[Soekris] unreliable DHCP with PXEBoot?

[Joshua ChaitinPollak]

Hello,

My Soekris boards are having trouble getting DHCP addresses when PXE  
Booting from our development computers. We have tried both udhcpd and  
dnsmasq as our DHCP servers, and in both cases we seem to get DHCP  
addresses about 2/3 of the time. On one of our computers, only the  
ISC Dhcp server works correctly, but it is heavier weight and harder  
to configure, so we are trying not to use it.

When I look at the DNSMasq logs while a Soekris is trying to acquire  
an address, I see the following:

DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48

And then the Soekris gives up trying to get the IP address. It seems  
the DHCP server is sending an offer of an IP, but the Soekris isn't  
'hearing' it.

On a successful boot, I see the following:

DHCPDISCOVER(eth1) 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPOFFER(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPREQUEST(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48
DHCPACK(eth1) 172.17.1.136 00:00:25:c5:0d:48

Does anyone know why this would happen?

What do people use as their DHCP servers, and how do they make sure  
they work reliably?

Thanks,

Josh

-- 
Joshua ChaitinPollak
Software Engineer
Kiva Systems