# Weird problem with local router after hardware change
**URL:** https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267
**Category:** Rocky Linux Help & Support
**Tags:** rocky-linux-8
**Created:** [April 26, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267 "2025-04-26T18:27:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@microlinux](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/microlinux)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267/1 "2025-04-26T18:27:22Z")
Hi,
My local network is managed by a local gateway/router/proxy running Rocky Linux 8 and stuff like Dnsmasq, Squid, SquidAnalyzer, etc.
The whole configuration is described in this Ansible playbook:
> **[Nicolas Kovacs / Microlinux Proxy EL8 · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/kikinovak/microlinux-proxy-el8)**
>
> Configuration Ansible pour mon routerboard PC Engines APU3 proxy.microlinux.lan sous Rocky Linux 8
So far this worked perfectly, but today I had a hardware crash. The PC Engines routerboard apparently went belly up.
Fortunately I have a spare one in my office. So I installed Rocky Linux 8 on it along with Git and Ansible. I fetched the playbook. I didn’t even have to adjust the network interface names, since they were the same than the previous machine.
I just ran the playbook, and less than an hour later (it’s not a very fast machine) I had my configuration back.
Now I’m facing a weird problem. Dnsmasq **seems** to work OK, but **only for those machines that weren’t connected recently**. My main workstation and my laptop **can’t seem to get an IP address from the router**. Dnsmasq’s logs look like this:
```auto
Apr 26 14:23:24 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:24 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:23:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:24:03 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:24:03 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:24:03 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPDISCOVER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
Apr 26 14:24:03 dnsmasq-dhcp[682]: DHCPOFFER(enp2s0) 192.168.2.5 d0:37:45:24:61:bd
```
Do I have to clear some weird cache-related or lease-related stuff on the client side? I vaguely figure there’s some problem because the new machine obviously has a different MAC address on the LAN interface, but I’m not proficient enough in network internals to know exactly what is wrong here.
Any suggestions ?
---
### Author:  [@microlinux](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/microlinux)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2025, 7:51am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267/2 "2025-04-27T07:51:46Z")
I’ll answer this myself, since I eventually solved the problem, though I don’t know exactly how. I booted a NixOS LiveUSB on each of the problematic clients, which renewed the DHCP lease. After this I could boot normally into Rocky Linux with the “new” lease.
If anyone has an explanation of what happened, I’m curious.
---
### Author:  [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267/3 "2025-04-28T14:37:09Z")
> [@microlinux](#):
>
> I didn’t even have to adjust the network interface names, since they were the same than the previous machine.
> [@microlinux](#):
>
> I vaguely figure there’s some problem because the new machine obviously has a different MAC address on the LAN interface
Your inventory seems to have/use MAC:s only for the DHCP server’s config. The “main workstation and my laptop” did not change, so they should not have been affected in any way.
* * *
NetworkManager connection can be bound to _ifname_ or to _MAC_. That is, NM will use the connection for device that matches. In the era of “randomly” enumerated eth_N_ names, binding to MAC was awesome for persistence.
The Rocky installer creates connections bound to _MAC_.
The manual use of `nmcli con add` forces us to bind to _ifname_ (which is inconvenient, IMHO).
Not sure how your “NM config” role updates the connections.
* * *
No idea, why you got the:
> Client: Hi. This is d0:37:45:24:61:bd. Can I keep the 192.168.2.5?
> Server: That is ok.
> Client: _server does not talk to me, I’ll ask again_
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/weird-problem-with-local-router-after-hardware-change/18267/4 "2025-06-27T14:37:52Z")
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