Thank you Peter,
after changing the double quote (never trust of copy and paste... ), the
log shows another kind of error:
gen 16 10:36:32 testkea (ea-dhcp4)[1950]: kea-dhcp4-server.service:
ConfigurationDirectory 'kea' already exists but the mode is different.
(File system: 750 ConfigurationDirectoryMode: 755)
gen 16 10:36:32 testkea kea-dhcp4[1950]: 2026-01-16 10:36:32.528 INFO
[kea-dhcp4.dhcp4/1950.139623653353408] DHCP4_STARTING Kea DHCPv4 server
version 2.6.3 (stable) starting
gen 16 10:36:32 testkea kea-dhcp4[1950]: 2026-01-16 10:36:32.529 ERROR
[kea-dhcp4.dhcp4/1950.139623653353408] DHCP4_CONFIG_LOAD_FAIL
configuration error using file: /etc/kea/kea-dhcp4.conf, reason: Can't
open include file reservation.json
gen 16 10:36:32 testkea kea-dhcp4[1950]: 2026-01-16 10:36:32.529 ERROR
[kea-dhcp4.dhcp4/1950.139623653353408] DHCP4_INIT_FAIL failed to
initialize Kea server: configuration error using file
'/etc/kea/kea-dhcp4.conf': Can't open include file reservation.json
gen 16 10:36:32 testkea systemd[1]: kea-dhcp4-server.service: Main process
exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
but the file reservation.json is there:
root@testkea:/etc/kea# ls -lart
totale 104
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3025 2 giu 2025 kea-dhcp-ddns.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19984 2 giu 2025 kea-dhcp6.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5697 2 giu 2025 kea-ctrl-agent.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root _kea 11 8 gen 18.11 kea-api-password
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22605 14 gen 10.51 kea-dhcp4.conf_buono
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 106 14 gen 16.06 reservation.json
drwxr-xr-x 74 root root 4096 15 gen 21.59 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30108 16 gen 10.28 kea-dhcp4.conf
drwxr-x--- 2 _kea _kea 4096 16 gen 10.28 .
what it happens now?
> Hi Nazzareno,
> The double quotes surrounding the file name are curly quote characters.
> Try changing them to the same straight double quotes you use elsewhere.
> /Peter
>
>
>
> On 16/01/2026 09.17, nazzareno taborgna wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have kea installed on a debian 13.
>>
>> I can get the dhcp4 daemon running with a single kea-dhcp4.conf file.
>>
>> Now, I would like put all reservations in a separate file by using the
>> include directive:
>>
>> },
>> // "reservations": [
>> // { "hw-address": "00:11:22:aa:bb:cc", "ip-address":
>> "172.17.1.5" }
>> // ],
>> <?include “reservation.json”?>
>> // ,
>> //
>>
>> the reservation.json is this:
>>
>>
>> "reservations": [
>> { "hw-address": "00:11:22:aa:bb:cc", "ip-address":
>> "172.17.1.5" }
>> ],
>>
>> gen 14 17:25:21 testkea (ea-dhcp4)[613]: kea-dhcp4-server.service:
>> ConfigurationDirectory 'kea' already exists but the mode is different.
>> (File system: 750 ConfigurationDirectoryMode: 755)
>> gen 14 17:25:22 testkea kea-dhcp4[613]: 2026-01-14 17:25:22.154 INFO
>> [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4/613.140521569732544] DHCP4_STARTING Kea DHCPv4 server
>> version 2.6.3 (stable) starting
>> gen 14 17:25:22 testkea kea-dhcp4[613]: [207B blob data]
>> gen 14 17:25:22 testkea kea-dhcp4[613]: [226B blob data]
>> gen 14 17:25:22 testkea systemd[1]: kea-dhcp4-server.service: Main
>> process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
>> gen 14 17:25:22 testkea systemd[1]: kea-dhcp4-server.service: Failed
>> with result 'exit-code'.
>>
>> Any help about this problem?
>>
>>
> --
> Peter Davies
> Support Engineer
> Internet Systems Corporation
> --
> ISC funds the development of this software with paid support
> subscriptions. Contact us at https://www.isc.org/contact/ for more
> information.
>
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> [email protected]
>
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