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kapilbajpai88 09-28-2009 04:23 AM
MAC address with DHCP
 
Hi All,

I am using RHEL-5 box at my workplace, and using DHCP, for getting dynamic IP address. The actual server machine is somewhere else.

I want to know when DHCP is in use , then we can't get statis IP address from local machine. But an we get the Ethernet address from the local machine, or DHCP effects Ethernet address as well ???

Thank You all in advance,
Kapil.

hw-tph 09-28-2009 04:58 AM
I do not quite understand your question, but no, hardware (MAC) addresses are not controlled by DHCP.

The MAC address is supposed to be unique for each and every device out there, but you can change it anyway with most hardware (this comes in handy when you have cable or DSL connection at home which is tied to a single hardware address - and when you change computer/router/interface card, you need to reuse your old address). You will notice that iwconfig will report the hardware address even for interfaces that do not have an IP address configured.

kapilbajpai88 09-28-2009 05:02 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hw-tph (Post 3699240)
I do not quite understand your question, but no, hardware (MAC) addresses are not controlled by DHCP.

The MAC address is supposed to be unique for each and every device out there, but you can change it anyway with most hardware (this comes in handy when you have cable or DSL connection at home which is tied to a single hardware address - and when you change computer/router/interface card, you need to reuse your old address). You will notice that iwconfig will report the hardware address even for interfaces that do not have an IP address configured.
Hi HW-TPH,

This is what I was thinking , but got a bit confused so thought it's better to get some expert opinion.
Thank you very much for the reply.

Regards,
Kapil.

chrism01 09-28-2009 06:52 PM
The MAC address is burnt into each NIC during manufacture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address

DHCP can hand out dynamic OR static addresses (static is assigned according to requesting MAC): http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ml#config-file

BashTin 09-29-2009 09:12 AM
Yes the MAC is 'burned' into each NIC but it is easy to change under Linux with something along the lines of

Code:
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 hw ether DE:AD:01:DE:AD:01
ifconfig eth0 up
BashTin


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