[clue-tech] DHCP Server and Package Install Date

[Peter Kuykendall]

Oddly enough I have faced exactly this problem before.  Due to a misconfiguration I had 2 boxes with the same IP address both serving DHCP - ugh!


I solved it by firing up a packet analyzer (Wireshark in my case) and then doing a DHCP renew from a client.  That gave me the MAC addresses of the DCHP servers.  From there I figured out who the offending machine was.

Here's what's in my /var/log/daemon.log from my laptop which is running on a properly configured network (only a single DHCP server).  Note that the MAC address of the DHCP server is not logged.  It's not in syslog either.  I don't think that it's routinely logged anywhere, thus my need to run a packet analyzer.

Aug 10 06:53:12 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   Activation (eth0) Beginning DHCP transaction.
Aug 10 06:53:12 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   Activation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
Aug 10 06:53:12 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   DHCP daemon state is now 12 (successfully started) for interface eth0
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   DHCP daemon state is now 1 (starting) for interface eth0
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop dhclient: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.170 on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop dhclient: DHCPACK of 192.168.1.170 from 192.168.1.1
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop avahi-daemon[5076]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 192.168.1.170.
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop avahi-daemon[5076]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv4 for mDNS.
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop avahi-daemon[5076]: Registering new address record for 192.168.1.170 on eth0.IPv4.
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop dhclient: bound to 192.168.1.170 -- renewal in 18433 seconds.
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   DHCP daemon state is now 4 (reboot) for interface eth0
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Get) scheduled...
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Get) started...
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:   Retrieved the following IP4 configuration from the DHCP daemon:
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     address 192.168.1.170
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     netmask 255.255.255.0
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     broadcast 192.168.1.255
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     gateway 192.168.1.1
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     nameserver 192.168.1.1
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     hostname 'pete-laptop'
Aug 10 06:53:13 pete-laptop NetworkManager:     domain name 'pku.lan'


> From: DLWillson at TheGeek.NU
> To: clue-tech at cluedenver.org
> Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:39:21 -0600
> Subject: [clue-tech] DHCP Server and Package Install Date
>
> Over the course of the weekend, I have wanted some bits of information that I haven't
> been able to derive on my own... So, it's time to play "stump the geeks".
>
> How do I determine which DHCP server leased my address to me, without looking at
> anything but my own machine? Earlier, I had a machine that had a bad address, but I
> blamed the wrong host for issuing the bad address. I could have saved some time by
> knowing which host issued the address.
>
> How do I find out the order or times of package installations on my machine? All
> weekend, I've been using imapsync, which has an unstated dependency on
> libdate-manip-perl. I wanted to transfer the job to another machine, but I couldn't
> remember the unstated dependency. I could have saved time and a failed run of imapsync,
> by just asking my system, "What did I install right after I installed imapsync?" but I
> couldn't figure out how to ask that.
>
> Ok geeks, ring in when ready.
>
> Dave, I'm sorry, I'm burning two questions that would have been good ones for the "geek
> tournament".
>
> -- David
>
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