Question : Possible MAC / ARP problem.

Possible MAC / ARP problem.

This is the scenario:
I have six different networks with approx. 20 Sun servers on each network. All six networks are connected to one Sun server with dual quad (2x4 ports) NIC's, acting as a boot server for all networks.
The boot server and the servers on the LAN has unique MAC on each interface. The servers on the different LAN's has identical MAC.

I having trouble booting these servers from the boot server. Sometimes they looking for the DHCP server for a very long time and most often fail to get en IP. When looking on the boot server interfaces I see the DHCP IP request but the answer never reaches the requesting server.

I believe that the problem is because of the arp table on the boot server. It contains the same MAC on all interfaces. For example:

qfe4   172.20.8.98          255.255.255.255       00:80:37:0e:06:22
qfe5   172.21.8.98          255.255.255.255       00:80:37:0e:06:22
qfe2   172.18.8.98          255.255.255.255       00:80:37:0e:06:22
qfe1   172.17.8.98          255.255.255.255       00:80:37:0e:06:22

A lot of broadcast traffic exists. Approx. 3000 packets per 8 seconds.

Am I correct when assuming that the arp table is the problem?
Is there any configuration or network equipment that could solve my problem without having to change MAC on all these servers?

Answer : Possible MAC / ARP problem.

I can't think of a way of solving the general problem just on the boot server. However, if you placed a two-port router (that can relay DHCP) between each magazine and the boot server it would solve the problem.

I guess I don't understand why you can't change the base MAC for each magazine, assuming it works the way I suspect it does. Blades would still be unit replaceable with no config changes.