Choosing the DHCP Data Store (System Administration Guide: IP Services)

System Administration Guide: IP Services

Choosing the DHCP Data Store

You can choose to store the DHCP data in text files, binary files, or the NIS+ directory service. The following table summarizes the features of each type of data store, and indicates the environment in which to use each data store type.

Table 12–3 Comparison of DHCP Data Stores


Data Store Type	Performance	Maintenance	Sharing	Environment
Binary files	High performance, high capacity	Low maintenance, no database servers required. Contents must be viewed with DHCP Manager or `dhtadm` and `pntadm`. Regular file backups suggested.	Data stores cannot be shared among DHCP servers.	Midsize to large environments with many networks with thousands of clients per network. Useful for small to medium ISPs.
NIS+	Moderate performance and capacity, dependent upon NIS+ service's performance and capacity	DHCP server system must be configured as an NIS+ client. Requires NIS+ service maintenance. Contents must be viewed with DHCP Manager or `dhtadm` and `pntadm`. Regular backup with `nisbackup` is suggested.	DHCP data is distributed in NIS+, and multiple servers can access the same containers.	Small to midsize environments with up to 5000 clients per network.
Text files	Moderate performance, low capacity	Low maintenance, no database servers required. ASCII format is readable without DHCP Manager, `dhtadm`, or `pntadm`. Regular file backups suggested.	Data store can be shared among DHCP servers if DHCP data is stored on one file system that is exported through an NFS mount point.	Small environments with less than 10,000 clients, with a few hundred to a thousand clients per network.

Traditional NIS is not offered as a data store option because NIS does not support fast incremental updates. If your network uses NIS, you should use text files or binary files for your data store.