/** @page libdhcpsrv libdhcpsrv - Server DHCP library This library contains code useful for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server operations, like Lease Manager that stores leases information, configuration manager that stores configuration etc. The code here is server specific. For generic (useful in server, client, relay and other tools like perfdhcp) code, please see \ref libdhcp. This library contains several crucial elements of the DHCP server operation: - isc::dhcp::LeaseMgr - Lease Manager is a name for database backend that stores leases. - isc::dhcp::CfgMgr - Configuration Manager that holds DHCP specific configuration information (subnets, pools, options, timer values etc.) in easy to use format. - AllocEngine - allocation engine that handles new requestes and allocates new leases. @section leasemgr Lease Manager LeaseMgr provides a common, unified abstract API for all database backends. All backends are derived from the base class isc::dhcp::LeaseMgr. Currently the only available backend is MySQL (see \ref isc::dhcp::MySqlLeaseMgr). @section cfgmgr Configuration Manager Configuration Manager (\ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr) stores configuration information necessary for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server operation. In particular, it stores subnets (\ref isc::dhcp::Subnet4 and \ref isc::dhcp::Subnet6) together with their pools (\ref isc::dhcp::Pool4 and \ref isc::dhcp::Pool6), options and other information specified by the used in BIND10 configuration. @section allocengine Allocation Engine Allocation Engine (\ref isc::dhcp::AllocEngine) is what its name say - an engine that handles allocation of new leases. It takes parameters that the client provided (client-id, DUID, subnet, a hint if the user provided one, etc.) and then attempts to allocate a lease. There is no single best soluction to the address assignment problem. Server is expected to pick an address from its available pools is currently not used. There are many possible algorithms that can do that, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. This allocation engine must provide robust operation is radically different scenarios, so there address selection problem was abstracted into separate module, called allocator. Its sole purpose is to pick an address from a pool. Allocation engine will then check if the picked address is free and if it is not, then will ask allocator to pick again. At lease 3 allocators will be implemented: - Iterative - it iterates over all addresses in available pools, one by one. The advantages of this approach are speed (typically it only needs to increase last address), the guarantee to cover all addresses and predictability. This allocator behaves very good in case of nearing depletion. Even when pools are almost completely allocated, it still will be able to allocate outstanding leases efficiently. Predictability can also be considered a serious flaw in some environments, as prediction of the next address is trivial and can be leveraged by an attacker. Another drawback of this allocator is that it does not attempt to give the same address to returning clients (clients that released or expired their leases and are requesting a new lease will likely to get a different lease). This allocator is implemented in \ref isc::dhcp::AllocEngine::IterativeAllocator. - Hashed - ISC-DHCP uses hash of the client-id or DUID to determine, which address is tried first. If that address is not available, the result is hashed again. That procedure is repeated until available address is found or there are no more addresses left. The benefit of that approach is that it provides a relative lease stability, so returning old clients are likely to get the same address again. The drawbacks are increased computation cost, as each iteration requires use of a hashing function. That is especially difficult when the pools are almost depleted. It also may be difficult to guarantee that the repeated hashing will iterate over all available addresses in all pools. Flawed hash algorithm can go into cycles that iterate over only part of the addresses. It is difficult to detect such issues as only some initial seed (client-id or DUID) values may trigger short cycles. This allocator is currently not implemented. - Random - Another possible approach to address selection is randomization. This allocator can pick an address randomly from the configured pool. The benefit of this approach is that it is easy to implement and makes attacks based on address prediction more difficult. The drawback of this approach is that returning clients are almost guaranteed to get a different address. Another drawback is that with almost depleted pools it is increasingly difficult to "guess" an address that is free. This allocator is currently not implemented. */