2014-07-07 - News - Chris Thompson
Many users of the IP registration database web interface will have
noticed the appearance some time ago of mac and dhcp_group fields
on the single_ops page, as well as related changes visible via the
table_ops page.
These were intended in the first instance for maintaining a DHCP service for internal use in the UCS. It was perhaps unwise of us to make them visible outside and raise users' expectations prematurely. It remains a work in progress, and we have had to make changes of detail that affected some of those who had set these fields. The notes here describe the current state.
Although the single_ops page doesn't make this obvious, the mac
and dhcp_group fields are properties of the IP address rather than
the box. If a box or vbox has multiple IP addresses, each one can have
its own values for them. The fields are cleared automatically when the
IP address is rescinded.
MAC addresses can be entered in any of the usual formats but are
displayed as colon-separated. Because the intent is to support DHCP
servers, MAC addresses (if set) are required to be unique within any
particular mzone/lan combination. A non-null dhcp_group value is
intended to indicate non-default DHCP options. To support automated
processing, it must correspond to a registered dhcp_group object for
the given mzone/lan which can be created, modified or deleted via
table_ops. The values should contain only alphanumeric, hyphen and
underline characters.
The degree to which any of this is of use to users outside the UIS is currently very limited. We do intend to add more usability features, though.