Configure

When you first start the Simple DHCP Server, you can see two files appearing.

  • hosts.csv is the database of all devices that were known. This is used to re-assign the same IP address and remember assignments between starts of the program. You can safely delete this if your window becomes too full. You can also read this in with a program.

  • simple-dhcp-server-qt.yml is a configuration file in the YAML format.

  • simple-dhcp-server-tk.conf is a Python program as confguration file.

Both files are extensively documented.

Configuration Options

It is safe to delete the configuration file. If the program does not start, it might be because of mistake in the file. Delete it then. Here are some of the configuration options.

Timings

The DHCP server is slower than those already on the network, so it does not replace them but responds when everybody else had the chance. These are the timings:

dhcp_offer_after_seconds: 10
dhcp_acknowledge_after_seconds: 10

Network

You can change the IP address if you like:

network: '192.168.137.0'
subnet_mask: '255.255.255.0'

If you have a router for Internet access, configure it like this:

router:
- 192.168.137.1

Same for the DNS servers. Usually, this is the same as your router from above. If you like to use a privacy friendly server:

domain_name_server:
- 5.9.164.112  # digital courage

More Options

More options are documented in the files respectively. If you use the simple-dhcp-server-tk.conf file, you need to change syntax.

Command Line

There is a whole chapter on how to use the Simple DHCP Server from the command line.