In a previous article we learned how to set up a DNS/DHCP server for our home network using dnsmasq and a Raspberry Pi. The setup we used performed static IP assignments for particular devices. This is all well and good, but it can be kind of a pain adding new devices to the list of reservations. When you have a friend over, you don't want to be fumbling though syslog looking for an unassigned IP request. (Well, maybe you do if you want to increase your geek cred!)

In an effort to make things easier, I created SID (the Simple IP Dispenser). SID is an open source web service that we can run on the same Raspberry Pi as our DNS/DHCP server. SID monitors syslog for us, and through its API can tell us about outstanding IP address requests. It also has an API that allows us to assign an address to a device. Once the assignment method is invoked, SID takes care of adding the MAC address to the dnsmasq configuration and restarting dnsmasq.

I know what you are thinking... Manually calling a web service is only marginally easier than manually editing our dnsmasq configuration. You're right, you're right! In my next post, I will introduce an Android app that will make adding a new address a simple two-click process!