Questions about dhcpd.leases file

[Simon Hobson]

Klemen Sladic <gosturnca at gmail.com> wrote:

> 1. What is the difference between dhcpd.leases and dhcpd.leases~ files?

The latter is the previous file. Periodically (compiled in 1 hour by default) the server will write out a fresh leases file, move the old one (that's the one with ~ appended to it's name), and the new file moved into place. It's done that way so that if an error occurs, you haven't just over-written the only copy of the file !

> 2. My dhcpd.leases parsing script is executed on commit, like:
> 
> subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
> {
>    interface "eth0";
>    range 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.100;
>    option routers 192.168.0.254;
>    on commit {
>       execute("/home/user/leases_parse.sh");
>    }
> }
> 
> Can I assume that dhcpd.leases has already been updated with latest lease when my script is executed?

Don't know. It's required that the leases file is updated before sending teh packet to the client, but I don't know if it's defined at what point the on commit is executed.

> 3. Is a new lease always appended at the end of dhcpd.leases file?

Yes

> 4. On renew is a new lease block always added at the end or is existing block updated?

Yes. A lease is never updated in-place - a new record is appended to the leases file which is why you will see several entries for some clients. Obviously this append only method needs a cleanup from time to time - see 1 above.

BTW, there are some things you need to be aware of.

AIUI "on xxxx" scripts are not executed asynchronously - hence running your script has the ability to severely compromise the performance of your DHCP service.
If you are running the script to parse the lease that's just been written, can you obtain the information from within the server ? Eg build a log statement and then just tail the log file ?
Can values be passed in the on xxxx call ? I don't know, but if they can then that might save you have to parse the file.