kea/src/lib/dhcpsrv/libdhcpsrv.dox

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/**
 @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) is a singleton object which
holds configuration information necessary for the operation of Kea daemons.
A complete collection of information for the daemon is stored in the
\ref isc::dhcp::Configuration object. Internally, the Configuration Manager
holds a list of \ref isc::dhcp::Configuration objects, from which one
is marked as "current configuration".

When the server starts up or is being reconfigured a new
\ref isc::dhcp::Configuration object, referred to as "staging configuration",
is created. The staging configuration is held at the tip of the list of
configurations. The object can be accessed by calling the
\ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr::getStagingCfg. This object can be accessed
from different stages of the configuration parsing and modified as needed.
Modifications of the staging configuration do not affect the current
configuration. The staging configuration is unused until the
\ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr::commit function is called. This exception safe method
marks the staging object as "current configuration". The const pointer to the
current configuration can be accessed by calling a
\ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr::getCurrentCfg.

The staging configuration can be discarded at any time before it is committed
by calling the \ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr::rollback. This removes the
\ref isc::dhcp::Configuration object from the Configuration Manager. When
the \ref isc::dhcp::CfgMgr::getStagingCfg is called again a fresh/default
\ref isc::dhcp::Configuration object is returned.

The Configuration Manager stores previous configurations, i.e. configurations
which occurred prior to the most current configuration. This is currently
unused (except for unit tests) by the deamons, but in the future this
mechanism can be used to trigger a rollover of the server configuration
to a last good configuration that the administrator prefers.

The previous configurations are identified by the value which specifies a
distance between the current configuration and the previous
configuration. For example: the value of 1 identifies an immediate
predecessor of the current configuration, the value of 2 identifies the
one that occurred before it etc.

@todo Currently, only a subset of configuration information is stored in
the \ref isc::dhcp::Configuration object. Kea developers are actively working
on migrating the other configuration parameters to it.

@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 least 3 allocators will be implemented:

- Iterative - it iterates over all resources (addresses or prefixes) in
available pools, one by one. The advantages of this approach are: speed
(typically it only needs to increase address just one), the guarantee to cover
all addresses and predictability.  This allocator behaves reasonably 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 not suitable for
temporary addresses, which must be randomized. 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. This will be the only allocator allowed for temporary addresses.

- 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.

@subsection allocEngineTypes Different lease types support

Allocation Engine has been extended to support different types of leases. Four
types are supported: TYPE_V4 (IPv4 addresses), TYPE_NA (normal IPv6 addresses),
TYPE_TA (temporary IPv6 addresses) and TYPE_PD (delegated prefixes). Support for
TYPE_TA is partial. Some routines are able to handle it, while other are
not. The major missing piece is the RandomAllocator, so there is no way to randomly
generate an address. This defeats the purpose of using temporary addresses for now.

@subsection allocEnginePD Prefix Delegation support in AllocEngine

The Allocation Engine supports allocation of the IPv6 addresses and prefixes.
For a prefix pool, the iterative allocator "walks over"
every available pool. It is similar to how it iterates over address pool,
but instead of increasing address by just one, it walks over the whole delegated
prefix length in one step. This is implemented in
isc::dhcp::AllocEngine::IterativeAllocator::increasePrefix(). Functionally the
increaseAddress(addr) call is equivalent to increasePrefix(addr, 128)
(increasing by a /128 prefix, i.e. a single address).  However, both methods are
kept, because increaseAddress() is faster and this is a routine that may be
called many hundred thousands times per second.

*/