Danbyte Free plan 8.7 Visit Jen Kea DHCP Management Console
github.com
What it is
Jen Kea DHCP Management Console is a free, GPL v3 web interface for managing ISC Kea DHCP Server. Operators can manage leases, reservations, subnets, and infrastructure from a browser, while the dashboard shows subnet utilization, lease activity, server status, HA state, and alerts. Lease tools include filtering active leases, releasing them, cleaning stale leases, converting dynamic leases to reservations, and CSV import or export. Subnet and pool edits are applied over SSH after Kea validation, a host-side backup, multi-server preflight, and rollback protection. Optional IPv6 support covers leases, devices, reservations, subnet pools, timers, and metrics. Alert channels include Pushover, Telegram, Slack, ntfy, Discord, email, and generic webhooks; optional plugins add network discovery, IPAM Lite, local DNS synchronization, and other functions. Jen connects through the Control Agent or direct daemon sockets, uses MySQL or MariaDB for Kea data, and uses SSH for configuration and service operations. The recommended guided installer runs on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04, and Docker deployment is also supported. The project targets homelab-to-small-business operators managing a handful of servers, not large fleets.
Spec sheet
- What it does
- Jen is a browser-based console for managing ISC Kea DHCP leases, reservations, subnets and related infrastructure.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Purpose
- Jen is a full-featured web-based management interface for ISC Kea DHCP Server, managing leases, reservations, subnets and infrastructure from a browser.Read 30 Sep 2026 · github.com
- Deployment
- Installation is offered through a guided shell installer or Docker Compose with either an external or bundled database.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- 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.Read 30 Sep 2026 · github.com
- License
- The repository states that Jen is released under GNU GPL version 3.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Access control
- The product provides SuperAdmin, Admin and Viewer roles plus subnet-level permissions.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Agentless design
- The architecture uses one Flask process and does not require a resident Jen agent on each Kea server.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Authentication
- Security controls include TOTP and WebAuthn/passkey MFA, trusted devices, login throttling, session timeouts, audit logging and HTTPS certificate upload.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Configuration safety
- Before applying subnet changes Jen validates Kea configuration, backs up the host configuration, records revisions and can roll back failed changes.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Dashboard
- The dashboard displays live subnet utilization, recent leases, server and HA status, alerts, configurable refresh and customizable widgets.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Diagnostics
- Client investigation supports MAC, IPv4, IPv6, DUID and hostname lookup with Explain, Trace, Timeline, DNS, Config and Changes views.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Documentation
- The repository includes installation, architecture, security, feature, contribution and changelog documents.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Extensibility
- Plugin API v3 exposes event emission, row actions, search providers, alert types and plugin API-key routes.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- High availability
- Jen shows HA state, compares leases across a pair and provides a guided maintenance workflow when the Kea HA hook is present.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Independent ecosystem context
- GitHub's Kea topic page showed 62 public repositories when opened, indicating an active collection of related Kea projects.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Independent market listing
- Gartner's DNS, DHCP and IPAM market page listed ten products and did not show Jen among those product listings.Read 14 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
- 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.Read 14 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
- IPv6
- DHCPv6 support is optional and covers leases, devices, reservations, subnets, dashboard views, search and authored starting configuration.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- 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.Read 14 Oct 2026 · kb.isc.org
- ISC configuration-backend limitation
- ISC states that Kea's configuration backend does not currently work for DDNS, the Control Agent or several other hooks.Read 14 Oct 2026 · kb.isc.org
- ISC Kea database support
- ISC documents Kea support for MySQL and PostgreSQL backends and says shared backends can serve multiple Kea servers.Read 14 Oct 2026 · isc.org
- Kea connectivity
- Jen uses Kea command HTTP APIs, direct daemon control sockets, MySQL/MariaDB data access and SSH for configuration and service operations.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Lease management
- Operators can browse and filter leases, release leases, remove stale leases, convert dynamic leases to reservations and import or export CSV data.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Limit: fleet scale
- Jen's own architecture document says its single-process design does not scale to fleets as well as an agent architecture.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Limit: Kea migration
- Reddit users describe Kea migration as troublesome, including reports of crashes, unexpected reservation behavior and returning to ISC DHCP.Read 14 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
- Maker background
- The repository credits Matthew Thibodeau, described as an IT engineer with more than two decades of experience, as the builder.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Notifications
- Alert delivery supports Pushover, Telegram, Slack, ntfy, Discord, email and generic webhooks.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Plugins
- Optional add-ins include network discovery, IPAM, host watchdog, DNS synchronization, switch-port lookup, Wake-on-LAN and presence publishing.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Public API
- The architecture documents REST v1 routes and Bearer API-key authentication that plugins can also use.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Recent development
- The commit history showed version 5.19.0 client-class work committed on September 11, 2026.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Reservation management
- Reservations support creation, editing, deletion, notes and duplicate detection for IP and MAC addresses.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Scale target
- Jen explicitly targets homelabs, small businesses and deployments with a handful of Kea servers rather than large fleets.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Security assurance
- The project states that it has no professional external penetration test and that its trust root is the repository's GitHub Actions signing environment.Read 30 Sep 2026 · github.com
- Security policy
- The security document is maintained in the public repository and directs vulnerability reports through GitHub security mechanisms.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Security support
- Jen is solo-maintained with no dedicated security team or paid support; only the latest released version receives security fixes, and releases are signed.Read 30 Sep 2026 · github.com
- Single sign-on
- OpenID Connect SSO is supported with role mapping from identity-provider claims.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- Subnet changes
- Subnet and pool edits are applied over SSH after Kea validation, host-side backup, multi-server preflight and rollback protection.Read 30 Sep 2026 · github.com
- Subnet editing
- Jen edits pools, lease times, gateways, DNS, shared networks, DHCP options and client classes through its web interface.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
- System requirements
- Supported environments are Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04, Python 3.10 or newer, Kea 3.0 or newer and MySQL or MariaDB.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
Plans and prices
GPL v3 open-source Free self-hosted · Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Docker · ISC Kea with MySQL/MariaDB Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
Strong points and limits
Strong points
- Free and licensed under GPL v3
- Dashboard shows subnet utilization and server status
- Lease management includes CSV import and export
- Optional IPv6 support covers leases and subnet pools
- Supports Ubuntu installer and Docker deployment
Limits
- Designed for a handful of servers, not large fleets
- No dedicated security team or paid support
- Only the latest release receives security fixes
- No professional external penetration test
Who it suits
Jen may suit homelab and small-business operators managing a handful of ISC Kea servers. It is less suited to organizations managing large fleets, according to its stated scale target.
Verdict
Jen combines browser-based lease and subnet administration with access controls, notifications, and optional plugins. Its stated scale target and solo-maintained security support are important considerations for deployment.
Where Specifiction places it
- DHCP Management Software#5 of 258.4
