[RndTbl] simple name service

[VE4PER/ Andy]

most routers I have seen have IP address reservation option available; 
just set DNS gateway in w/s's to point to
the gateway router for gateway and dns addy. Set the DHCP in the router 
to be enabled and create a list of essentially static assigned reserved 
addresses corresponding to specified MAC addresses that you have.

works ok locally using hostnames instead of ip addies; unless you lose 
the gateway and have to sub with a switch then you will need accurate 
host files.

Only problem I have have found is if running a s/w firewall that you  
lock on w/s's inside the home network or if you drop the WAN connexion 
to outside world windows boxes will cause their assigned ip addresses to 
change to the default 169. series of addresses because an active real 
dns server h/s is missing. There was a reg fix for that but it soon was 
defeated on subsequent updates so now that doesn't work either.




On 12-01-22 07:00 PM, Dan Martin wrote:
> Thanks guys!
>
> Laziness is one of my main virtues.  (I think virtues and vices are like features and bugs ;)  )
>
> Seriously, my entire wired network is in the basement.  I vacated the basement after discovering I have significant radon gas levels.  I do most of my work on a main floor machine connected by wireless.  I try to limit the amount of time in the basement, so reading through a Linux book and hacking on the gateway for several hours is not an option.
>
> I ultimately want to learn more and do more with it, but for now I just want it to work.
>
> On 2012-01-22, at 11:54 AM, Adam Thompson wrote:
>
>>> Make sure that your machines DNS settings go to the gateway, not
>>> your upstream providers DNS servers. If you've been setting the IP's
>>> statically you may have set it to something other than your gateway.
>>> In fact, you most likely have. You'll need to change
>>> /etc/resolv.conf if you have.
>>>
>>> I've used small bind installs on a fair number of systems now, and
>>> honestly, they are dirt simple. I'd suggest following a guide like
>>> that and posting to the list if you have an issue with anything
>>> specific. I know most people at MUUG who run DNS servers run Bind,
>>> or are very familiar with it, so we'll be able to help you out.
>>>
>>> Another option: If you know which MAC addresses go to which
>>> machines, you could setup a small DHCP server and have their
>>> addresses set in /etc/dhcpd.conf. This would allow you to change the
>>> IP range fairly easily, and also push custom DNS options down
>>> without having to touch each machine.
>> Following on Rob's suggestions, I would recommend combining those two
>> functions into one by using dnsmasq
>> (http://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html).  This software is used
>> successfully on many small firewall distros and is in fact embedded in
>> many home routers.
>> Its primary advantage is simplicity, compared to an integrated DNS+DHCP
>> setup using BIND and DHCPD, but the fact that it also captures DHCP
>> machine names might be a substantial benefit in Dan's situation.
> That might be handy.  Up until now I have avoided DHCP partly because the network was quite static and partly for security reasons.
>
> It seems everything these days is DHCP - my wireless printer expects it by default.  I understand that one could maintain a list of eligible MAC addresses for wireless connection, so security may not be much of an issue.
>
> At present I have manually entered static addresses, but I can change to DHCP if there are advantages.
>
>> It additionally uses /etc/hosts on the firewall/gateway as an additional
>> source of names,
> I like the sound of that.
>
>> so you don't have to configure multiple name databases.
>> Its big downside is the lack of flexibility - it's designed to solve a
>> small handful of use cases, and it does those very well, but it can't do
>> everything BIND or DHCPD can do.
>>
>> On a related note, if you're interested in using commodity hardware to run
>> a firewall/router/gateway/DNS server/DHCP server/proxy server, and your
>> objective isn't specifically to learn Linux, I would recommend pfSense
>> (www.pfsense.org), which is based on FreeBSD, and integrates all the
>> common use cases into a fairly clean GUI.  (FYI, I'll likely be doing a
>> presentation on pfSense at a meeting sometime this year.)
> That may be useful.  Hope to see your presentation!
>
>> -Adam Thompson
>> athompso at athompso.net
>>
>>
>>
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> Dan Martin
> GP Hospital Practitioner
> Computer Scientist
> ummar143 at shaw.ca
> (204) 831-1746
> answering machine always on
>
>
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