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Kea hooks are open source as of Kea 3.0!

Kea hook libraries are optional extensions for the open source Kea DHCP system. The Kea hooks below are commercially licensed with all Kea versions prior to Kea 3.0.

With the release of Kea 3.0 (scheduled for June 2025), all of the Kea Premium hooks and nearly all* of the Kea Subscriber hooks will be open source.

* The two hooks that will remain commercially licensed are the Configuration Backend hook and the Role-based Access Control (RBAC) hook, neither of which are included in the Premium package for sale here. These two hooks are only available with an ISC support subscription.

To read more about our decision to make the Kea hooks open source, please read this blog post.

Please do not purchase the Kea Premium hooks below unless you require versions of Kea prior to Kea 3.0!

If you purchase the commercially licensed hooks below (for Kea versions prior to 3.0.0), the Kea Hooks Basic Commercial End User License Agreement v2.0 (HBCEULA 2.0 or “the License”) explains your rights and obligations. During the term of your subscription, you may download new or updated versions as often as needed, and you may continue using the software for an extended operational term of five years beyond the end of your subscription. If you are not a non-profit, and expect to need more than 1000 leases, please contact our friendly sales team at info@isc.org to discuss your options. This online store accepts credit cards only; if you must use a purchase order, you can contact our sales team for a quote for one of our other service levels.

Information about Purchasing Kea Premium Hooks

1. Which hooks will I get if I purchase this package online?
You will get a private access token for our access-controlled package repository, with Kea Premium packages for current versions (Kea 2.6.*) of popular Linux operating systems. The four hooks included in the Premium package are:
• DDNS-Tuning adds custom behaviors related to Dynamic DNS updates on a per- client basis. Its primary feature is to allow the administrator to calculate the domain name (FQDN) to be assigned using a regular expression.
• Flex-ID enables use of almost any available parameter as the identifier for host reservations.
• Forensic Logging creates a separate log that may be useful for meeting law- enforcement data retention requirements. This hook includes the ability to create a custom forensic log format, logging the specific information you need to retain.
• Host Commands enables storing host reservations in a separate SQL database (database not included with the hook)


2. Are there other hooks available?
All of the Kea hooks are listed in the ARM: https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/latest/arm/hooks.html. Some hooks are included in the open source distribution. These include High Availability, Flexible Options, Lease Commands, BOOTP, Performance Monitoring, Statistics Commands and the Run Script hook. Organizations that purchase ISC’s professional support, which requires a separate agreement, may receive access to additional hooks, depending on their subscription level. If your company or agency is interested in purchasing support for your Kea installation, please contact our sales team via this form or via email at info@isc.org, for more information and a quote.


3. Why do you charge money for these hooks?
Developing, testing, and maintaining complex, high-quality software is expensive. ISC funds this work primarily through the sale of professional support contracts, with a very minor contribution from the sale of Premium hooks online. We created this Premium package specifically to have a more accessible, lower-cost option than our professional support contracts.


4. I thought Kea was open source!
The core DHCPv4, DHCPv6, and DDNS servers and some of the Kea hooks are open source, licensed under the MPL2.0 open source license. The functionality packaged in hooks is all optional and mostly only needed for larger deployments. With the release of Kea 3.0, nearly all Kea hooks will be open source, with only two exceptions: RBAC and Config Backend.


5. Can I get a trial copy for testing?
No, the Kea Premium hooks are not available for a free trial. Please contact our sales team at info@isc.org or use the contact form to request more information.


6. What should I do if I bought the wrong thing?
If you purchased the Kea Premium Hooks package in error, contact the ISC Sales team at info@isc.org or use the contact form to cancel your subscription and receive a refund.


7. Where is the documentation for these hooks?
The Kea hooks, as well as the rest of Kea’s functionality, are documented in the Kea Administrator Reference Manual.


8. Where do I go if I need help using the hooks?
This online purchase does not include ISC professional support. If you need advice in how to use or configure the hooks, please post your questions on the community support mailing list.


9. Can I pay with a check or purchase order?
No. The online store for purchasing Kea Premium accepts credit cards only. (You do not need to use a PayPal account - it will accept a regular credit card!) This is intended to be a zero-touch, low-cost option for users who don't want to or cannot pay for professional services. If you need to purchase with a purchase order, our sales team can help you subscribe at the Basic, Bronze, Silver, or Gold levels. Please contact our sales team at info@isc.org or use the contact form to request a quote for one of these service levels.


10. Will the software keep working after my 1-year subscription ends?
Yes. During the term of your subscription, you may download new or updated versions as often as needed, and you may continue using the software for an extended operational term of five years beyond the end of your subscription. The subscription includes a license which explains your rights and obligations. The Kea Hooks Basic Commercial End User License Agreement v2.0 (HBCEULA 2.0 or “the License”) is available on the ISC website.


11. How will I receive the software after I purchase Kea Premium?
After your purchase is finalized, you will receive several emails. One will include a receipt. A second email will contain your access token to download the software from our Cloudsmith repository, which includes packages for popular operating systems. Also included will be a link to this Knowledgebase article on installing Kea and Premium hooks from our repository. Please make sure to provide the correct email address for the Kea software administrator when purchasing the software.


12. How will I know if there are software updates?
We recommend that all users subscribe to the public kea-announce mailing list: https://lists.isc.org/mailman/listinfo/kea-announce. This is a low-traffic list for release and other announcements.


13. How do you calculate the number of active leases used to determine pricing?
The number of active leases is calculated by multiplying the maximum number of active clients by the number of leases per client. A client receiving one each DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 licenses would be receiving two leases. An IPv6 prefix delegation would count as a single lease.


14. What happens if I exceed the maximum active leases I have contracted for?
If you exceed the Maximum Active Leases you have purchased, upon renewal you will have to update the number of leases, which may result in an adjusted price for the next period. The limit is not enforced in the software, so you will not have any service disruption.


15. Can I share these hooks once I buy them?
No, you may not redistribute the hooks. The subscription is governed a license which explains your rights and obligations. The Kea Hooks Basic Commercial End User License Agreement v2.0 (HBCEULA 2.0 or “the License”) is available on the ISC website.

If you have any other questions about purchasing these optional Kea extensions, please contact our sales team using the contact form, or by emailing us at info@isc.org.