[OpenWrt-Devel] Use DHCP by default on single port devices

Luiz Angelo Daros de Luca luizluca at gmail.com
Tue Aug 28 00:11:28 EDT 2018


Hi Daniel,

I do often that kind of switch: dhcpd off, static -> dhcpc. Even
though I'm not sure about this change.

I read superficially the PR. I looks like a simple change from static
to dhcp on some devices. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I guess it will break some use cases. Imagine that this change is
applied to an AP device (one ethernet, one wireless).
wireless is disable by default, ethernet now requires a DHCP server.
The user will connect that AP to a single port router (that has DHCP).
How could the use configure it? If the user plugs into the router, it
gets an IP address but wireless is still off. If the user plugs into a
computer
ethernet port, it expects a DHCP server. The user will need to install
a DHCP server on the PC. We are coming from "plug the device into
a computer port, get an IP address from device DHCP, configure the
device" to "configure PC to use static address, configure a DHCP
server, plug
the device and configure it". Remember that some home users have
limited network knowledge and no CLI experience.

Will it affect failsafe too?

Most enterprise devices do use DHCP client as default. However, they
still have a static IP address as a fallback.
If that alternative is not available, I'm fully against this change.
Static IP address might give some extra job but it is always there.
Even with a fallback IP address mechanism, DHCP server does help
configure the device the first time without touching PC settings.

"DHCP server + static IP address" still works with enterprise but
"DHCP Client", even with an alternative static IP address, might not
work for some home users.

For enterprise users, maybe it's time to customize their own firmware.
Some simple uci-defaults script can do that job nicely.

Regards,

---
     Luiz Angelo Daros de Luca
            luizluca at gmail.com

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