Egbert Networks

DHCP and Weird Hostnames

Believe it or not, I dusted off my Ninetendo 3DS and Apple iPods.

When it came time to configure it and attach it to my ISC DHCP server, the server rejected the devices’ DHCP-REQUEST message.

A closer look showed that the hostname was funky for various reasons:

  1. Nintendo 3DS had a space in the middle of its requested hostname in its DHCP-REQUEST: as in “Nintendo 3DS”.

  2. Apple iPod couldn’t request due to no hostname.

  3. Google Samsung Android phone couldn’t request because of no hostname.

DHCP for Nintendo 3DS

Temporary fixed only for Nintendo 3DS is to include the following into dhcpd.conf.options (or dhcpd.conf for those flat-file folks):

if (option host-name ~= "Nintendo 3DS") {
   ddns-hostname = concat ("Nintendo3DS", binary-to-ascii (16, 8, "x", substring (hardware, 1, 6)));
   log(concat("Changing hostname1: ", option host-name, " into ", ddns-hostname));
}

if (option host-name ~= "(Nintendo 3DS)") {
   ddns-hostname = concat ("Nintendo3DS", binary-to-ascii (16, 8, "x", substring (hardware, 1, 6)));
   log(concat("Changing hostname2: ", option host-name, " into ", ddns-hostname));
}

DHCP for Apple iPod

For Apple iPod, a specific MAC address subclass is needed here. Added the following to dhcpd.conf.options:

class "iPod" {
        # match hardware;
        match pick-first-value (option dhcp-client-identifier, hardware);
}

And added the following to dhcpd.conf.reserved (or dhcpd.conf):

subclass "iPod" 1:00:23:df:ee:62:53;  # Apple iPod

group blue {
    # Apple iPod
    host ipod1.home. {
        hardware ethernet 00:23:df:ee:62:53;
        fixed-address 192.168.1.153;
    }
...
}

DHCP for Google Samsung Android Phone

That was annoying. No way to change hostname on this phone. Must be a very old model.

The workaround to this kind of phone is to following the “DHCP for Apple iPod” section above.