[Tfug] LAN hostnames

[A.Chris Hilton]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 20:33:35 -0700
Brian Murphy <murphy@U.Arizona.EDU> wrote:

> 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

I forgot about DDNS.  Heh.

-C-