DHCP Sub-Options

Network management
1

I’m currently working on setting up switch provisioning in OmniVista, and one of the required steps is as follows:

DHCP/DNS Configuration

To enable switches to contact the OmniVista Server and receive the Provisioning configuration, you must first set up your DHCP Server to point to the local OmniVista Server as the Activation Server for provisioning. You must also setup DNS to resolve to point to your local OmniVista Server.

DHCP Configuration

  • Option 43
    • Sub-Option 1 - Vendor ID. Validate the DHCP response (must be set with the value alenterprise). This sub-option is only required if you specify any of the sub-options listed below, or any devices on your network are running AOS 6.7.2 R03.
    • Sub-Option 128 - Activation Server FQDN. Set to as-lite.myovcloud.net.
    • Sub-Option 134 - Activation Server Port. The port number on the Activation Server to which the switches should communicate. By default, the switches communicate to Activation Server port 443. This sub-option is only supported on AOS 6.7.2R07 (and higher) and AOS 8.6R2 (and higher).

DNS Configuration

My question is how do I configure DHCP sub-options for option 43? Particularly in an OS6900-X72’s dhcpd.conf file. I have:

dynamic-dhcp range 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.210 {
    option routers 192.168.1.1;
    option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
    option domain-name-servers 192.168.24.10;
    option dhcp-lease-time 900;
    option 43 ????????;
   }

Any help is greatly appreciated.

2

Hello,

You can configure Option 43 using the below command:
option vendor-specific <hexadecimal_text>;

3

Try the below configuration for option 43 and its sub-options.

vendor-option-space tbp;
option tbp.vendor “alenterprise”;
option tbp.activation-server “as-lite.myovcloud.net”;

4

I did some trial & error modifying of my dhcpd.conf file, and more often than not the changes failed to take after performing a dhcp-server restart:

2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: MIP_GATEWAY mipgwd info(5) Object(2) Name: alaDhcpSrvGlobalRestart
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main error(2) Invalid dynamic scope section key vendor-option-space
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main error(2) processSubnetDynamicDhcp() failed.
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main error(2) Invalid Main Key tbp
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main info(5) Error processing QDHCP configuration file: /flash/switch/dhcpd.conf
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main error(2) Unrecognized option: tbp.vendor
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main error(2) Unrecognized option: tbp.activation-server
2024 May 6 17:43:52 MDL-Corp-CS-MDF-1 swlogd: dhcpSrv main info(5) /flash/switch/dhcpd.conf.lastgood processed with 3 subnets

What I tried to put in, based on information from you and information I found on doku

option space tbp;
option tbp.vendor code 1 = text;
option tbp.activation-server code 128 = text;
subnet 10.10.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
dynamic-dhcp range 10.10.1.200 10.10.1.210 {
options routers 10.10.1.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-name-server 10.10.0.10;
option dhcp-lease-time 3600;
vendor-option-space tbp;
option tbp.vendor “alenterprise”;
option tbp.activation-server “as-lite.myovcloud.net”;
}
}

What has actually stuck is:

option space tbp;
subnet 10.10.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
dynamic-dhcp range 10.10.1.200 10.10.1.210 {
option routers 10.10.1.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-name-servers 10.10.0.10;
option dhcp-lease-time 3600;
option tbp.vendor “alenterprise”;
option tbp.activation-server “as-lite.myovcloud.net”;
}
}

However, I am not having much luck past this point. I’ve configured a provisioning rule based on the serial number. I have received the following on the switch:

+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: DHCP Response not received in 30s on vlan =127
a+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: Exceeded the Max number of Retry(6) for dhcp client lease
+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: So aborting Automatic Remote Config Load
+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: Automatic Remote Config Abort received

Does the auto provisioning have to be on VLAN 127? Or am I missing something else?