{"slug": "kea-dhcp", "name": "Kea DHCP", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.432, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-03", "latest": "2025-12-04", "why": "I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.isc.org/kea/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Kea DHCP"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 738324464, "item_id": 46145279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46145279", "by": "kevin061", "date": "2025-12-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kea's distributed nature makes it a breeze.", "excerpt": "We use Kea at work and make extensive use of its hooks system to customise what leases we give out, and in which of our 8 datacenters. Our infrastructure is hundreds of thousands of machines and Kea's distributed nature makes it a breeze.", "context": "uses it at work across 8 datacenters", "use_case": "DHCP across datacenters", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 738277648, "item_id": 46142353, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142353", "by": "brianjlogan", "date": "2025-12-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was really impressed.", "excerpt": "I ran my own home router and I used Kea and Power DNS using Systemd Containers to provide service for my whole home. I was really impressed. I think the folks who put it together did a good job of addressing the major warts of my experience with isc-dhcp-server. I'm sure it's a tremendous challenge writing software that's supposed to live up to modern expectations while still attempting to deliver on all of the legac", "context": "runs own home router", "use_case": "home router DHCP", "switched_from": "isc-dhcp-server", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 738275904, "item_id": 46142244, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142244", "by": "BLKNSLVR", "date": "2025-12-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since.", "excerpt": "OPNSense deprecated (is deprecating?) the included ISC DHCP server and now has the Kea DHCP server as standard. I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since. No complaints here, but my setup is pretty vanilla. I can't comment on the DNS integration, but I might look a bit deeper because it sounds useful.", "context": "vanilla home setup", "use_case": "DHCP in OPNsense", "switched_from": "ISC DHCP", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "kevin061", "context": "uses it at work across 8 datacenters", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46145279", "date": "2025-12-04"}, {"by": "brianjlogan", "context": "runs own home router", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142353", "date": "2025-12-03"}, {"by": "BLKNSLVR", "context": "vanilla home setup", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142244", "date": "2025-12-03"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["dhcp across datacenters", "home router dhcp", "dhcp in opnsense"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142000", "title": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server", "mentions": 3}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 738324464, "item_id": 46145279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46145279", "by": "kevin061", "date": "2025-12-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kea's distributed nature makes it a breeze.", "excerpt": "We use Kea at work and make extensive use of its hooks system to customise what leases we give out, and in which of our 8 datacenters. Our infrastructure is hundreds of thousands of machines and Kea's distributed nature makes it a breeze.", "context": "uses it at work across 8 datacenters", "use_case": "DHCP across datacenters", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 738277648, "item_id": 46142353, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142353", "by": "brianjlogan", "date": "2025-12-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was really impressed.", "excerpt": "I ran my own home router and I used Kea and Power DNS using Systemd Containers to provide service for my whole home. I was really impressed. I think the folks who put it together did a good job of addressing the major warts of my experience with isc-dhcp-server. I'm sure it's a tremendous challenge writing software that's supposed to live up to modern expectations while still attempting to deliver on all of the legac", "context": "runs own home router", "use_case": "home router DHCP", "switched_from": "isc-dhcp-server", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 738275904, "item_id": 46142244, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142244", "by": "BLKNSLVR", "date": "2025-12-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since.", "excerpt": "OPNSense deprecated (is deprecating?) the included ISC DHCP server and now has the Kea DHCP server as standard. I migrated to from ISC to Kea in OPNSense and it was relatively painless, and it's been working well since. No complaints here, but my setup is pretty vanilla. I can't comment on the DNS integration, but I might look a bit deeper because it sounds useful.", "context": "vanilla home setup", "use_case": "DHCP in OPNsense", "switched_from": "ISC DHCP", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}]}