Hostname DHCP reservation list is too long.

[vandriver]

Morning,

I have an AC86U running Merlin 386.13_2.

I didn't realise the host names characters were limited. I've just done about 200 hostnames and have 10 left to go and hitting the following error:

DHCP reservation list is too long (6500 characters exceeds limit of apimaxlenth). Remove some, or use shorter names.

I tried searching the forums but it doesn't seem to be a much discussed topic so could find any answers.

Could someone tell me please if there is a workaround? Maybe a way to increase apimaxlenth or add the hose names via ssh? I read somewhere you can add very long host names via ssh and hoping its the answer but I cant find that thread anymore lol

Cheers

 

[L&LD]

There is a (hard) limit.

 

[vandriver]

That means I need to do what the router is telling me, remove or shorten some names?

 

[L&LD]

Yes.

Or, probably better, just don't use them at all (or, at least not all of them).

 

[vandriver]

Bugger

 

[vandriver]

okay thanks man. have a good day

 

[vandriver]

L&LD, while your there please? Just thinking off the top of my head I have the routers domain name set to home.lan, if I changed that to just lan and edited the hostnames to free up some characters, does it propagate quite quickly round the network yeah?

 

[vandriver]

Its a bit early for me lol I dont think removing home from home.lan will help as its only 4 characters, I was thinking that means 200 home.lan if that makes sence? it needs to be the actual hostnames characters I need to shorten and not that routers domain name is that right?

 

[RMerlin]

Use a dnsmasq.conf.add file and manually add the reservations there. The nvram limit is hardcoded and cannot be increased.

 

[elorimer]

Also, the YazDHCP addon.

 

[vandriver]

Use a dnsmasq.conf.add file and manually add the reservations there. The nvram limit is hardcoded and cannot be increased.

Thats the one. Thanks man! Have a good one.

 

[JGrana]

2 words

amtm->YazDHCP

Much easier to maintain. Check out the import/export feature. You can edit the exported csv spreadsheet then import back in.

 

[dave14305]

2 words

amtm->YazDHCP

Much easier to maintain. Check out the import/export feature. You can edit the exported csv spreadsheet then import back in.

That message he got came from YazDHCP, so he’s already using it.

 

[vandriver]

yeah sorry just to clarify, I'm already using YazDHCP

 

[vandriver]

my dnsmasq.conf.add file is currently:

addn-hosts=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.hostnames # YazDHCP_hostnames
dhcp-hostsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.staticlist # YazDHCP_staticlist
dhcp-optsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.optionslist # YazDHCP_optionslist

do I manually add the reservations below the list above so it looks like this?

addn-hosts=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.hostnames # YazDHCP_hostnames
dhcp-hostsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.staticlist # YazDHCP_staticlist
dhcp-optsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.optionslist # YazDHCP_optionslist
dhcp-host=7C:61:66:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname.home.lan
dhcp-host=7C:61:67:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname1.home.lan
dhcp-host=7C:61:68:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname2.home.lan

 

[bennor]

dhcp-host=7C:61:66:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname.home.lan
dhcp-host=7C:61:67:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname1.home.lan
dhcp-host=7C:61:68:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname2.home.lan

I may have missed the explanation, but what is the reasoning for appending the hostname with ".home.lan"?
Are you not using the LAN > Domain Name field?

 

[vandriver]

I may have missed the explanation, but what is the reasoning for appending the hostname with ".home.lan"?
Are you not using the LAN > Domain Name field?

yes you are correct. I am using home.lan already in LAN > Domain Name field, so I dont need to add it in dnsmasq.conf.add and should not have appended it to my hostnames in my example above, sorry my bad.

Its my first time making a hostname list using dnsmasq.conf.add, would this work do you think?

addn-hosts=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.hostnames # YazDHCP_hostnames
dhcp-hostsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.staticlist # YazDHCP_staticlist
dhcp-optsfile=/jffs/addons/YazDHCP.d/.optionslist # YazDHCP_optionslist
dhcp-host=7C:61:66:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname
dhcp-host=7C:61:67:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname1
dhcp-host=7C:61:68:xx:xx:xx,192.168.1.xx,myhostname2

does there need to be a comma after the hostname?

 

[bennor]

does there need to be a comma after the hostname?

If I remember right you do not need a comma after the hostname/device in your examples.

 

[vandriver]

If I remember right you do not need a comma after the hostname/device in your examples.

Thank you, I appreciate the support because no doubt you have discussed this a billion times already.

Am I correct in saying that when I have manually added all my reservations (Mac, IP, host name, lease time) to dnsmasq.conf.add, I can then remove all of the entries from the DHCP server page on the router GUI to free up nvram? Cheers

 

[vandriver]

The lease time on the DHCP server LAN page still seems to be overriding the lease time for the reservations I have set in dnsmasq.conf.add. Is there a way around this?