Introduction

This is a library of classes (in the isc::dhcp_ddns namespace) for sending and receiving requests used by ISC's DHCP-DDNS (aka D2) service to carry out DHCP-driven DNS updates. Each request contains the following information:

- change-type -  indicates if this is a request to add or remove DNS entries
- forward-change - indicates if the forward DNS zone (the one that
  contains name to address mappings) should be updated
- reverse-change - indicates if reverse DNS zone (which contains the
  address to name mappings) should be updated
- fqdn - the fully qualified domain name whose DNS entries should be updated
- ip-address - IP address (v4 or v6) leased to the client with the
  given FQDN
- dhcid - DHCID (a form of identification) of the client to whom the IP
  address is leased
- lease-expires-on - timestamp containing the date/time the lease expires
- lease-length - duration in seconds for which the lease is valid.

These requests are implemented in this library by the class, isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeRequest. This class provides services for constructing the requests as well as marshalling them to and from various transport formats. Currently, the only format supported is JSON, however the design of the classes in this library is such that supporting additional formats will be easy to add. The JSON "schema" is documented here: isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeRequest::fromJSON().

For sending and receiving NameChangeRequests, this library supplies an abstract pair of classes, isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeSender and isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeListener. NameChangeSender defines the public interface that DHCP_DDNS clients, such as DHCP servers, use for sending requests to DHCP_DDNS. NameChangeListener is used by request consumers, primarily the DHCP_DDNS service, for receiving the requests.

By providing abstract interfaces, the implementation isolates the senders and listeners from any underlying details of request transportation. This was done to allow support for a variety of transportation mechanisms. Currently, the only transport supported is via UDP Sockets.

The UDP implementation is provided by isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeUDPSender and isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeUDPListener. The implementation is strictly unidirectional: there is no explicit acknowledgment of receipt of a request so, as it is UDP, no guarantee of delivery.

Multi-Threading Consideration for DHCP_DDNS Request I/O Library

By default this library is not thread safe (it uses asynchronous I/O) at the exception of the Name Change Request sender class (isc::dhcp_ddns::NameChangeSender) which is Kea thread safe (i.e. it is thread safe when the multi-threading mode is true).