While ISC DHCP servers handle operations at the DHCP pool level, Micetro manages failover relationships at both the scope and server levels. Scopes group IP addresses logically and help to manage failover efficiently. DHCP configurations can be customized per scope to suit the specific requirements of different network segments.
You can add failover relationships either in the Micetro Web Application or through the API.
Adding failover relationships in Micetro
To add a failover relationship in Micetro:
- On the Admin page, select the Service management tab.
- In the left sidebar, under DHCP services, select ISC DHCP.
- Select the ISC DHCP server housing the scope for which you want to establish failover configuration, and then use either the Action or Row ... menu to select Manage failover.
- In the dialog, select + Add relationship.
- In the Initial setup step, enter the following information:
- Failover name: Specify the name of the failover peer.
- Partner server: Select the partner server for the failover configuration.
- Port: Specify the port number on which the server should listen for connections from its failover peer.
- Partner port: Specify the port partner on which the failover partner listens for connections.
Then select Next.
- In the Options step, enter the following information:
- Maximum client lead time: Enter the number of seconds for which a lease can be renewed by either server without contacting the other. Only specified on the primary failover peer.
- Max response delay: Enter the number of seconds that may pass without the server receiving a message from its failover peer before it assumes that the connection has failed.
- Load balance max seconds: Enter the cutoff, in seconds, after which load balancing is disabled. The ISC documentation recommends a value of 3 or 5.
- Max unacked updates: Enter the number of messages the server can send before receiving an acknowledgment from its failover peer. According to ISC documentation, 10 seems to be a good value.
- After confirming the details in the Summary step, select Add.
Adding failover relationships through API
To add a failover relationship through the API:
The API supports the creation of failover relationships with the
AddDHCPFailoverRelationship command, which uses the following
parameters:
- Name: The name of the DHCP failover relationship to be created.
- PrimaryServer: The name of the primary DHCP server as it appears in Micetro.
- SecondaryServer: The name of the secondary DHCP server as it appears in Micetro.
- Percentage: The percentage of the DHCPv4 client load that will be shared between the primary and secondary servers in the failover relationship.
- Mclt: The number of seconds for which a lease can be renewed by either server without contacting the other.
- Port: The port number on which the server should listen for connections from its failover peer.
- LoadBalanceMaxSeconds: The cutoff, in seconds, after which load balancing is disabled. The ISC documentation recommends a value of 3 or 5.
- MaxResponseDelay: The number of seconds that may pass without the server receiving a message from its failover peer before it assumes that the connection has failed.
- MaxUnackedUpdates: The number of messages the server can send before receiving an acknowledgment from its failover peer. According to ISC documentation, 10 seems to be a good value.