HP Procurve 1Gbps Managed network switch installation

linux_newb · 04-14-2010, 03:54 PM

Hi guys,

I want to setup my HP Procurve managed switch and I don't know where to begin. I have 28 nodes connecting to the network that will be a internal closed LAN that will not communicate with the internet. A few things I'm looking to do are:

1. I want to be able to setup a DHCP server that will stand assign IP addresses to all hosts based on their MAC address. Will this be a difficult task to do? Is there anywhere I can go to see examples of how this can be done with CentOS linux?

2. I want to be able to reload my server and 28 nodes at any time by inserting a kickstart CD. When all 28 nodes are building themselves they will not know what their IP address is or MAC address is. Is there a way I can program into the switch the MAC address of each node and which port it plugs into? For example I want node one to be called "NODE1" when it comes up and I want it to correspond to port 1 of my switch. I also want to turn all these computers on at one time and have them build themselves according to what their MAC address is and be assigned a ip address based on what their MAC address is from the DHCP server.

I know this is a lot, I just have no idea how to approach this problem.

Any help will greatly be appreciated.

acid_kewpie · 04-14-2010, 04:11 PM

Are you asking for help with a Linux server, or wich a switch? If you're looking to use a DHCP service on a Server, then the switch need play no interesting role in the slightest, no special configuration would be required for any of what you're asking for.

as for the DHCP on CentOS, you would just define each client with it's MAC address:

Code:

host atlantis {
  hardware ethernet 00:45:40:10:FE:12;
  fixed-address 10.1.1.20;
}

etc... so when that MAC makes a request it'll get the right IP and hostname each time, and be able to chain on with the kickstart from there. Note that doing this on CentOS makes no odds. ISC DHCP works the same whichever distro you run it on.

note that you shouldn't need a kickstart CD at all. if your clients support PXE then they need nothing at all on the client, as they can get absolutely everything from the server, initally using tftp and then http / ftp etc... later on.