OmniSwitch DHCP Option 43 Error

Switching
1

I have a DHCP range configured on an OmniSwitch OS6900-X72 as follows:

subnet 10.40.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
dynamic-dhcp range 10.40.1.200 10.40.1.210 {
option routers 10.40.1.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-name-servers 10.40.24.10;
option dhcp-lease-time 3600;
option ntp-servers 10.40.1.1;
option vendor-specific 010C616c656e7465727072697365801961732D6C6974652E6D646C2E6D796F76636C6F75642E6E6574;
}
}

On the OS6360 I’m using for testing, I receive the result:

Wed Jun 26 22:18:52 : udpRelay main INFO message:
+++ relayRecvOffer: 3821 DHCPOFFER with Ip address: 10.40.1.200, offer =1

Wed Jun 26 22:18:53 : udpRelay main ERR message:
+++ udpRelayGetDhcpSubOpt43():5217: Incorrect sub option 43 code: 48

I cannot find any documentation on what code 48 might mean. I’ve also tried the following to get option 43 to work:

option vendor-specific 1 alenterprise 128 as-lite.mdl.myovcloud.net;
option 43 1 alenterprise 128 as-lite.mdl.myovcloud.net;
option 43 010C616c656e7465727072697365801961732D6C6974652E6D646C2E6D796F76636C6F75642E6E6574;

None of which have had the result I’m looking for, which is pointing the DHCP’d switch to OmniVista. Any help would be appreciated.

Page 215 of the OmniSwitch AOS Release 8 Switch Management Guide states:

An example of the configuration for Option 43 that needs to be added to the DHCP configuration file is:
option 43 1 alcatel.nms.ov2500 128 activation.dev.myovcloud.com 129
URL=192.168.254.49 130 8080 131 admin 132 password;

But page 729 of the OmniSwitch AOS Release 8 Network Configuration Guide contradicts that by stating that option 43/vendor-specific:

“The value for this option is defined in the hexadecimal format.”

I have also received the following, though I am not sure how helpful that is:

Wed Jun 26 22:41:51 : remoteConfig main ERR message:
+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: TFTP SRV Address or Rmtconfig Instruction file NULL, tftpServerName:, bootfileName:

Wed Jun 26 22:41:51 : remoteConfig main INFO message:
+++ AUTO-FABRIC-EVENT: REMOTE-CONFIG: Automatic Remote Config Abort received

2

Hi, I found the following example dhcp.conf entry in the knowledge base for an AOS 8 switch for suboption 43:

option vendor-specific [40040a803c0a]; ( # Vendor code for Alcatel IP Phones is 4004 , 0a803c0a is the hexa value of 10.128.60.10.)

You did not mention what you are trying to do with this option, it is vendor specific

3

Ah, my mistake. The reason I’m doing this is to configure template-based provisioning. I need option 43 to point to OmniVista in order for new switches on the network to pull configuration.

4

Thanks for clarifying. There is a Template Based Provisioning with OmniVista 2500 technote in the resources section of this forum which explains the proces and includes examples of a dhcpd.conf file. Does that answer your question?

The DHCP scope used for TBP must include options below:

  • Router IP address (option 3)
  • NTP Server (option 42)
  • DNS Server (option 6)
  • DNS Domain Name (option 15)
  • Specific vendor info (option 43)

Example dhcpd.conf:

option space tbp;
option tbp.vendor code 1 = text;
option tbp.activation-server code 128 = text;
subnet 10.40.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 110.40.1.10 10.40.1.100;
option routers 10.40.1.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-search “example.com”;
option domain-name-servers 10.40.24.10;
option ntp-servers 10.40.1.1;
vendor-option-space tbp;
option tbp.vendor “alenterprise”;
option tbp.activation-server “as-lite.myovcloud.net”;
}

The activation server is set to “as-lite.myovcloud.net”, the switch will “call home”. In order for that to work, “as-lite.myovcloud.net” must resolve to OmniVista’s IP address using the DNS server that was set through DHCP. In your case the DNS server with IP address 10.40.24.10 should resolve “as-lite.myovcloud.net” to the OV2500 IP address.

5

Right, I have followed the steps in that whitepaper, but I’m afraid it doesn’t work. My OS6900-X72 refuses to accept the lines:

option tbp.vendor code 1 = text;
option tbp.activation-server code 128 = text;

It reverts the dhcpd.conf file back to the previous iteration instead. Instead, I have found instructions on page 215 of this document which show a different way to configure the dhcp server on an omniswitch:

An example of the configuration for Option 43 that needs to be added to the DHCP configuration file is:

option 43 1 alcatel.nms.ov2500 128 activation.dev.myovcloud.com 129
URL=192.168.254.49 130 8080 131 admin 132 password;

Or

On a Linux DHCP server, option 43 sub-options cannot be configured similar to an OmniSwitch DHCP
server. Instead, the sub-options have to be configured in hexadecimal format. For example:

option vendor-specific
[010c616c656e7465727072697365801c61637469766174696f6e2e6465762e6d796f76636c6f756
42e636f6d];

• Suboption 1, length 12, value alenterprise
– Suboption hex 01
– Length hex 0c
– Value hex 010C616c656e7465727072697365
• Suboption 128, length 28, value activation.dev.myovcloud.com
– Suboption hex 80
– Length hex 1c
– Value hex 61637469766174696f6e2e6465762e6d796f76636c6f75642e636f6d

I am making more progress with these, as I can actually see the DHCP options flowing via WireShark:

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