# rc.conf DHCP problem



## jctune (Nov 26, 2010)

Evening all - new user of FreeBSD here - had to have something to do today with the in-laws in the house.

I'm planning on migrating my media server from Windows Home Server to FreeBSD.  Before I commit to everything on the server, I'm trying to get FreeBSD up and running in a VM running on OSX to get a feel for it.

My problem is this.  The first few times I created a new install networking worked just fine.  However, after a certain point, I can't get an IP address assigned during the boot process.  The frustrating part is that I can run dhclient right after login to get the IP address, but it seems like the rc.conf file isn't being read.

At this point I'm at a complete loss.  Have done plenty of searching but can't find anything that helps.  One clarifying note - this occurs on a brand new, fresh install.  No edits to any files other than those made by sysinstall.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Contents of rc.conf

```
hostname="test"
ifconfig_ed0="DHCP"
```

Output of ifconfig after login (for this interface)

```
ed0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 00:1c:42:06:d0:fd
media: Ethernet autoselect (10baseT/UTP)
```

Output of dhclient

```
DHCPREQUEST on ed0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 10.211.55.1
bound to 10.211.55.7 -- renewal in 302400 seconds.
```

Output of ifconfig after dhclient (for this interface)

```
ed0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 00:1c:42:06:d0:fd
inet 10.211.55.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.211.55.255
media: Ethernet autoselect (10baseT/UTP)
```


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## wblock@ (Nov 26, 2010)

Use synchronous DHCP to make the startup wait for a lease:
/etc/rc.conf

```
ifconfig_ed0="SYNCDHCP"
```


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## jctune (Nov 26, 2010)

Thanks - that did the trick.


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