Re: DHCP transaction timing out, even though working

["Doug Bunting" <dougb62 users sourceforge net>]

[If this gets through, please reply-all since I am not subscribed to this list.]

A late reply based on recent experience with OpenSuSE 10.1 -- parts
also posted at Beyond Abstraction
<http://beyondabstraction.net/2005/12/14/networkmanager-kde/>.  I
don't know if Simon's issue has been resolved.
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I recently worked though a similar problem with my SuSE 10.1 / Gnome setup.

The main issue in my case was the flaky DHCP clients — at least in
SuSE.  I long ago set up my router to provide static leases, allowing
DNS settings to automatically update without losing easy access to my
other machines. Some routers turn static leases into infinite leases
and Linux DHCP clients start complaining!

You might be able to find a /var/log/localmessages line such as
"dhcpcd[7824]: infinite IP address lease time. Exiting" but
"dhcpcd[7824]: dhcpIPaddrLeaseTime=4294967295 in DHCP server
response." was all I could find at first. (0xFFFFFFF or a 32 bit -1
should probably have set off alarm bells right away.)  In any case,
NetworkManager was waiting for a DBUS message from a process that had
died.

Reconfigured my DHCP server and I was on my way…

BTW: Other routers, such as my older default DHCP server, honour the
DHCP lease request a client sends — providing an easier work-around in
/etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp.
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From a correction and improvement pov, the NetworkManager handling of
a dying dhcpcd service could be improved.  The timeout message could
cover many ills.  Does NetworkManager not monitor the status of
services it requires?

I'm not sure where to complain about dhcpcd's poor handling of valid
but infinite leases.  The problems are not limited to dhcpcd actually:
dhclient may spit out "dhclient: send_packet: please consult README
file regarding broadcast address." in the same situation -- after
receiving the SIGTERM from NetworkManager, providing an irrelevant
solution on recent Linux kernels.  Any ideas?