isc-dhcp is a free and open-source DHCP server and client. ISC DHCP provides robust DHCP services for automatic network configuration, the reference implementation of DHCP
- Prerequisites
- Supported Operating Systems
- Installation
- Configuration
- Service Management
- Troubleshooting
- Security Considerations
- Performance Tuning
- Backup and Restore
- System Requirements
- Support
- Contributing
- License
- Acknowledgments
- Version History
- Appendices
- Hardware Requirements:
- CPU: 1 core minimum
- RAM: 128MB minimum
- Storage: 50MB for installation
- Network: UDP ports 67-68
- Operating System:
- Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)
- macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)
- Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10
- FreeBSD: 11.0+
- Network Requirements:
- Port 67 (default isc-dhcp port)
- Port 68 for client
- Dependencies:
- See official documentation for specific requirements
- System Access: root or sudo privileges required
This guide supports installation on:
- RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)
- Debian 11/12
- Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS
- Arch Linux (rolling release)
- Alpine Linux 3.18+
- openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+
- macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)
- FreeBSD 13+
- Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)
# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release
# Install isc-dhcp
sudo dnf install -y isc-dhcp-server
# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now isc-dhcp-server
# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=67/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Update package index
sudo apt update
# Install isc-dhcp
sudo apt install -y isc-dhcp-server
# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now isc-dhcp-server
# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 67
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Install isc-dhcp
sudo pacman -S isc-dhcp-server
# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now isc-dhcp-server
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Install isc-dhcp
apk add --no-cache isc-dhcp-server
# Enable and start service
rc-update add isc-dhcp-server default
rc-service isc-dhcp-server start
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Install isc-dhcp
sudo zypper install -y isc-dhcp-server
# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now isc-dhcp-server
# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=67/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Using Homebrew
brew install isc-dhcp-server
# Start service
brew services start isc-dhcp-server
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Using pkg
pkg install isc-dhcp-server
# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'isc-dhcp-server_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# Start service
service isc-dhcp-server start
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Using Chocolatey
choco install isc-dhcp-server
# Or using Scoop
scoop install isc-dhcp-server
# Verify installation
dhcpd --version
# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/isc-dhcp-server
# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options
# Test configuration
dhcpd --version
# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable isc-dhcp-server
# Start service
sudo systemctl start isc-dhcp-server
# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop isc-dhcp-server
# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart isc-dhcp-server
# Check status
sudo systemctl status isc-dhcp-server
# View logs
sudo journalctl -u isc-dhcp-server -f
# Enable service
rc-update add isc-dhcp-server default
# Start service
rc-service isc-dhcp-server start
# Stop service
rc-service isc-dhcp-server stop
# Restart service
rc-service isc-dhcp-server restart
# Check status
rc-service isc-dhcp-server status
# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'isc-dhcp-server_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
# Start service
service isc-dhcp-server start
# Stop service
service isc-dhcp-server stop
# Restart service
service isc-dhcp-server restart
# Check status
service isc-dhcp-server status
# Using Homebrew services
brew services start isc-dhcp-server
brew services stop isc-dhcp-server
brew services restart isc-dhcp-server
# Check status
brew services list | grep isc-dhcp-server
# Start service
net start isc-dhcp-server
# Stop service
net stop isc-dhcp-server
# Using PowerShell
Start-Service isc-dhcp-server
Stop-Service isc-dhcp-server
Restart-Service isc-dhcp-server
# Check status
Get-Service isc-dhcp-server
See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.
upstream isc-dhcp-server_backend {
server 127.0.0.1:67;
}
server {
listen 80;
server_name isc-dhcp-server.example.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name isc-dhcp-server.example.com;
ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/isc-dhcp-server.example.com.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/isc-dhcp-server.example.com.key;
location / {
proxy_pass http://isc-dhcp-server_backend;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName isc-dhcp-server.example.com
Redirect permanent / https://isc-dhcp-server.example.com/
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName isc-dhcp-server.example.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/isc-dhcp-server.example.com.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/isc-dhcp-server.example.com.key
ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:67/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:67/
</VirtualHost>
frontend isc-dhcp-server_frontend
bind *:80
bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/isc-dhcp-server.pem
redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
default_backend isc-dhcp-server_backend
backend isc-dhcp-server_backend
balance roundrobin
server isc-dhcp-server1 127.0.0.1:67 check
# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R isc-dhcp-server:isc-dhcp-server /etc/isc-dhcp-server
sudo chmod 750 /etc/isc-dhcp-server
# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=67/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on
See official documentation for database configuration requirements.
# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p
# Check service status
sudo systemctl status isc-dhcp-server
# View logs
sudo journalctl -u isc-dhcp-server -f
# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep isc-dhcp-server)
#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/isc-dhcp-server"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/isc-dhcp-server-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/isc-dhcp-server /var/lib/isc-dhcp-server
echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/isc-dhcp-server-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"
# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop isc-dhcp-server
# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/isc-dhcp-server/isc-dhcp-server-backup-*.tar.gz -C /
# Start service
sudo systemctl start isc-dhcp-server
- Service won't start:
# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u isc-dhcp-server -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/isc-dhcp-server/isc-dhcp-server.log
# Check configuration
dhcpd --version
# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/isc-dhcp-server
- Connection issues:
# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 67
# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 67
# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
- Performance issues:
# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep isc-dhcp-server)
# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep isc-dhcp-server)
# Check connections
ss -an | grep 67
version: '3.8'
services:
isc-dhcp-server:
image: isc-dhcp-server:latest
ports:
- "67:67"
volumes:
- ./config:/etc/isc-dhcp-server
- ./data:/var/lib/isc-dhcp-server
restart: unless-stopped
# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update isc-dhcp-server
# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade isc-dhcp-server
# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu isc-dhcp-server
# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade isc-dhcp-server
# openSUSE
sudo zypper update isc-dhcp-server
# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade isc-dhcp-server
# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/isc-dhcp-server-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/isc-dhcp-server
# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart isc-dhcp-server
# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/isc-dhcp-server
# Clean old logs
find /var/log/isc-dhcp-server -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete
# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/isc-dhcp-server
- Official Documentation: https://docs.isc-dhcp-server.org/
- GitHub Repository: https://github.com/isc-dhcp-server/isc-dhcp-server
- Community Forum: https://forum.isc-dhcp-server.org/
- Best Practices Guide: https://docs.isc-dhcp-server.org/best-practices
Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.