We have just implemented an enhancement in NM (Network Management).  If
you do not use NM, this does not apply to you.

In the past when you added or changed an entry for a machine in NM, you
had to wait for the exports from the database on the hour and half hour
or request an export from UNET before the DHCP servers would have the
addition or change.

We have made some changes so that now most changes are made immediately
(within 1 to 2 seconds) on all of our DHCP servers.

This means that if you add a new machine or change its IP address or MAC
(hardware) address it will be available for use right away.

We are also using this same code to speed up Self Registration (NetReg).
It no longer takes 1 to 2 minutes for the new registration to be
available, but only 1 or 2 seconds.

A few notes:

      * This does not handle anything but hardware address and IP
        address updates.  Other DHCP attributes may come later.
      * This does not push out DNS updates, those still wait for the
        half-hourly export.
      * Deletes are not yet handled.  This may cause problems if you
        delete a host, its IP address gets reused and then before the
        half-hourly exports, the deleted host connects to the network.
      * The DHCP updater is currently single threaded.  If one of the
        DHCP servers (we have 8) is unreachable, it may slow down
        updates to the others.


-- 
Irelann Kerry Anderson          phone:    (207)581-3508
Systems Group                   internet  [log in to unmask]
University of Maine Network - UNET
University of Maine System