Resolv local network names [Newbie question]

[Curt Sampson]

On Wed, 9 May 2007, Kevin Darcy wrote:

> The original poster specifically asked about using BIND to resolve local
> names. BIND doesn't use /etc/hosts for resolving queries.

Yes, but I strongly suspect that his main purpose was not to get BIND
resolving those just for the sake of BIND doing it, but only to have
other programs on his machine use this information, in which case
/etc/hosts would be fine. And I was reasonably clear that this would be
for the one machine only.

>> It doesn't matter at all that it's a private range; that has no
>> connection with how records (at least, non-inaddr.arpa or "reverse"
>> records) resolve.
> Please read what I wrote. "... it's likely that other folks are already
> using it for their own purposes, or they want to reserve the option of
> doing so".

And they can continue doing so, with no problems whatsoever, unless the
original poster happens to want matching inaddr.arpa entries, which is
often not necessary. (Nice, yes, but absolutely necessary, often not.)

> Granted, being in a private address range doesn't *directly*
> affect how DNS names resolve, but it may affect the *availability* of
> other people and/or organizations to be master for the zone....

I don't see why. It's perfectly possible to have several a single server
resolving different names from different organizations to the same IP
address, that would route differently depending on where you use it. A
server has no problem returning, say, 192.168.1.1 for both foo.a.com and
bar.b.com.

     $ host lyric.cjs.cynic.net. ns1.cynic.net.
     Using domain server:
     Name: ns1.cynic.net.
     Address: 125.100.126.243#53
     Aliases:

     lyric.cjs.cynic.net has address 192.168.187.11

> For DNS and pretty much any other "core" network service, practically
> speaking, persistent IP addresses are considered a prerequisite.

Perhaps you consider this a prerequesite, but I've successfully run
these sorts of things within and between organizations while using
RFC1918 addresses extensively. (I assume you really meant RFC 1918
addresses where you said "persistent" addresses; you really need to sort
out your terminology.)

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson			+81 90 7737 2974
<cjs at cynic.net>			http://www.starling-software.com
   The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
   by those who have not got it.    --George Bernard Shaw