Comment 2 for bug 1592540

This is explicitly designed this way. MAAS allows you to have multiple DHCP servers managed by different rack controllers. The DHCP server can quickly be moved from one rack controller to another and MAAS will handle all of this. It will render the correct configuration on the new rack controller and remove the old configuration from the previous rack controller. This prevents administrators from starting the DHCP server when it is now being managed by another rack controller.

Also MAAS does not run a DHCP server by default so it cannot ship with a DHCP server configuration that can run. It only runs a DHCP server when you tell MAAS to turn it on.

The DHCP service also cannot be running unless rackd is running that is why maas-dhcpd is BindTo=maas-rackd. This is because the DHCP server sends notification messages to the maas-rackd process when it commits, releases, or expires a lease.

You need to configure MAAS using the API or UI to turn on the DHCP service. MAAS will then monitor that service, handle notifications, and control/ensure that service is doing what it should be doing.