pump8

Usage

Overview

pump is a daemon that manages network interfaces that are controlled by either the DHCP or BOOTP protocol.

While pump may be started manually, it is normally started automatically by ifup(8) for devices configured via BOOTP or DHCP.

If pump is managing an interface, you can run it again to query the status of that interface. For example,

pump -i eth0 --status
will print the current status of device eth0.

Options

Option notes

The --lookup-hostname option causes pump to ignore the host and domain names returned by the server and instead to look these up in DNS using the IP address of the interface. The name that is looked up is used in forming the search line in the resolv.conf file. Thus, if either the --no-dns or domainsearch option is used then --lookup-hostname has no effect.

Note that pump itself never sets the computer's hostname.

Configuration file

You can tune the behavior of pump using a configuration file. By default pump reads /etc/pump.conf but you can change this using the --config-file option.

The configuration file is line-oriented. Most lines contain a directive followed by zero or more arguments. Arguments are handled similarly to how shells handle command arguments, allowing the use of quotes and backslash escapes. Comments are allowed, and must begin with a # character. Spaces and tabs are ignored.

Directives may be specified at two levels: global and specific. Global directives change pump's behavior for all of the devices that it manages whereas specific directives change pump's behavior for a single device. Later directives always override earlier ones.

Here is an example configuration file:

# sample /etc/pump.conf file
domainsearch "my.own.org own.org at.work.com"
retries 3
device eth1 {
    nodns
}

This configuration file tells pump to use a specific DNS search path rather than deriving one from the DHCP or BOOTP server response, to retry each request 3 times (for a total of 4 tries), and not to change the DNS configuration file when it's configuring the eth1 device.

Here is a complete list of directives:

device DEVICE

Specify specific directives for DEVICE. This directive must be followed by a {, and the list of specific directives must end with a } on its own line. These directives may not be nested.

domainsearch SEARCHPATH

Use SEARCHPATH as the DNS search path instead of the domain name returned by the server or the domain part of the fully qualified hostname.

keepup

Keep the interface up when released. Normally pump brings the interface down when it releases its lease, but some daemons such as ifplugd or wpa_supplicant still need the interface to be up so that they can still work.

nonisdomain

Don't set the NIS domain. Normally pump sets the system's NIS domain if an NIS domain is specified by the DHCP server and the current NIS domain is empty or localdomain.

nodns

Don't update /etc/resolv.conf when the interface is configured.

nogateway

Ignore any default gateway suggested by the DHCP server for this device. This can be useful on machines with multiple devices.

nontp

Don't update /etc/ntp.conf when the interface is configured.

nosetup

Don't set up anything on the local machine as a result of DHCP operations. This implies nodns, nonisdomain, nogateway and nontp. This option is useful, for example, if you want to perform setup in customised scripts.

noresolvconf

Don't use the resolvconf program to update /etc/resolv.conf; instead, update /etc/resolv.conf directly. (This option is only relevant if --nodns is not used.)

retries COUNT

Retry each phase of the DHCP process COUNT times.

timeout COUNT

Don't let any one step of the DHCP process take more then COUNT seconds.

script FILE

Condition	arg1	arg2	arg3
lease	up	eth0	1.2.3.4
renewal	renewal	eth0	2.3.4.5
release	down	eth0

When events occur in negotiation with the server, call the executable FILE. Scripts are called when a lease is granted, when a renewal is negotiated, and when the interface is brought down and the address released. The script is called with two or three arguments, depending on the condition, as documented in the table above.

Logging

The program logs a good deal of information to syslog, much of it at the DEBUG level. If you're having trouble, it's a good idea to turn up syslog's logging level.

Quibble

A pump, like a boot[p], is something you wear on your foot. Some of us like the name (I know, hard to believe)!