Instead, the applications simply timed out or reported DNS failures. One of the positive aspects of OnNet is that it did give up the lease when Windows exited, allowing us to recycle addresses on a short-term basis. Since OnNet only supports broadcast NetBIOS, it does not use any data beyond the NetBIOS scope setting. 4.6 NetManage's ChameleonNFS 4.6 was the worst DHCP client that we tested, failing to work with 50 percent of the servers we tested. No matter what other benefits it may offer, failing to interoperate automatically puts it at the bottom of the pile.
Chameleon does provide a modicum of error management.
Unfortunately, the kernel is corrupted until the DHCP reply is received, preventing any other interfaces from being used in the meantime. Users can configure the stack so that it will reuse previously obtained DHCP information, but this mechanism does not follow the specification. Rather than send out request packets, it initiates a new discovery, and if no servers respond, then it assigns the last known information, even if the lease has expired. This can cause duplicate addresses to be allocated to multiple systems, depending on the mix of nodes and the state of the server. Eric Hall is an independent networking consultant, currently working in Europe.