Equipment
1 Linksys Wirless G router
1 10/1000 Switch
1 PC MS XP
1 Laptop MS XP
1 Linux Box running SuSE 10.2

Question - how do I make Linux box domain controler (DNS).

Is my router going to provide DHCP?

Any help is appriciated...

Hi -

1. You probably don't need DNS, and you probably don't need to do much of anything besides:
a) Plug your Linksys router in to your Internet connection
b) Connect your Linux and Windows PCs to the router (cabled, if you have enough ports, or WiFi. Either way, in any combination).

2. Yes, your Linksys router probably has DHCP. Mine does. Check the manual.

3. The reason you probably don't need DNS is:
a) Your internet provider gives you DNS name resolution to the outside world
b) Your internal DHCP server handles name resolution for your LAN.

4. If your Linksys router doesn't have DHCP (again: it probably *does*), then you can
always configure Linux to be a DHCP server.

5. There are lots of good tutorials on configuring a home network (including configuring
Linux as a DNS server, if you really want or need to). Here is one example:

http://www.aboutdebian.com/network.htm

'Hope that helps .. PSM

PS:
Windows "domain controller" <> "DNS Server"

Google is your best linux friend, my friend. Why do you need a Dynamic Name Server (DNS) on a home network? I would think that your router is already your DHCP, unless you are using static ip.

If we are going to be able to help you we need more information. Have you read the "Before you post" post? (link needed)

I was thinking about setting up DNS and a Domain Controler in my home network also a fire wall for fun...

maybe he is thinking the same ?

O great I guess that would be my first step. Yes my Linksys has DHCP I just wasn't sure if I should use it and here is where I am going with this.

I have on SuSE 10.2 VMware Guest OS with PHP MySQL Apache running, and I want to set it up where I can access it anywhere from this planet. I also want to use Linux box to manage computers/users on the domain. Don't I need DNS to handle my domain?

I am all ears, please share your thoughts.

I prefer to use also at home names for the systems I want to access

It is my understanding that DNS is used to resolve a name like www.google.com to an ip address, which is a number like 192.168.x.x. So when you put some name into your browser, whether it is Google or “linuxquestions” for that matter, before your browser can connect to that remote server it needs the ip address, the number not the name. So the browser checks with DNS to resolve, and then uses the ip number to connect.

So my question remains. Why do you think you need this on a home network? Your DHCP server already has the name/ip chart for every device connected to your network. Hence DNS is only needed for those names that are not in its list, and those are on the web on DNS.

If my understanding is correct the only benefit you would get from DNS on a home network is a very slight speed up in obtaining the ip number. So the whole process seams like a lot of extra work for a minimal gain. On the other hand if you are doing it for the fun and experience, more power to you.

Hi, RBees -

You're 100% correct on both counts:

1) You use DNS to resolve external names like "www.google.com".

The important point here is that it isn't your *own* DNS server that resolves
these names ... but some external DNS server (usually, your ISP's DNS)

2) You do *not* need DNS to resolve internal hosts by name - your DHCP server (e.g. your Linksys router) will usually do the job just fine.

One other point, akvino -

Even if you had your own DNS server, that isn't going to help you publish your web page (or any other resource) to the internet:

3) You usually need a static address (although this isn't an absolute requirement)

... and, most importantly ...

4) You need to register a domain name (e.g. from Yahoo, Godaddy or any of a zillion other vendors).

Most of these vendors will not only register your domain name (e.g. "myurl.com"), but they'll also give you space for a web site (on their servers, if you want one), some e-mail addresses (which you can access from their POP3 mail server, or redirect to your own e-mail server) and, most importantly, give you the tools you need to create and edit "CNAME", "A" and "MX" DNS records to use as you see fit.

The key point is, in this scenario, it's your *vendors* DNS that publishes the domain name and lets people find you on the Internet - it *isn't* your own DNS. Depending on your requirements and your vendor, you probably don't even *need* your own DNS.

'Hope that helps .. PSM

I don't have a linksys router and have to use a Linux box as a router. So I had to install DHCP and DNS in order to resolve local DNS names.
Yes, you are right - that's another small benefit you get - some DNS name lookup speed improvements because DNS names are cached locally. And yes - also wanted to get experiences with DNS when I configued my own home network

Kool, a true linux fan. See complete info puts things in the proper perspective.

I asked this question because I come from Windows 2003 Server Environment and am learning Linux System and networking for my own benefit but I can notice right away there is some misunderstanding about what DNS does?

Talking windows networking here - DNS in LAN is used with Domain Controller service to resolve local names, so joshmo@domain.com can log in at any computer on the domain and computers have their names, so there are numerous benefits from having DNS on your local network (windows again).

DNS also allows routing control so you can point all of your computer clients to first look for address resolution with the local DNS and then point your local DNS to send all requests to WAN DNS for non domain resolutions (windows again)... Now I know that you can do almost anything you want with Linux box when it comes to networking - proxy, router, firewall etc etc... The instructions for setting up Linux on LAN I happened to find on the NET are simply outdated. Most of the instructions still refer to the box that needs to be setup as the proxy router (any DSL router with multiple RJ-45's can provide that pending Firmware is enabled for that service), but essentially no one addressed proper explanation (which is why I started this) how do you configure DNS server on LAN in the Linux environment to work with XP and provide Web Service together with File / Terminal Server service as Domain Controller.

So still looking for the answers.. Did anyone do this.. DID ANYONE SETUP DNS at HOME and SAMBA????? as the Filshare and Domain Controller????

Linksys routers provided by Cisco are Linux based - so you can modify them with additional Firmware additions. My D-link died and knowing Linux is up to modification on Linksys - I got Linksys...

I was looking into that the othen day and found out that they quit making that one. Apparently they didn't like us writing better apps for it than they did. 2 cents