LAN needs name server?

burley · 09-09-2005, 12:51 PM

I have a couple of computers & notebooks behind my Sitecom WL-114 Wireless router. Since the router takes care of the DHCP task (assigning IP addresses to machines in the LAN), I would expect it could do the nameserver task for the LAN as well. However, I don't read anything about that in the manual. Does this mean that I have to dedicate one of the machines in my LAN as nameserver? (I'd better ask since it seems a bit odd to me.) If yes, is using named & bind the way to go, or are there better/simpler alternatives?

Thanks, Burley.

issinho · 09-09-2005, 12:59 PM

You could dedicate a machine for that. What I do is point all my machines to my ISP's name server (kinda cuts out the middleman) and let them do all the work!

burley · 09-09-2005, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by issinho
You could dedicate a machine for that. What I do is point all my machines to my ISP's name server (kinda cuts out the middleman) and let them do all the work!

Of course, the ISP provides name services for the big wide world (WAN), but I'd hoped since the router assigns IP addresses to the machines in my LAN, it would also act as a name server for that LAN... Therefore, the question is: is that a reasonable and, not unimportant, realistic assumption, or do I have to setup a nameserver for my own LAN (which is going to get difficult if the router assigns IP addresses randomly).

BrianWGray · 09-09-2005, 03:47 PM

Your router doesn't have the ability to provide dns functionality. If you want the ability to control address resolution for hosts on an internal lan then you will need a DNS server to do so.

Dynamic addressing can be a pain for assigning cnames to DNS servers, Microsoft has a solution that allows for the machines to auto update a domain dns with their new address if it changes. I have not found any Dynamic update software for name servers in linux.

I'm not terribly familiar with your router however if it has this capability, you may want to look for the option of reserving IP addresses in dhcp for mac addresses of your computers. that would keep machines from changing addresses. or new machines grabbing addresses from other boxes.

My suggestion is that you are probably better off, configuring your router to leave a block of IP addresses out of it's DHCP pool. Use those static addresses for any boxes that have server functions. Work with your DNS from there.