Freedom251 › DHCP Management Software
Jen Kea DHCP Management Console
What Jen Kea DHCP Management Console is
Jen Kea DHCP Management Console is a free, open-source web interface for administering ISC Kea DHCP Server. From a browser, operators can manage leases, reservations, subnets, and infrastructure, with a dashboard for subnet utilization, lease activity, server status, HA state, and alerts. Lease tools include filtering, releasing, stale-lease cleanup, dynamic-to-reservation conversion, and CSV import or export. Subnet and pool edits are applied over SSH after Kea validation, a host backup, multi-server preflight, and rollback protection. Optional IPv6 support covers leases, devices, reservations, pools, timers, and metrics. Alerts can go to channels including email, Slack, Telegram, Discord, and webhooks; optional plugins add functions such as network discovery and local DNS synchronization. Jen uses MySQL or MariaDB for Kea data and connects through the Control Agent or direct daemon sockets. Guided installation is recommended on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04, and Docker deployment is supported. The project is aimed at homelab and small-business operators managing a handful of servers, not large fleets. It is solo-maintained, without dedicated security staff or paid support.
Who it suits
Jen suits homelab and small-business operators managing a handful of ISC Kea servers. It is not designed for large fleets.
What it does well
- Free and licensed under GPL v3
- Lease, reservation, and subnet management
- Optional IPv6 support
- Supports TOTP MFA, passkeys, and audit logs
- Ubuntu installer and Docker deployment
What to know first
- No dedicated security team or paid support
- Only the latest release receives security fixes
- No professional external penetration test
Limits
There is no paid support, and the project targets operators managing a handful of servers rather than large fleets. Security fixes are provided only for the latest released version.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| GPL v3 open-source | self-hosted · Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Docker · ISC Kea with MySQL/MariaDB | Free |
As github.com lists them, read 14 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Getting started
- Use the guided installer on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04, or deploy with Docker.
- Provide ISC Kea with MySQL or MariaDB for Kea data.
- Connect Jen to Kea through the Control Agent or direct daemon control sockets.
- Use SSH for configuration and service operations.
Verdict
Jen offers broad DHCP management features for smaller self-hosted environments, including optional IPv6 and several access controls. Operators should weigh its stated support and security-assurance limits before relying on it.
Questions
Does Jen cost anything?
Jen is free and open source under the GPL v3 license.
What does it manage?
It provides browser-based management for ISC Kea DHCP Server, including leases, reservations, subnets and infrastructure.
How can it be deployed?
The recommended guided installer runs on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04. Docker deployment is also supported.
What does Jen require to connect to Kea?
It uses the Control Agent or direct daemon control sockets, MySQL or MariaDB for Kea data, and SSH for configuration and service operations.
Does it support IPv6 and DHCP failover?
Optional IPv6 support includes leases, devices, reservations, subnet pools, timers and metrics. DHCP failover is listed as supported.
What security and support arrangements does the project describe?
Security features include access roles, per-subnet controls, TOTP MFA, passkeys, trusted devices, rate limiting, session timeouts and audit logs. The project has no dedicated security team or paid support; only the latest release receives security fixes.
Facts from Jen Kea DHCP Management Console's own pages
- Access control
- The product provides SuperAdmin, Admin and Viewer roles plus subnet-level permissions. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Agentless design
- The architecture uses one Flask process and does not require a resident Jen agent on each Kea server. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Authentication
- Security controls include TOTP and WebAuthn/passkey MFA, trusted devices, login throttling, session timeouts, audit logging and HTTPS certificate upload. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Configuration safety
- Before applying subnet changes Jen validates Kea configuration, backs up the host configuration, records revisions and can roll back failed changes. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Dashboard
- The dashboard displays live subnet utilization, recent leases, server and HA status, alerts, configurable refresh and customizable widgets. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Installation is offered through a guided shell installer or Docker Compose with either an external or bundled database. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Diagnostics
- Client investigation supports MAC, IPv4, IPv6, DUID and hostname lookup with Explain, Trace, Timeline, DNS, Config and Changes views. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The repository includes installation, architecture, security, feature, contribution and changelog documents. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Extensibility
- Plugin API v3 exposes event emission, row actions, search providers, alert types and plugin API-key routes. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- High availability
- Jen shows HA state, compares leases across a pair and provides a guided maintenance workflow when the Kea HA hook is present. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Independent ecosystem context
- GitHub's Kea topic page showed 62 public repositories when opened, indicating an active collection of related Kea projects. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Independent market listing
- Gartner's DNS, DHCP and IPAM market page listed ten products and did not show Jen among those product listings. · gartner.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Independent praise: motivation
- A Reddit user said Stork was difficult to get running and linked Jen as a Linux application they wrote to provide the functionality they wanted. · reddit.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Jen connects to Kea through the Control Agent or direct daemon control sockets, uses MySQL/MariaDB for Kea data, and uses SSH for configuration and service operations. · github.com, 30 Sept 2026
- IPv6
- DHCPv6 support is optional and covers leases, devices, reservations, subnets, dashboard views, search and authored starting configuration. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- ISC API transition
- ISC says the Kea Control Agent was deprecated in version 3.0 and removed in version 3.2, with direct daemon APIs replacing it. · kb.isc.org, 14 Oct 2026
- ISC configuration-backend limitation
- ISC states that Kea's configuration backend does not currently work for DDNS, the Control Agent or several other hooks. · kb.isc.org, 14 Oct 2026
- ISC Kea database support
- ISC documents Kea support for MySQL and PostgreSQL backends and says shared backends can serve multiple Kea servers. · isc.org, 14 Oct 2026
- Kea connectivity
- Jen uses Kea command HTTP APIs, direct daemon control sockets, MySQL/MariaDB data access and SSH for configuration and service operations. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Lease management
- Operators can browse and filter leases, release leases, remove stale leases, convert dynamic leases to reservations and import or export CSV data. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- License
- The repository states that Jen is released under GNU GPL version 3. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: fleet scale
- Jen's own architecture document says its single-process design does not scale to fleets as well as an agent architecture. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: Kea migration
- Reddit users describe Kea migration as troublesome, including reports of crashes, unexpected reservation behavior and returning to ISC DHCP. · reddit.com, 14 Oct 2026
- Maker background
- The repository credits Matthew Thibodeau, described as an IT engineer with more than two decades of experience, as the builder. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
Where Jen Kea DHCP Management Console stands on Freedom251
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