mcp2-dhcp

mcp2-dhcp is a server that drives DHCP, DNS, PXE, and iPXE services using MCP 2.0 metadata from CloudControl. It is designed to provide network boot capabilities for operating systems that rely on cloud-init (such as RancherOS or Container Linux) while also offering standard DHCP/DNS functionality if PXE or iPXE booting is not required. The server reads its configuration from mcp2-dhcp-server.yml, which includes MCP credentials, target region, and network interface details, plus optional sections to enable DNS and PXE/iPXE features. When enabled, DNS can answer A, AAAA, and PTR records for MCP-backed servers, and PXE/iPXE can deliver boot images and boot scripts to clients. Overriding server behavior via CloudControl tags (pxe_boot_image, ipxe_profile, ipxe_boot_script) lets you tailor boot assets without changing the local configuration.

To use it, first provide the MCP credentials and network settings in mcp2-dhcp-server.yml, then enable DNS or iPXE as needed. The PXE/iPXE configuration allows you to specify a boot image (relative to /var/lib/tftpboot) and a boot script URL, so PXE clients receive the correct boot sequence. If you’re booting CoreOS or similar cloud-init dependent systems, the server will facilitate booting via PXE/iPXE and supply the appropriate user-data via cloud-init during boot.

Operationally, you will typically run this server on a host with network access to the specified interface, and with appropriate permissions to listen on port 53 for DNS and the configured iPXE port for boot services. The solution is designed to integrate into existing MCP-based deployments and can be deployed with the same tooling you use for other MCP services.

Prerequisites:

• Ansible v2.2 or higher
• Terraform v0.9.x or higher
• terraform-provider-ddcloud similar to what’s specified in the README

Installation steps:

1. Prepare the environment by installing Ansible and Terraform as listed in prerequisites.
2. Obtain the Net-bootable images and boot tooling as described in the Net-bootable image instructions (download the net-boot.zip, or prepare your own OVF/VMware setup).
3. Install and configure the MCP server components per the installer instructions located in installer/README.md (as referenced in the README).
4. Create the mcp2-dhcp-server.yml configuration file with MCP credentials, region, and network settings. Optionally enable DNS and PXE/iPXE and provide their settings as described in the README.
5. Run the server using the appropriate runtime (the mcp_config indicates using Node.js in this setup). Ensure that the required ports (DNS 53 and PXE/iPXE port) are accessible and that the interface specified in the network section is available on the host.
6. Validate operation by starting the service and performing a DHCP/DNS query against it, as well as attempting a PXE/iPXE boot to confirm the boot flow and cloud-init delivery when applicable.

Tips and caveats:

• DNS queries are answered for a pseudo-zone derived from server metadata; if a query cannot be answered locally, it will be forwarded to the fallback DNS server (e.g., 8.8.8.8).
• Only the first IP on the configured interface is used for listening to DNS queries for now.
• PXE/iPXE support requires an image boot image name (pxe_boot_image) and a boot script URL (ipxe_boot_script) to be specified in CloudControl or in the configuration. You can override these with server tags (pxe_boot_image, ipxe_profile, ipxe_boot_script).
• If you’re booting CoreOS, there are recommended references such as coreos-ipxe-server to help with boot orchestration.
• The default values in the configuration can be omitted unless they differ from the defaults; ensure the required fields (user, password, region, interface, and domain-specific settings) are provided for your environment.
• When deploying in production, consider the security implications of exposing DNS and PXE services and secure access to MCP metadata.