DHCP relaying is used to forward DHCP requests to a DHCP server if the client and the server are not on the same network. One standard implementation of this is isc-dhcp-relay which is part of the isc-dhcp package.
Problem: The dhcrelay is forwarding the dhcp request to the dhcp server and the dhcp server is responding correctly, but the dhcrelay ignores the response.
Discussion: the option “-i” tells the dhcrelay which interface to listen on for dhcp requests. But at the same time “-i” must be set for the interface that receives the dhcp server response. In newer versions (eg 4.4.2) there are even two options “-id”, “-iu” for downstream and upstream. The problem is: Both interfaces must be ethernet interfaces and have broadcasts, even though the dhcp server response is a simple unicast packet. If the connection to your dhcp server is a “tun” interface like openvpn or something not ethernet like, isc-dhcp-relay cannot receive the dhcp server response.
Solution: Don’t use isc-dhcp-relay but dhcp-helper. dhcp-helper is much simpler and works as expected. dhcp-helper is in the main debian/devuan repositories.
Versions: Devuan 3, isc-dhcp-relay 4.4.1-2, dhcp-helper 1.1-1