCP-supplied host name across IP changes
may cause trouble. Maybe not though; that discussion
may apply only to server-side DNS issues. So maybe adding
a "hostname bandit" line in your /etc/rc.* file before
Samba is started would work.

- I don't actually use DHCP, so I don't know how to configure
it. DHCP may not be the real root of the problem, though.
If your LMHOSTS file is properly set up, it is a mystery
to me why the Windows machine would refuse to see "bandit"
at the IP address defined in the LMHOSTS file - unless there
is a Samba configuration problem. Do you have Samba set up
to use only the LAN adapter, and not the one connected
to the cable modem? There should be an "interfaces" line
in your /etc/smb.conf file that specifies which network
interfaces to use. (Experiment: if you "ifconfig <cable-ifc> down",
then restart Samba, do the Windows machines see the Samba
server properly?)

Luck,

-- Joe

Thomas Ringate wrote:
> 
> Joe,
> 
> I already have my etc/hosts file set up with all of my local machines in it, and
> each WIN98 machine has an "lmhosts" file with the other machines defined.
> 
> This was all working just fine until I added the dhcp interface.
> 
> I also noticed that yesterday I did a "hostname bandit" command on my
> Linux machine, and the name changed to "bandit".  Today it's name is back to "142hfc222",
> but when I again did the "hostname bandit" the host name changed back to "bandit.
> 
> This however does not change the name on the 10.0.1.x network.  It stays 142.hfc222.
> 
> On a WIN98 machine if I do a "FIND" for "bandit" it does not find anything, however,
> if I do a find for "142hfc222" it finds it right away, and I can of course access all the
> directories I have set up for samba.
> 
> The problem is that this name will change every time I get a new IP address on the dhcp
> interface, which means I would have to reconfigure each of my WIN98 machines so that
> the file "share" name and the network name is what the dhcp client is changing my
> host name to.
> 
> I suspect something in the "cron" process changed my host name back to 142hfc222 last night.
> 
> In what init file is dhcp started, and same question for where is the hostname set?  If I
> can stop dhcp from changing the host name, I think everything will be fine.
> 
> As far as I can tell, the only thing that is getting altered that I don't want to get altered is the
> hostname.
> 
> Tom
> 

-- Joe Knapka
* I speak only for myself, except when the little transceiver
* at the base of my skull is activated...