2. Quick Start¶

This section describes the basic steps needed to get Kea up and running. For further details, full customizations, and troubleshooting, see the respective chapters elsewhere in this Kea Administrator Reference Manual (ARM).

2.1. Quick Start Guide using tarball¶

Install required run-time and build dependencies. See Build Requirements for details.
Download the Kea source tarball from the ISC.org downloads page or the ISC downloads.isc.org.
Extract the tarball. For example:
```
$ tar -xvzf kea-1.9.8.tar.gz
```
Go into the source directory and run the configure script:
```
$ cd kea-1.9.8
$ ./configure [your extra parameters]
```
Build it:
```
$ make
```
Install it (by default it will be placed in /usr/local/, so it is likely that you will need root privileges for this step):
```
$ make install
```

2.2. Quick Start Guide using Native Packages¶

Starting with Kea 1.6.0, ISC now provides native RPM, deb and APK packages, which make Kea installation much easier. Unless you want to tweak specific compilation options, it is usually easier to install Kea using native packages.

Go to Kea on cloudsmith.io and choose Kea version and enter the repository.
Use Set Me Up and follow instructions to add repository on your system.
Update system repositories. For example:
$ apt-get update
Kea is split into various packages. You may check the entire list on cloudsmith.io or using apt/yum/dnf. For example:
$ apt-cache search isc-kea

Install specified packages:

$ sudo apt-get install isc-kea-dhcp6-server

or all packages:

$ sudo apt-get install isc-kea*

or all packages with specifying version number:

$ sudo apt-get install isc-kea*=1.8.1-isc0000920201106154401

All installed packages should be now available directly, for example:
# kea-dhcp6 -c /path/to/your/kea6/config/file.json
or using systemd:
# systemctl restart isc-kea-dhcp6-server
keactrl is not available in packages as similar functionality is provided by the native systemctl scripts.

2.3. Quick Start Guide for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 Services¶

Edit the Kea configuration files which by default are installed in the [kea-install-dir]/etc/kea/ directory. These are: kea-dhcp4.conf, kea-dhcp6.conf, kea-dhcp-ddns.conf and kea-ctrl-agent.conf, keactrl.conf for DHCPv4 server, DHCPv6 server, D2, Control Agent and keactrl script respectively.
In order to start the DHCPv4 server in the background, run the following command (as root):
```
# keactrl start -s dhcp4
```
Or run the following command to start the DHCPv6 server instead:
```
# keactrl start -s dhcp6
```
Note that it is also possible to start all servers simultaneously:
```
# keactrl start
```
Verify that the Kea server(s) is/are running:
```
# keactrl status
```
A server status of “inactive” may indicate a configuration error. Please check the log file (by default named [kea-install-dir]/var/log/kea-dhcp4.log, [kea-install-dir]/var/log/kea-dhcp6.log, [kea-install-dir]/var/log/kea-ddns.log or [kea-install-dir]/var/log/kea-ctrl-agent.log) for the details of the error.
If the server has been started successfully, test that it is responding to DHCP queries and that the client receives a configuration from the server; for example, use the ISC DHCP client.
Stop running the server(s):
```
# keactrl stop
```

For instructions specific to your system, please read the system-specific notes, available in the Kea section of ISC’s Knowledgebase.

The details of keactrl script usage can be found in Managing Kea with keactrl.

Once you have Kea services up and running, you may consider deploying a dashboard solution that would monitor running services. For more details, see Monitoring Kea With Stork.

2.4. Running the Kea Servers Directly¶

The Kea servers can be started directly, without the need to use keactrl or systemctl. To start the DHCPv4 server run the following command:

# kea-dhcp4 -c /path/to/your/kea4/config/file.json

Similarly, to start the DHCPv6 server run the following command:

# kea-dhcp6 -c /path/to/your/kea6/config/file.json