# Kea 2.7.1 Release Notes, July 31st, 2024
Welcome to Kea 2.7.1, the second monthly release of the 2.7 development
series. As with any other development release, use this with caution:
development releases are not recommended for production use.
Kea is a DHCP implementation developed by Internet Systems Consortium
(ISC) that features DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 servers with DNS update and a REST
API; optional database support (MySQL and PostgreSQL); optional RADIUS,
Kerberos, YANG/NETCONF, and GSS-TSIG support; and much more. Kea
provides extensive management capabilities, including but not limited
to: TLS support, Role-Based Access Control, run-time configuration
monitoring and updates via a REST API, host reservations, and client
classification.
The text below references issue numbers. For more details, visit the Kea
GitLab page at https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea/-/issues. For
details about Docker issues, visit the page at
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea-docker/-/issues/. For details
about packaging, visit the page at
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea-packaging/-/issues/.
The following bug fixes and features have been implemented since the
previous release, version 2.7.0:
1. **IPv6-only preferred**: Kea now supports truly `v6-only-preferred`
mode, as described in RFC8925. When a dual-stack device visits a v6-only
network, it still attempts to obtain IPv4 configuration using DHCPv4.
The RFC8925 mechanism allows the network operator to set up a minimal
DHCPv4 server that basically says "there's no IPv4 service here, stop
asking." This is what `v6-only-preferred` communicates. Until recently,
however, Kea sent back the option and assigned the IPv4 address at the
same time; this is now fixed. Kea is now able to send back the option
and send 0.0.0.0 to further indicate there's no address being assigned
[#3094].
2. **High Availability**: We fixed a potential problem with HA, where
the remote `dhcp-disable` state was not cleared after the
`config-reload` or `config-set` commands. Also, the `dhcp-state` is now
included in the `status-get` command; it indicates whether the dhcp
service is enabled or the reason why it is disabled (user command, HA
command, or database connection failure) [#3446].
3. **Security**: All permissions for other users are now removed from
configuration files created by Kea agents and servers [#3050].
4. **Bug fixes**: We corrected an issue with overlapping enum values for
the option definition data type stored in the Config Backend (CB). This
was causing option definitions of type "record", created via CB
commands, to not load properly when fetched from the backend. This
change updates DB schemas for both PostgreSQL and MySQL [#3476]. We
addressed a CB issue when upgrading from 2.4.0 to 2.6.0 [#3472]. We
corrected a bug in storing and fetching encapsulated DHCP options from
the CB; these options were sometimes not returned when they were
specified at the subnet, shared-network, or client-class level [#3481].
The `remote-class6-get` command now returns the lifetime values properly
[#3469]. The encoding of long options in DHCPv4 (RFC3396) was fixed
[#2917, #3440]. We fixed a file descriptor leak in the High Availability
hook library [#3449].
5. **Two malfunctioning options removed**: The
`control-socket.socket-name` and `control-socket.socket-type` parameters
were removed from the CB; they were broken and never functioned properly
[#3479].
6. **Build improvements**: A script was added that detects and flags
duplicate and unused messages [#1723]. The upgrade scripts for schema
version 23 are now included [#3480].
7. **Testing**: We adapted the database script checking for the CI job
to accept minor schema version numbers [#3497]. Much effort was spent on
making our fuzzing environment more robust. A crash was investigated in
the fuzzing framework and fixed [#3233].
## Incompatible Changes
1. The `control-socket.socket-name` and `control-socket.socket-type`
parameters were removed from the Config Backend (CB).
## Other
## License
This version of Kea is released under the Mozilla Public License,
version 2.0.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0
Some Kea hook libraries are provided under the MPL 2.0; others are
licensed with the [Kea Hooks Basic Commercial End User
License](https://www.isc.org/kea-premium-license/). The source for each
hook library includes the applicable license.
## Download
Pre-built ISC packages for current versions of the most popular Linux
operating systems are available at:
https://cloudsmith.io/~isc/repos/
Pre-built Docker images, as well as Docker files, are available. For
details, see:
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea-docker
The Kea source and PGP signature for this release may be downloaded from:
https://www.isc.org/download
The signature was generated with the ISC code-signing key, which is
available at:
https://www.isc.org/pgpkey
ISC provides detailed documentation, including installation instructions
and usage tutorials, in the Kea Administrator Reference Manual.
Documentation is included with the installation or at
https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html in HTML, PDF, or EPUB
formats. ISC maintains a public open source code tree, wiki, issue
tracking system, milestone planner, and roadmap at
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea.
Limitations and known issues with this release can be found at
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea/-/wikis/known-issues-list.
We ask users of this software to please let us know how it worked for
you and what operating system you tested on. Feel free to share your
feedback on the Kea Users mailing list
(https://lists.isc.org/mailman/listinfo/kea-users). We would also like
to hear whether the documentation is adequate and accurate. Please open
tickets in the Kea GitLab project for bugs, documentation omissions and
errors, and enhancement requests. We want to hear from you even if
everything worked.
## Support
Professional support for Kea is available from ISC. We encourage all
professional users to consider this option; Kea maintenance is funded
with support subscriptions. For more information on ISC's Kea software
support, see https://www.isc.org/support/.
Free best-effort support is provided by our user community via a mailing
list. Information on all public email lists is available at
https://www.isc.org/community/mailing-list. If you have any comments or
questions about working with Kea, please share them to the Kea Users
list (https://lists.isc.org/mailman/listinfo/kea-users). Bugs and
feature requests may be submitted via GitLab at
https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea/-/issues.
## Changes
The following summarizes changes and important upgrades since the 2.7.0
release.
2268. [build] ravan
The library version numbers have been bumped up for the Kea 2.7.1
development release.
(Gitlab #3515)
2267. [bug] tmark
Corrected an issue in MySQL config back end that
causes preferred life time values to be overwritten
when updating client classes via remote-set-class6.
command.
(Gitlab #3469)
2266. [bug] fdupont
Improved the code handling multiple instances of
the same v4 option according to RFC 3396.
(Gitlab #3440)
2265. [bug]* fdupont
The 'control-socket' ('control-socket.socket-name' and
'control-socket.socket-type') was removed from the global maps
which can be managed by the config backend because in fact if
it is possible to change values they are not applied.
(Gitlab #3479)
2264. [bug]* tmark
Corrected an issue with overlapping enum values
for option definition data type. This was causing
option definitions of type "record", created via
config backend commands, to not load properly when
fetched from the back end.
(Gitlab #3476)
2263. [func] fdupont
RFC 8925 "IPv6-Only Preferred Option for DHCPv4" is now
fully implemented: 0.0.0.0 address can be offerred.
(Gitlab #3094)
2262. [bug] marcin
Corrected a bug in storing and fetching the encapsulated DHCP
options from the configuration backend. These options were
sometimes not returned when they were specified at the subnet,
shared network or client class level.
(Gitlab #3481)
2261. [bug] razvan
Reset the local and remote disabled state when applying
configuration. The dhcp-state is now included in the 'status-get'
command. It indicates if the dhcp service is enabled or the
reason why it is disabled (user command, HA command or database
connection failure).
(Gitlab #3446)
2260. [bug] razvan
Fixed a file descriptor leak in the High Availability hook
library.
(Gitlab #3449)
2259. [func] fdupont
All permissions for other users are now removed from files
created by Kea agents and servers.
(Gitlab #3050)
And for Kea premium:
202. [bug]* fdupont
The control-socket was removed from the global maps
which can be managed by the config backend because
in fact if it is possible to change values they
are not applied.
(Gitlab #3479)
Thank you again to everyone who assisted us in making this release
possible.
We look forward to receiving your feedback.