DHCP and hostname resolution

[John Howley]

For a typical home network with a cable/DSL router acting as a DHCP
server, how would a linux box attached to the network resolve hostnames
for other PCs on the network? The IP addresses are dynamically assigned,
so they can't go into the hosts file (or can they?). I know that Windows
networking has ways of passing hostnames around, but how do Linux boxes
do it?

The router has all of the information needed, but at least for mine
(Belkin wireless router), there is nothing in the documentation or
configuration about any nameserver capabilities. It seems like it would
make sense for DHCP servers to provide this, is it part of the protocol?

Thanks for any information.

John

[Gerfried Reis]

John Howley wrote:

> [...]

> The router has all of the information needed, but at least for mine
> (Belkin wireless router), there is nothing in the documentation or
> configuration about any nameserver capabilities. It seems like it would
> make sense for DHCP servers to provide this, is it part of the protocol?

It's an addition: RFC 2136
I believe BIND can do that, for example. Search for "Dynamic Update" in
the BIND documentation. You will also need a DHCP server which can
perform updates.

HTH
Gerfried

[Philip Burrow]

"Gerfried Reis" <g_r...@sbox.tugraz.at> wrote in message
news:3dc30df7$0$19088$3b21...@aconews.univie.ac.at...

This is correct: ISC BIND and DHCPD supports this functionality.

If you're only running a small home network it seems a little pointless
though!

[John Howley]

I know that the easiest thing to do would be to assign static addresses,
but I guess I view this as a learning experience as much as just trying
to get something to work. This seems like a fairly common setup -- a
couple of PCs and a DSL/cable router. I would think there was a
"standard" way of resolving hostnames.

I don't really know anything about BIND but I will do some research on
it, thanks for the tip. Is this something that is commonly used for what
I am trying to do?

[Gerfried Reis]

John Howley wrote:

> I don't really know anything about BIND but I will do some research on
> it, thanks for the tip. Is this something that is commonly used for what
> I am trying to do?

From the www.isc.org webpage: "BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) is
an implementation of the Domain Name System (DNS) protocols and provides
an openly redistributable reference implementation of the major
components of the Domain Name System"

And yes, I would say that it is *very* commonly used.

If you consider this a learning experience, I guess setting up the ISC
software will teach you quite a bit.
Have fun! ;)

[Will Mays]

For a typical home network, bind would be a bit of overkill. have a
look at DNSMasq.

--------------------------------
This email is to inform you of release '1.9' of 'Dnsmasq' through
freshmeat.net. All URLs and other useful information can be found at
http://freshmeat.net/projects/dnsmasq/

The changes in this release are as follows:
Portability and memory-use enhancements for uClinux were made. A
couple of useful options were added. The default cache size was
reduced.

Project description:
Dnsmasq is lightweight, easy to configure DNS forwarder designed to
provide DNS (domain name) services to a small network where using
BIND would be overkill. It can be have its upstream DNS servers
automatically configured by PPP or DHCP and it can serve the names of
local machines which are not in the global DNS. It can integrate with
the ISC DHCP daemon to serve the names of local machines which are
configured using DHCP. Dnsmasq is ideal for networks behind NAT
routers and connected via modem, ISDN, ADSL, or cable-modem
connections.

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