Setup & installation

Lighthouse installs natively on Ubuntu and Windows from the same codebase. On install the DHCP engine is registered but stopped — it never serves DHCP until you explicitly arm it.

Ubuntu

Install the .deb. It:

• installs /usr/bin/lighthoused and the /usr/bin/lighthouse CLI;
• creates an unprivileged lighthouse system user;
• registers the lighthoused systemd service disabled.

Path	Purpose
/etc/lighthouse/lighthouse.toml	Config (0640, root:lighthouse).
/var/lib/lighthouse/	State — leases.db, reservations.json, tftp/.
/var/log/lighthouse/lighthouse.log	Log.

The service runs sandboxed as the lighthouse user, binding privileged ports (67 / 547) via CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE — no root. Arm it with sudo systemctl enable --now lighthoused. The optional lighthouse-ddnsd (dynamic DNS) and lighthouse-tftpd (PXE) services install alongside.

Windows

Run the MSI. It installs lighthoused.exe and lighthouse.exe to C:\Program Files\Lighthouse\, registers a native Windows Service lighthoused (stopped), and adds a firewall rule for UDP 67.

Path	Purpose
C:\ProgramData\Lighthouse\lighthouse.toml	Config.
C:\ProgramData\Lighthouse\	State — leases.db, reservations.json, mgmt.db, certs, lighthouse.log.

caution

On Windows the service discards stderr — the log file is your only durable log. Make sure [logging] file is set.

The web UI (Management feature) is not installed by default; add it with ADDLOCAL=Management. Optional MSI features: Management, DynamicDNS, TftpServer. Silent install example:

msiexec /i lighthouse.msi /qn ADDLOCAL=Management ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@corp.example ADMIN_PASSWORD=...

Start the engine with sc start lighthoused.

The admin UI

lighthouse-mgmtd serves the web UI on 127.0.0.1:31074 (loopback only), over HTTPS with an auto-generated self-signed certificate. On Windows the installer adds a hosts entry so you can browse https://lighthouse.local:31074. Override the port with MGMT_PORT (Windows) or the LH_MGMT_LISTEN environment variable.

First-run login

On first start an admin account is seeded into the management database. Defaults are admin@lighthouse.local / changeme (overridable with LH_ADMIN_EMAIL / LH_ADMIN_PASSWORD), and a password change is forced at first login. If you're locked out, reset from the host:

lighthouse-mgmtd --reset-admin --email admin@lighthouse.local

Accounts are local (argon2), with admin / operator / viewer roles; AD/LDAP sign-in is also supported.

Next

Define your networks in the Configuration reference, then arm the engine.