Re: LANs, DHCP, and local name server question

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:35:17 +0000, Gordon Henderson wrote:

Score one for Microsoft.

Under Linux/Unix/*ix, there is no such mechanism as standard. So we use
DNS, and because traditionally, people in *ix environments were companies
who could employ someone WithAClue, it generally wasn't an issue.


Duh!

I knew I must be missing something! I never realised that Windows used a
different naming system, but I suppose I should have guessed.

Fast forward to today when enthusiasts have Linux at home, and it starts
to become an issue, so DDNS was invented to help solve this issue (but
I've actually a funny feeling this was kicked off by MS, way back!) So
yes, you need to keep a "server" running somewhere.

That server (these days) can be your Internet router/firewall/modem
device and I have to say, in a small hobbyists network, it's the best
place for it. So just leave it running and enable DDNS and live with
it.

If you really want to get clever, then you need to run your own DNS
server, and probably your own DHCP server too. Then you can have all the
control you need, but remember what I said about needing somone
WithAClue ... That still applies today.

Yes, that is what I am doing just now. I have an old laptop that runs
dnsmasq, which acts as a dhcp server and caching name server, and also
deals with local name requests (so the laptop is the dns server for all
machines on the network).

As someone who has been doing this stuff for more years now than not, I
run a separate DNS and DHCP server at home/office. It secondarys my own
domain, and provides local DNS for various statically and dynamically
allocated hosts on my networks at home/office. My in-laws who don't have
any clues whatsoever, don't do this, and just leave their little blinky
light ADSL router running all the time and it works for them. It works
for me too when I take my (Linux) laptop there and connect it to their
network - I can ping their (Windoes XP) PC & Laptop by name and can
acces their shared drives too. Yes, they leave their ADSL modem/router
running all the time. (Except when they go on holiday)

So you have to decide - the convenience of using DHCP to get IP
addresses, having the DHCP server communicate to a local DNS server to
remember the names the hosts give the DHCP server, which means leaving
the ADSL router on all the time.

I think I will stick with my present arrangement, since it does exactly
what I want it to, except that the laptop has to run all the time, and has
to come up before any other machine. Changing what I have really was
just a fit of wanting to save a tiny bit of electrical power since the
laptop ceased to function as a CUPS server following acquisition of a
network-connected printer.

Or you can use /etc/hosts with static IP addresses everywhere.

Trouble is, machines come and go, including my own, and those of friends
and family, and countless virtual machines, all wanting network connections.

Gordon

Gordon, thanks for that
A
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