KEA-DHCP4(8)

📦
version 3.0.4 · 23 versions
, in fedora 43

✨ KEA-DHCP4 💖

okay so bestie, meet kea-dhcp4 — the DHCPv4 server in Kea. that's the whole vibe. she's a daemon, she hands out IPv4 leases, she's booked and busy. 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

kea-dhcp4 [-v] [-V] [-W] [-d] [-c config-file] [-t config-file] [-p
server-port-number] [-P client-port-number]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

The kea-dhcp4 daemon provides the DHCPv4 server implementation. periodt. that's her job, that's her whole personality, and she eats every time. 🔥

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

okay the arguments, bestie, are as follows. no skipping, we're doing all of them:

  • -v — Displays the Kea version. just the version. short and sweet. 💖
  • -V — Displays the extended Kea version. more version. she's giving extra. ✨
  • -W — Displays the configuration report. a whole report, like a receipt but for your config. 🧾
  • -d — Enables the debug mode with extra verbosity. she will tell you EVERYTHING and honestly? we love that for her. 🗣️
  • -c config-file — Specifies the configuration file with the configuration for the DHCPv4 server. It may also contain configuration entries for other Kea services. (yes she can hold other people's stuff too, she's generous like that.) 💜
  • -t config-file — Checks the configuration file and reports the first error, if any. lowkey important caveat: not all parameters are completely checked; in particular, service and control channel sockets are not opened, and hook libraries are not loaded. so it's a vibe check, not a full background check. 🙈
  • -T config-file — Checks the configuration file and reports the first error, if any. It performs extra checks beyond what -t offers, such as establishing database connections (for the lease backend, host reservations backend, configuration backend, and forensic logging backend), loading hook libraries, parsing hook-library configurations, etc. It does not open UNIX or TCP/UDP sockets, nor does it open or rotate files, as any of these actions could interfere with a running process on the same machine. she's thorough but she's not gonna touch your sockets, she's respectful. 🎀
  • -p server-port-number — Specifies the server port number (1-65535) on which the server listens. This is useful for testing purposes only. note the range bestie: 1-65535. no going rogue. ⭐
  • -P client-port-number — Specifies the client port number (1-65535) to which the server responds. This is useful for testing purposes only. again: 1-65535, testing only, iykyk. 🦋

📚 DOCUMENTATION 📚

Kea comes with an extensive Kea Administrator Reference Manual that covers all aspects of running the Kea software — compilation, installation, configuration, configuration examples, and much more. she documented everything, she's an overachiever, we stan. 👑

Kea also features a Kea Messages Manual, which lists all possible messages Kea can print with a brief description for each of them. so when she yells at you, there's a glossary. 💀

Both documents are available in various formats (.txt, .html, .pdf) with the Kea distribution. The Kea documentation is available at https://kea.readthedocs.io.

Kea source code is documented in the Kea Developer's Guide, available at https://reports.kea.isc.org/dev_guide/.

The Kea project website is available at https://kea.isc.org.

💌 MAILING LISTS AND SUPPORT 💌

There are two public mailing lists available for the Kea project:

  • kea-users (kea-users at lists.isc.org) is intended for Kea users.
  • kea-dev (kea-dev at lists.isc.org) is intended for Kea developers, prospective contributors, and other advanced users.

Both lists are available at https://lists.isc.org. The community provides best-effort support on both of those lists. (bestie energy: we'll help but we're not on call, fr fr. 🫶)

ISC provides professional support for Kea services. See https://www.isc.org/kea/ for details.

🦋 HISTORY 🦋

The b10-dhcp4 daemon was first coded in November 2011 by Tomek Mrugalski. a legend, honestly. ✨

In mid-2014, Kea was decoupled from the BIND 10 framework and became a standalone DHCP server. The DHCPv4 server binary was renamed to kea-dhcp4. glow-up of the century. 💅

Kea 1.0.0 was released in December 2015. iconic. periodt. 🌈

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

kea-dhcp6(8), kea-dhcp-ddns(8), kea-ctrl-agent(8), kea-admin(8), keactrl(8), perfdhcp(8), kea-netconf(8), kea-lfc(8), Kea Administrator Reference Manual.

the whole friend group. go say hi. 🎀

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Internet Systems Consortium

2019-2025, Internet Systems Consortium

and that's the page bestie!! this one's from Kea version 3.0.4, dated Oct 05, 2026 — shoutout to Internet Systems Consortium for the whole thing, we're obsessed. go configure something cute. 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from