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Kea DHCP
Modern, open source DHCPv4 & DHCPv6 server

Why Choose Kea?
ISC distributes TWO full-featured, open source, standards-based DHCP server distributions: Kea DHCP and ISC DHCP. Kea includes all the most-requested features, is far newer, and is designed for a more modern network environment. ISC announced the End of Life for the older ISC DHCP system in 2022. Users of ISC DHCP may find these resources helpful in migrating their DHCP server deployments to the Kea server.
How is the Kea DHCP server different from the older ISC DHCP?

Modular Component Design, Extensible with Hooks Modules. The Kea distribution includes separate daemons for a DHCPv4 server, a DHCPv6 server, and a dynamic DNS (DDNS) module. Many optional features are enabled with dynamically-loaded “Hooks Modules,” which you need run only if you are using them. You can write your own hooks modules (in C++) or try some of the hooks we offer.

On-line Re-configuration with REST API.
Kea uses a JSON configuration file that can be modified remotely via set commands and reloaded without stopping and restarting the server, an operation that could take quite a while with ISC DHCP.

Designed to Integrate with Your Existing Systems.
Kea allows you to separate the data from the execution environment, enabling new deployment options. Your network data - leases, host reservation definitions, and most configuration data - can be located separately from the DHCP server itself, using a Kea “backend.”

Kea supports two database backends; MySQL and PostgreSQL. Besides the obvious benefits (you avoid JSON formatting errors, you can quickly and easily mine the data for other purposes) using a database backend enables multiple Kea servers to share the data.
Potential benefits:

A shared lease database can provide an alternative strategy for resilience. (See this Kea HA strategies comparison)
A host reservation database, used with the Host_Cmds hook, allows remote management of host reservations via Stork, and permits multiple Kea servers to use a shared host reservations database.
A configuration database, while currently not supported by Stork, allows use of some configuration elements, such as subnets, across multiple Kea servers. This can make it much easier to add new Kea servers.

Web-based graphical dashboard.
Kea now has a graphical dashboard for monitoring multiple Kea servers. This system, called Stork, uses agents deployed on the Kea servers to relay information to a centralized management platform, providing the administrator with an easy-to-use quick view of system status and activity.

Modern, higher performance implementation. Kea is multi-threaded, and when configured for efficient operation, it can be performant enough for a large-scale, short-lease duration environment, which is the most demanding scenario.

The core Kea daemons are open source, shared under MPL2.0 licensing. Kea is developed in the open on ISC’s GitLab; we welcome you to open issues and submit patches there. Kea runs on most Linux and Unix platforms, as well as MacOS. If you don’t want to build from our source distribution, we also provide a repository of pre-built packages for most popular operating systems.

Contact ISC for Support

Getting Started

1.

Design
Your major design decisions are whether to deploy in pairs for High Availability and use the default csv file for host and lease data, or to install a separate database for a Kea data “backend.” Some of these decisions can limit your performance. See our Knowledgebase for advice on designing for optimal performance.

2.

Installation
Instructions are available for building and installing Kea from the source packages downloadable below. ISC provides pre-built packages for RHEL, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. If you are using any Kea hook libraries, you will also need to install and configure those.

3.

Configuration
The Kea Administrator Reference Manual (ARM) is the primary reference for Kea configuration. The extensive set of example configuration files in the project repo and our knowledgebase may help you get started. If you are migrating from an existing ISC DHCP deployment, try the Kea Migration Assistant (a special feature of the ISC DHCP distribution). This will enable you to save your current ISC DHCP server configuration as a Kea configuration file. It will still need some manual adjustment, but this tool should translate the bulk of your configuration.

4.

Maintenance
Most users will benefit from joining the kea-users mailing list. Consider joining our Kea project GitLab to log issues, see what we’re working on, submit patches, and participate in development. Consider deploying Stork for a graphical management dashboard. If your DHCP is critical to your business, we recommend you subscribe for technical support from ISC.

Stork Dashboard for Kea
Monitor both the machine and the application
Stork aggregates data about the health of the system hosting Kea, as well as the status and activity level of Kea itself. Parameters reported include memory, CPU utilization, software versions, and uptime.

Monitor Pool Utilization and High Availability
Stork displays configured pools, with # of addresses provisioned and assigned and even tracks pool utilization across shared networks. Graphical elements highlight areas of high utilization to alert the operator to take actionHigh Availability pairs are monitored and their configured role and status are shown, making it easy to see which servers don’t have a backup established, and when a failover event has occurred.

Manage Host Reservations
Add, update and view DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 host reservations, using a graphical interface to select a host identifier, assign a hostname, reserve an IP address, associate a client class, and configure boot file information and DHCP options.

Support options

Service Options
Gold support
Silver support
Bronze support
Basic (no support)
Premium (no longer offered)

Critical issue response
30 minutes, 24x7
1 hour, 24x7
2 hours, business hours only*
not included
not included

Standard issue response
4 business hours*
8 business hours*
Next business day
community support via public mailing list
community support via public mailing list

Early vulnerability notifications
5 days
5 days
5 days
3 days
not included

Kea 3.0 hook libraries (RBAC and Configuration Backend are the only commercially-licensed ones)
All - Subscriber
All - Subscriber
All - Subscriber
All - Subscriber
N/A

Kea 2.6 and earlier hook libraries included
All - Enterprise, Premium and Subscription
All - Enterprise, Premium and Subscription
Premium and Subscription
Premium and Subscription
Premium

Stork support
Available
Available
Available
Community support via user mailing list
Community support via user mailing list

Purchasing
Quotation/Purchase order
Quotation/Purchase order
Quotation/Purchase order
Quotation/Purchase order
no longer offered

* Our regular business hours for support are Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM ET, with the exception of a few major holidays, which are announced in advance.

Pricing based on deployment size and service level.

Contact ISC for a quote

Kea

VERSION
STATUS
DOCUMENTATION
RELEASE DATE
EOL DATE
DOWNLOAD

3.0.2
Current Stable - LTS
Kea ARM (

HTML
PDF

) Kea Messages (

HTML
PDF

) Release Notes (

TXT

)
October 2025
June 2028
Download

×

Thank you for downloading ISC’s Open Source Software!

Kea-3.0.2.tar.xz
Signatures

ASC

ISC-maintained packages
Signatures

Package Signatures

Please read release notes before updating! Breaking changes.

Click here for more information about all the available hook libraries

2.6.4
Current Stable
Kea ARM (

HTML
PDF

) Kea Messages (

HTML
PDF

) Release Notes (

TXT

)
July 2025
July 2026
Download

×

Thank you for downloading ISC’s Open Source Software!

Kea-2.6.4.tar.gz
Signatures

ASC

ISC-maintained packages
Signatures

Package Signatures

12 additional Kea hooks previously commercially licensed are open source in Kea 3.0!

Click here for more information about all the available hook libraries

3.1.4
Development
Kea ARM (

HTML
PDF

) Kea Messages (

HTML
PDF

) Release Notes (

TXT

)
November 2025
June 2026
Download

×

Thank you for downloading ISC’s Open Source Software!

Kea-3.1.4.tar.xz
Signature

ASC

ISC-maintained packages
Signatures

Package Signatures

12 additional Kea hooks previously commercially licensed are now open source!

Click here for more information about all the available hook libraries

Stork

VERSION
STATUS
DOCUMENTATION
RELEASE DATE
EOL DATE
DOWNLOAD

2.2.1
Current Stable
Stork ARM (

HTML

) Release Notes (

TXT

)
September 2025
Q1, 2026
Download

×

Thank you for downloading ISC’s Open Source Software!

stork-2.2.1.tar.gz
Signature

ASC/SHA512

ISC-maintained Packages
Select RPM, Debian, or Alpine packages

Package signing keys

Stork is a web-based graphical dashboard for monitoring Kea DHCP servers.

Click here to request information about Kea support

2.3.1
Development
Stork ARM (

HTML

) Release Notes (

TXT

)
October 2025
Q4, 2025
Download

×

Thank you for downloading ISC’s Open Source Software!

stork-2.3.1.tar.gz
Signature

ASC

ISC-maintained Packages
Select RPM, Debian, or Alpine packages

Package signing keys

Stork is a web-based graphical dashboard for managing Kea DHCP servers.

Click here to request information about Kea and Stork support

Latest News

Kea 3.0, our first LTS version
ISC is excited to announce the release of Kea 3.0.0! This is a major release, and is the first Long-Term Support (LTS) version of Kea.
Read

Most Kea Hooks Open-sourced
Hurrah! Twelve new open source hooks in Kea 2.7.7! With the release of Kea 2.
Read

Stork 2.0: Open Source DHCP Management Tool
ISC launched the Stork management application almost exactly five years ago, in November 2019, as an experimental tool.
Read

Kea 2.6.0 Released
ISC’s software engineering team is thrilled to announce the release of Kea 2.
Read

Mailing List
Join the kea-users mailing list to offer help to or receive advice from other users.
Join Now

Report a Bug
Before submitting a bug report please ensure that you are running a current version. Then log your report as an issue in our Kea GitLab project.
Report

Kea Project Wiki
Our design documents and plans help you understand Kea internals.
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© Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.

The ISC has released Kea DHCP, a modern, open-source DHCP server distribution designed to replace the older ISC DHCP system. This document provides a comprehensive overview of Kea, outlining its key features, differences from ISC DHCP, and the processes for getting started.

A primary driver for the creation of Kea was the End-of-Life announcement for ISC DHCP in 2022. Kea represents a substantial evolution, incorporating a modular component design utilizing dynamic “Hooks Modules” for extended functionality. These modules, which can be written in C++, enable users to tailor the server’s behavior without needing to modify the core codebase. The documentation highlights the ability to create your own hooks, expanding the server’s capabilities and adapting it to specific network requirements.

Crucially, Kea leverages a JSON configuration file for remote re-configuration, eliminating the lengthy downtime associated with restarting the server, a common issue with the older ISC DHCP system. This improvement is facilitated by the use of a database backend – currently supporting both MySQL and PostgreSQL – which offers significant advantages over a JSON configuration. These include minimizing formatting errors, facilitating data mining for analytics, and crucially, supporting shared lease and host reservation databases. Utilizing a shared lease database, for example, provides a resilience strategy, and a shared host reservation database, in conjunction with the Host_Cmds hook, permits remote management of host reservations via Stork.

The Kea architecture heavily relies on the Stork dashboard, a web-based graphical tool for monitoring multiple Kea DHCP servers. Stork aggregates data pertaining to both the Kea server and the systems it hosts, providing key metrics such as memory utilization, CPU performance, software versions, and system uptime. Furthermore, Stork monitors configured pools of IP addresses, tracking both assigned and provisioned numbers, while also flagging areas of high utilization to prompt operator action. In the event of High Availability pairs, the system displays the configured role and status of each server, readily identifying any servers lacking a backup and tracking failover events.

Beyond the core server functionality, Kea offers a significant upgrade in performance, employing a multi-threaded implementation designed for demanding scenarios characterized by short lease durations. The core Kea daemons are open source and licensed under MPL2.0, encouraging community development and contribution. ISC provides pre-built packages for popular operating systems, including RHEL, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. The documentation emphasizes the availability of a Kea Migration Assistant to facilitate the transfer of configurations from existing ISC DHCP deployments.

The document details several support options, ranging from basic (no support) to Gold support, each with differing response times (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or business hours). The documentation outlines service options based on deployment size and service level. Additionally, it addresses the licensing of Kea hooks with twelve previously commercially-licensed hooks now open source within the Kea 3.0 release, streamlining the development process. The launch of Stork, a web-based graphical dashboard for managing Kea DHCP servers, aligns with this transition, offering enhanced monitoring and control capabilities.

Finally, the document provides a clear path for getting started, emphasizing key decisions regarding deployment – whether for High Availability with paired servers or utilizing the default CSV file for host and lease data – and the importance of selecting a suitable database backend. The documentation concludes with a list of downloadable packages, release notes and, crucially, an invitation to contribute to the Kea project through the GitLab repository and the kea-users mailing list.