dhcpd version 4.1.1 in production environment ?

[Glenn Satchell]

sthaug at nethelp.no wrote:
>> We are using isc-dhcp 3.0.7 in our production environment at the moment.
>> Two RHEL linux servers, failover, loadsharing -  about 570 subnets.
>>
>> I understand that there has been a lot of development in the failover protocol and I am interested in 
>> taking advantage of that. The failover scenario is very important to us due to the many subnets.
>>
>> What is the concensus of moving to version 4.1.1 ( or anything beyond 3.0) ?
>>
>> I am a little puzzled/concerned, as to why linux distributions and FreeBSD are using old versions
>> of dhcpd. Red Hat defaults to 3.0.5, OpenSuse defaults to 3.1.2 and FreeBSD latest version in the ports is 3.1.3.
> 
> This depends on the Red Hat and FreeBSD maintainers, obviously.
> 
> We have been running 4.1.1 (beta versions) in a failover config since
> April 2009. Around 100k leases in 176 pools. Currently running on
> FreeBSD 7.2-STABLE.
> 
> There have been several important bug fixes regarding failover, and one
> important bug fix for a memory leak. We are very happy with the stability
> of the latest 4.1.1 versions (4.1.1b3, 4.1.1rc1, 4.1.1 release version).
> 
>> Does that mean version 4.1.1 is not really tested and ready or are the old versions so good that nobody wants to move ?
>> Should we maybe go for version 3.1.x instead of 4.1.1 ?
> 
> As far as I know the latest failover fixes have also been incorporated
> in 3.1.x. Having said that, 4.1.1 is rock solid for us (no crashes, no
> memory leaks), and the fact that it also supports IPv6 is a big plus.
> I would say that 4.1.1 has been tested quite extensively.
> 
> Note that some parts of the failover protocol (e.g. dhcpd state id) have
> changed between 3.0.x and {3.1.x, 4.x.x} - thus if you upgrade from
> 3.0.7 you need to upgrade both servers in your failover pair.
> 
> Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug at nethelp.no


4.1.0 alpha came out in September 2008, so the code has been out here 
for a while now. The release notes only show some minor fixing through 
beta, release candidate and final. I think this shows that the code is good.

While my network is much smaller than Steiner's, 4.1.1 was the first 4.x 
release that worked for me on Solaris 10 and has been rock solid in my 
environment from the original alpha up until the final release.

If I was setting up production networks now then I'd be using 4.1.1. 
While the upgrade is straight forward, if you're coming from 3.0.x then 
the upgrade to 3.1.x or 4.1.1 is about the same effort.

I think David and the rest of the ISC developers have done a great job.

-- 
regards,
-glenn
--
Glenn Satchell                            |  Miss 9: What do you
Uniq Advances Pty Ltd, Sydney Australia   |  do at work Dad?
mailto:glenn.satchell at uniq.com.au         |  Miss 6: He just
http://www.uniq.com.au tel:0409-458-580   |  types random stuff.