[Tfug] LAN hostnames

[Brian Murphy]

On Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 06:28:32PM -0700, Paul Scott wrote:
> Isn't it a simple message to ask a machine what its name is if you know 
> its IP?
 
No, thats what a DNS server is for...to translate between IP addresses
and hostnames.  Zone databases are usually static.  Although, you could
explore Dynamic DNS (DDNS).  This is where clients update the DNS records
themselves.  I don't use it because I don't trust clients to always get
it right.  At home, untrusted machines wouldn't be a concern.

Enabling DDNS in BIND 9 is easy.  You just need an allow-update directive
inside your zone stanza.

For example:

zone "example.net" {
  type master;
  file "example.net";
  allow-update { 192.168.0.0/24; };  // Your local network
};


The overall client process would then look like this:

  1) Request TCP/IP settings thru DHCP
  2) Get response and configure the settings on the client
  3) DDNS client informs DNS server of its new IP address

1 and 2 are automatic with DHCP.  3 would probably need an addition piece
of software.  On linux, you would hook step 3 into the bottom of the script
that brings up your interface.  I don't know the equivalent info for
windows, so I'm hoping a program exists that does it automatically.  If
someone knows a good program for step 3, now is a good time to tell us.

> Would you agree that NIS is a possible solution?

For host resolution?  Possibly yes, but I don't know much about it.  DNS is
a much more universal solution.

Brian