# dumb dhcpd questions



## gardner (Nov 24, 2018)

I've had to rebuild my basement server that was running 8.something to a new 11.2-RELEASE system.  The new package system is a bit confusing, but I have installed what I think is the general-purpose standard DHCP server dhcpd-6.0.20170207_2.  This looks to be a new version of the ISC DHCPD that used to be the standard one.  Is that right?

The handbook info is maybe a little out of date since it mentions the ISC one and also offers some config recommendations that appear to no longer be relevant or usable.  At any rate, I think I have the DHCP server running alright now using its installed man pages as docs.  I wanted to import all my old leases but it looks like the lease file format has changed, a little and has moved from /var/db/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases to /var/db/dhcpd.leases.  But in particular, the file seems to be handled more as a log now than as the sort of database it was in prior versions.  I see the same lease mentioned over and over, as it was re-requested by the client and rather than being updated in place, seems to be sequentially appended.

I'm wondering if there's any knowledge about how the new lease file is handled.  Does it grow forever?  Is it rolled over or trimmed somehow?  When? This aspect doesn't seem to be discussed in dhcpd.leases(5).

Thanks.


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## Phishfry (Nov 24, 2018)

No I believe you have the wrong port. If you want the ISC dhcp server it is here:
net/isc-dhcp44-server/
A nice alternative is net/dnsmasq

Section 29.6.2 covers it but the port has been updated to the next version. The config in the handbook is still relevant.
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-dhcp.html

From dhcp.leases(5)


> In  order to prevent the lease database from growing without bound, the file is rewritten from time to time.


'time to time' doesn't sound very specific. I dunno if it is a date based flush or file size.


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## Phishfry (Nov 24, 2018)

You also need to setup NAT. pf offers NAT. This post has a basic NAT-Only ruleset. Adjust this for your interface names.
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/pf-nat-not-working.60269/#post-346317


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