Option 50 in failover mode

[Bob Proulx]

sthaug at nethelp.no wrote:
> > I feel confident saying that most people setting up two dhcpd servers
> > in a failover configuration will want it to have hands off handling of
> > failures.
> 
> I don't feel confident about that at all.
> 
> Given that ISC DHCP, until a very recent version, only supported
> "hands on" failover, my guess is that most failover configurations
> today are "hands on", i.e. no automatic setting of a failed server
> in "partner-down" state.

I have personally been using "hands off" failover mode since 3.1.1
from 2008.  It has been three years and it has been working very well
for me.  The failover protocol was introduced in isc dhcpd version 3.0
way back in 2000 sometime but since I didn't use it then I don't know
how stable it was during that period.  I could believe it wasn't
usable then.  But if you search the net you will find many howto
documents such as this one http://www.madboa.com/geek/dhcp-failover/
from 2005 where apparently at least some people were successfully
using failover six years ago.

I don't consider at least six years of working failover in the isc
dhcpd very recent at all.  And I have had years of stability from it.

Bob