THE "DHCP daemon" (dhcpd) is the program which accomplishes this, and it keeps "leases", which show which computers are using which IP, and when the "lease expires".

Before ISP Innovations

The DHCP daemon (dhcpd) keeps leases, which are the records of what computer gets what IP, so that when that computer is turned off, and then turned back on, it typically gets the same IP number. The leases are typically kept in a "leases file", which is a simple text file, which dhcpd updates many times per second. Because of this frequent updating, it is hard to see what is happening, especially if problems arise. Dhcpd also keeps logs, but these logs do not reflect every lease written, or 're-written' by dhcpd.

After ISP Innovations

The ISP Innovations "DHCP-Viewer" allows the ISP to see these previously unavailable things: A snapshot of what customer has been assigned what IP A view of what Mac Address each customer is using, and what IP it is connected to. Which customers are using more than one IP Which customers have more than one lease for any specific IP Which customers have more than one Mac Address A view of changes to the dhcp leases file, one by one. The "DHCP-Viewer" does this via two methods: Monitoring the changes to the leases file every minute Monitoring the DHCP log file. This "DHCP Database" offers the ISP many advantages to Diagnose hard to spot problems if or when they occur Immediately spot & identify abusers Keep an ongoing record of lease file modifications, which are otherwise not recorded.