switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP

JKnott · Jun 25, 2024, 9:13 PM

@Gertjan said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

Kea - the pfSense GUI front end - is still missing a lot of options and features, if you don't need them, then Kea will do just fine.

Things like working DHCP? I tried switching today and DHCP failed completely. Other than that, it's great!

netboy · Jun 25, 2024, 9:35 PM

@JKnott That is exactly my point if DHCP is failing why have this feature which is not fully baked in? Or am I missing something?

johnpoz · Jun 25, 2024, 9:49 PM

@netboy I have no idea what jknott is or was doing when he switched.. But when they first released the "preview" I tested it and worked just fine if all you wanted to do was hand out an IP.. Sure there are many users of pfsense that all they need is that, etc. But I am not one of those people ;) hehehe

Its limitations were blogged about, and in the release notes.. Yeah its not quite ready for prime time.. But it could serve as your dhcp server if all you wanted was hey client asks for IP, give him one..

netboy · Jun 25, 2024, 10:08 PM

@johnpoz
Here is my issue.
When I go to Services > DHCP Server > LAN I see the following message:

"ISC DHCP has reached end-of-life and will be removed in a future version of Netgate pfSense Plus. Visit System > Advanced > Networking to switch DHCP backend"

When I see the above message, I expect the change to Kea DHCP will be fully functional which is not the case.

I am using DHCP for

Defining address pool range
Get a new IP address when new network device is connected and
Defining STATIC mapping for some DHCP device

Does the existing change to kea DHCP allow me to do ALL OF THE ABOVE without issues (meaning has been tested)?

Patch · Jun 25, 2024, 10:58 PM

@netboy said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

@johnpoz
Here is my issue.
When I go to Services > DHCP Server > LAN I see the following message:

As has been commented many times on this forum, the message displayed by the software could have been better worded and less alarming. Users need to read the software release notes and understand what they are saying to accurately interpret the software message. That is why many users refer to the current Kea implementation in pfsense as a software preview.

Defining STATIC mapping for some DHCP device

Does the existing change to kea DHCP allow me to do ALL OF THE ABOVE without issues (meaning has been tested)?

Please read the software release notes and earlier posts in this thread.

JKnott · Jun 26, 2024, 1:16 AM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

I have no idea what jknott is or was doing when he switched.

I just enabled Kea. Later in the day, when I used my notebook, anything that required IPv4 wasn't working. On Linux, I had no IPv4 address and on Windows, I got an APIPA address. My cell phone also stopped connecting to WiFi. After going back to ISC, DHCP works again.

netboy · Jun 26, 2024, 1:16 AM

@JKnott Thx for the update. Very helpful

johnpoz · Jun 26, 2024, 4:17 AM

@netboy no it wasn't.. For all we know kea didn't even start..

here you go - working

🔒 Log in to view

ambrosios · Jun 26, 2024, 6:02 AM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

@netboy But when they first released the "preview" I tested it and worked just fine if all you wanted to do was hand out an IP..

If my network is more complicated then just needing IPs handed out, I may be grossly underestimating how complicated my network setup actually is.

I'm no expert, but I think I know a good bit. ISC: defaults, single subnet, a few static IPs.... DHCP works fine. Switch to KEA and everything drops, never to be seen again.

Granted I could spend more time on root cause, but I'm surprised to hear it worked for you. I may have to give it another go.

Edit:
I read the blog post. I'm dumb. Thanks for playing. I'll go get the cone of shame now.

Patch · Jun 26, 2024, 6:36 AM

@JKnott said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

After going back to ISC, DHCP works again.

Cool. So Kea DHCP is working as advertised

From https://www.netgate.com/blog/netgate-adds-kea-dhcp-to-pfsense-plus-software-version-23.09-1

the Kea implementation lacks the following DHCP server features:

Local DNS Resolver/Forwarder Registration for static and dynamic DHCP clients

Remote DNS server registration

DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation

High Availability Failover

Lease statistics/graphs

Custom DHCP options

Note: If you have assigned hostnames to devices on your network using static leases, or rely on dynamic lease registration in DNS, switching to Kea DHCP results in those hostnames being ignored. The static lease configuration is kept, so switching back to ISC DHCP will restore the functionality.

JKnott · Jun 26, 2024, 1:14 PM

@ambrosios said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

I'm no expert, but I think I know a good bit. ISC: defaults, single subnet, a few static IPs.... DHCP works fine. Switch to KEA and everything drops, never to be seen again.

I have multiple subnets and any device that lives here has a static mapped IPv4 address, other than my desktop computer and pfSense, both of which have a static configuration. After I noticed it failed, I even tried rebooting pfSense, but that made no difference.

johnpoz · Jun 26, 2024, 1:20 PM

@JKnott said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

any device that lives here has a static mapped IPv4 address

Well since preview of kea doesn't support those - no wonder it not working for you..

So clearly you did not read the blog or the release notes..

JKnott · Jun 26, 2024, 1:28 PM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

So clearly you did not read the blog or the release notes..

We're supposed to read???

I'll just ignore the warnings. Hopefully this gets fixed before ISC is dropped.

johnpoz · Jun 26, 2024, 2:01 PM

@JKnott said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

I'll just ignore the warnings.

You can turn the warning off.. It right there in the same place you switch to kea..

Hopefully this gets fixed before ISC is dropped.

This is nonsense - yeah netgate is going to drop isc before kea is even at parity with feature set of isc.. That makes no freaking sense at all..

If you would of read the info from ISC.. Its not going anywhere any time soon.. They are stopping development on it, so yeah its eol.. Their own wording - time to start thinking of moving.

https://www.isc.org/blogs/isc-dhcp-eol/

Does this mean ISC DHCP won’t work anymore?
No. The existing open source software will continue to function as it has, and current operators do not need to stop using ISC DHCP.

However, it is time to start thinking about a migration plan to a more modern system that is actively maintained.

If you have basic hey hand out an IP need for your dhcpd - then sure you can switch.. Maybe this is 90% of pfsense userbase for all I know.. Sure we get a few non reading users here complaining.. But for all we know a million users have clicked switch and have no issues at all in their environment

netboy · Jun 26, 2024, 2:14 PM

@johnpoz Based on the discussion it appears like Kea does not support static IP address (no I have not read the release notes) - am i right?

JKnott · Jun 26, 2024, 2:42 PM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

You can turn the warning off.. It right there in the same place you switch to kea.

That's what I did.

However, it is time to start thinking about a migration plan to a more modern system that is actively maintained.

If you have basic hey hand out an IP need for your dhcpd - then sure you can switch.. Maybe this is 90% of pfsense userbase for all I know.. Sure we get a few non reading users here complaining.. But for all we know a million users have clicked switch and have no issues at all in their environment

I use static mapped addresses so that I have consistent addresses.

johnpoz · Jun 26, 2024, 3:05 PM

@JKnott said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

I use static mapped addresses so that I have consistent addresses.

What does that have to do with cost of tea in china? Great I use a lot of reservations as well - what part are you not understanding that kea does not support this in pfsense as of yet..

netboy · Jun 26, 2024, 3:14 PM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

what part are you not understanding that kea does not support this in pfsense as of yet..

How do I interpret this statement?
Kea has no support for static address
OR
pfsense's kea implementation does not support static address NOW but will support later?

johnpoz · Jun 26, 2024, 3:25 PM

@netboy the integration of kea into pfsense is not complete.. Kea has support for this feature and others.. it has just not been integrated into pfsense as of yet.

Why do you people have such a hard time reading documentation - if you have questions on what kea can do, just head over to isc and look at the docs for kea..

https://www.isc.org/kea/

https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

One of the key benefits of pfsense is they have taken what services and applications that are normally configured via just .conf files, and wrapped a gui around it where you just select or fill info, which is then stored in an xml file, which then in turn this info is creates the .conf file needed..

If you want to run full blown kea on your network - just fire up something else and run it there - you just won't have an easy to use "gui" to configure it..

netboy · Jun 26, 2024, 3:28 PM

@johnpoz said in switch over from ISC DHCP to Kea DHCP:

Why do you people have such a hard time reading documentation

Because we are lazy :-)