---
title: "How to reload the dhcpd configuration file"
slug: "aa-00335"
description: "The dhcpd server doesn't have any reload mechanism. The server has to be stopped and restarted."
tags: ["isc dhcp"]
updated: 2018-10-26T16:26:38Z
published: 2018-10-26T16:26:38Z
canonical: "kb.isc.org/aa-00335"
stale: true
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.isc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How do you have dhcpd reload its configuration file?

At this time, the **dhcpd** server doesn't have any reload mechanism. It doesn't handle HUP signal nor have a 'soft' reconfiguration method. The server has to be stopped and restarted, for example:

```
kill `cat /var/run/dhcpd.pid`

/usr/local/sbin/dhcpd
```

If you have a startup script for dhcpd, you may be able to reload the configuration (by restarting) such as:

```
/etc/init.d/dhcpd restart
```

Depending on the use, this is usually not a problem in terms of service outages because clients retransmit and it is hard for anyone to notice a problem in the time it takes the server to start back up again.