DHCP server

[bld76]

Hi Guys

I am looking for a dhcp server that I can run on my prox mox box. This is to hand out address to my customers. We are a small wisp, and have been using a windows server adition to do this up to now. We are looking for another solution because the windows server is just not really working that well due to its design.

Anyhelp would be greatly appreciated.

 

[xagaba]

You can check dnsmasq, that can be used as dhcp server and dns cache server, it hasa low memory footprint and it's highly configurable.

 

[bld76]

Thanks
but I don't believe that it is robust enough.

 

[mmenaz]

Why not? I use dnsmasq it everywhere (for split domain in Zimbra, or as dhcp and tftp in LTSP), and is a little jewel. What does "robust" mean for you? Do you think is unreliable? Remember that we are in the GNU/Linux world, not under Windows

 

[ressel]

you can also install dhcp3

On a debian install it with following command:
apt-get install dhcp3-server

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/dhcp.htm

on my own setup i have used a small openvz with Bridged Ethernet (veth).
It works really good, this machine works as dhcp and tftp (pxe).

 

[udo]

Thanks
but I don't believe that it is robust enough.

Hi,
the dnsmasq processes which i had running are very robust (more as any win$-boxes which i have running here).
If you want a simple system, you can try devil-linux - it's a live-cd where you can save the config to an usb-stick/small partition. You get an fast bootable system which provide usefull services (dnsmasq, or other things).

Udo

 

[dswartz]

I would love to hear anything factual from the OP as to why he believes dnsmasq is not robust.

 

[bld76]

From what I read it will provide dhcp for a small to medium amount of leases, and we did not feel that it would handle our customers well.

I could be wrong wouldn't be the first time. How do you install it in prox mox?

 

[dswartz]

I don't have access to my proxmox right this moment, but as simple as 'apt-get install dnsmasq'. As far as scaling, your original post said nothing about your requirements, so it was hard for us to comment based on that.

 

[mmenaz]

Beware that the default lease limit of dnsmasq is 1000. This limit is to prevent DoS attacks from hosts which create thousands of leases and use lots of memory in the dnsmasq process.
You can use the -X or --dhcp-lease-max=<number> parameter to increase it.
Your first mail is "we are a small wisp", so I thought you was managing lans with less than an hundred hosts. If scale to more than thousands is an issue, there are plenty of solutions stronger than dnsmasq in GNU/Linux, but I never used them since I prefer dnsmasq simplicity and my customers have max 20 hosts (a school using LTSP).

 

[bld76]

where do You type 'apt-get install dnsmasq' and does it need to be a file stored locally?

 

[dswartz]

You type this in a root shell on the proxmox. That said, if the WISP has any significant number of customers, you should not be running essential services like this on your hypervisor box.

 

[bld76]

what do you suggest? I am open to any thoughts

 

[dswartz]

What is your WISP using for a gateway? If that is a decent power box, it is fairly common to have it run the dns and dhcp too...

 

[bld76]

We are currently using a blade server running windows server 2003, and to my understanding it is holding the records to long and filling the hard drives causing it to lock up, with no way of having the records deleated sooner.

 

[dswartz]

If you have a decent power box you can use, I highly recommend astaro security gateway. The basic package is free for business. I use the free (50 hosts or less) full version for my soho setup. DHCP, DNS, web virus and malware filtering (ditto for email), etc... You don't need to use all of that though...

 

[bld76]

Thanks I will look into that