Being able to override is also useful for anycast services (e.g. DNS, TFTP). -JC

------Original Message------ From: Dave Hatton Sender: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org To: cobbler mailing list ReplyTo: lists(a)davehatton.it ReplyTo: cobbler mailing list Subject: Checking for existing IP addresses can sometimes be a bad thing. Sent: Jan 21, 2009 6:43 AM I wanted to discuss this before pushing onwards to try to fix my problem. To set the scene; I use cobbler to build Oracle RAC clusters which use a private network for cluster communications on either separate hardware or a VLAN. (I'm pretty sue most other clusters do the same.) Generally, I use 10.0.0.n for the addresses in this private network. Now the problem is when I add these interfaces for a my 2nd cluster I get a error message complaining that the IP is (quite rightly) already in use. It makes sense to me to reuse the same 10. address range for Oracle cluster interconnect because this simplifies installation/maintenance somewhat. Equally I can see why we want to validate IP addresses for most other purposes. So, how about some form of override ? Dave Hatton _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

> > The allow_duplicate_ip check is in /etc/cobbler settings and you can > turn it off. > > It will just break DHCP management (manage_dhcp) if enabled in > settings, so that's why it's on by default. If you are not using > the DHCP auto management > feature you should be able to toggle at will. > > This may cause some problems with PXE-by-IP (it would be > indeterminate which machine would get reinstalled) but as long as the > MAC addresses are in there and unique still the PXE specification > indicates the MAC will be used first. > I guess I would like my cake and to eat it. It would be nice to have duplicate detection (ip/hostname/mac) for most entries and to be able to override detection for specific instances. I was thinking of an --allow-duplicate option - although this might need quite a lot of work? For now turning it off is ok, but it would be nice if it then issued a duplication warning message. Happy to have a look at a warning message if you think it's a good idea? Dave