[buug] LAN naming resolution

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Erick Smith (desertfox at cableaz.com):

> I'm sure this is a total newbie question, but I just can't seem to find the 
> answer.

No, actually it's a natural question for which there isn't nearly enough
available public documentation.

> I'm running a small LAN in my home, and so far I have been relying on the 
> /etc/hosts file for name resolution.
> 
> Naturally this isn't ideal because the IP addresses are handed out by my 
> router and change occassionally....makeing me update all the hosts files.
> 
> I assume that in order to get dynamic name resolution working properly that I 
> must get the bind daemon running.

BIND is just the best-known DNS daemon, and you're correct that it's not
a great fit for your situation.  Here's a rundown on all known DNS
daemon choices:

http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/dns-servers

Have a look at the entry, there, for Dnsmasq.  It seems likely to be a
pretty good fit for your situation.  (I have no personal experience with
it, alas.)

You would use its authoritative service for the names of your machines
on the local LAN.  (Invent a nonsense domain, if you like.  I tend to
use cabal.gov.)  The caching forwarder is the part that deals with DNS
information from the rest of the world, querying other authoritative
servers for it and then caching the results.

-- 
Cheers,                    I've been suffering death by PowerPoint, recently.
Rick Moen                                                     -- Huw Davies
rick at linuxmafia.com