Can BOOTP in DHCP failover to a second IP?

Question

I have a Linux PXE server, and would like to have failover, so in case the primary PXE server is down the secondary PXE server can take over.

The DHCP server is a Windows 2003 R1.

Could failover e.g. be done by adding a second IP address to the

#66 Boot Server Host Name

in the DHCP server, so if the client can't get in contact with the first IP address, it tries the next?

If not, how should failover of the Linux PXE server then be done?

Answer 1

use heartbeat or something like that to have them listen on the same ip address

Answer 2

If the TFTP service is on the same server as DHCP, you should have a second DHCP server which could also be a TFTP PXE Boot server itself (each DHCP server with option 66 point to itself).