Production Deployment -- Version Questions

Glenn Satchell glenn.satchell at uniq.com.au
Wed May 26 15:28:51 UTC 2010


On 05/27/10 00:40, Joshua West wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I'm currently in the process of redeploying our ISC DHCPD system.  It
> issues IP addresses to a class B network, along with several other
> private networks (for things like VoIP phones, etc).
>
> Our current deployment consists of RHEL3 and DHCP 3.0.x on a pair of
> servers -- no failover configured.  We use RHEL5 now as our standard OS,
> which also ships with version 3.0.x.
>
> Seeing that I'd like to make use of failover in our new deployment, I
> have a few questions:
>
>     * Which version would you recommend?  3.1.x?  3.1.x-ESV?  4.1.1?
>     * Or should I stick with the stock ISC DHCP 3.0.x from RHEL?
>     * Release notes for 3.1.x state "A significantly enhanced Failover
> protocol implementation" -- can anybody elaborate beyond whats listed in
> the notes?
>
> Lastly, has anybody written an RPM .spec for 3.1.x or 4.1.1?  The
> contrib/dhcp.spec file within the 4.1.1 tarball looks like it is only
> for 3.0.x.
>
> Thanks, I appreciate any input/help y'all may have.
>
Hi Joshua

3.0.x is out of support, so you definitely should run something newer. 
There has been a few releases of the 4.x branch, so it's not like it's 
brand new anymore. Running 4.1.1 also allows you to run ipv6 without 
having to upgrade again. If you're only just retiring rhel3 then your 
rhel5 boxes should be around for a while :)

I installed 4.1.1 at the beginning of this year and it has been stable 
for me, but I don't run failover. I recently went to 4.2.0b1 and that 
has run fine for me, but maybe not ready for a large production network 
yet? It has some additional enhancements to failover that are probably 
going to be worthwhile. Plan to upgrade to that once it is stable.

One feature that helps with upgrades is the upwards compatibility of 
dhcpd.conf. I don't believe I've had to make config or syntax changes 
since I ran 3.0.x (yes I've added more subnets and host entries). That 
allows you to upgrade to a new version without too much pain.

The changes to the failover protocol are long and boring, just trust the 
ISC guys when they say "lots of fixes and improvements".

-- 
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.



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