On Sat 12 Apr 2025 at 13:09:29 (-0400), Dan Purgert wrote: > On Apr 11, 2025, David Wright wrote: > > On Fri 11 Apr 2025 at 05:45:47 (-0400), Dan Purgert wrote: > > > > > (That doesn't mean you have to use > > > > > mdns, it just means that if you instead decide to do something like > > > > > copy hosts files around the network you're choosing to make up your > > > > > own solution to the inherent problems that led to dns in the first > > > > > place.) > > > > > > > > I can hardly take credit for inventing /etc/hosts. It's simple to set > > > > up, and it causes no problems here. I don't think DNS was invented for > > > > resolving two dozen non-hierachical names on one site. > > > > > > That's exactly what DNS was invented for. Manually managing host files > > > is a pain after only a few hosts. Add one machine, and you have to > > > update 5,10,20,[...] host files. > > > > So the last change I made was mid-November, for adding a new laptop. > > I only change the DHCP when all my hosts are running. I login to > > the router, add the reservation, and remove anything that has died > > since the previous change, which was, as it happens, when I installed > > my latest router in December 2023. I update the master file with the > > same changes. I then run a script that transfers the master file > > to the half-dozen hosts, edits the hosts own line to 127.0.1.1, and > > prints a diff of the old and new versions. Finally a second script > > does the same thing, except it overwrites all the old hosts files. > > You've proven my point here. Managing the files got "annoying" enough > that you scripted it.
That says more about your attitude to writing scripts than mine. I wrote it so that I would know the files would all be the "same". Seems like common sense. > > > Yes, "Domain Names" do include hierarchy (e.g. "company.tld"); but > > > that's more an artifact that when RFC 1035 was written, we were already > > > seeing convergence of names for common services (mail, telnet, ftp, > > > etc.). > > > > Sure, but not at this site", unless you count my adding a .corp TLD > > to all my hostnames in 2018. (I think at the time that was to quieten > > exim, but smarthosts may also appreciate it.) > > A proper "fully qualified domain name" by definition is > "host.domain.tld". Well, that may be true for domain names on the Internet, but mine are only on a LAN, and don't have a TLD. Two dozen hosts, half a dozen hosts files: where's the sense in my constructing a hierarchy. You're not suggesting that Gene's adding a .den pseudoTLD legitimises his domain naming scheme, are you? > Just because you may or may not follow that in your > local network is somewhat irrelevant -- it's somewhat akin to arguing > that because your home network uses 192.168.0.0/24, that *all* > residential networks use that address range. Eh? I don't even know what you're trying to say I asserted about anybody /else's/ LAN. All I think I said is that /my/ LAN has just a single, solitary, domain name. And as I pointed out, until 2018 it didn't even /have/ a domain name. That said, it's hardly unusual in that respect. > > > > > For various reasons I'd much rather configure a static IP in this > > > > > situation than set up a reservation on the dhcp server. Among other > > > > > things, in a small network the bespoke dhcp configuration is likely > > > > > going to cause pain that can't possibly outweigh the need to > > > > > reconfigure a static IP if for some strange reason it needs to change. > > > > > > > > I don't know how to configure static IPs without a DHCP server when > > > > there are devices that can only configure themselves by DHCP (or > > > > maybe mDNS, I haven't tried). But what are the pain and the strange > > > > reason? > > > > > > Correct -- if a device is stupidly-configured from the factory to > > > REQUIRE DHCP, then you need to use DHCP. > > > > Welcome to the world of consumer electronics. Their /functionality/ > > is certainly not stupid. > > I don't think you understood what I said. The "stupid-config" refers to > the factory deciding that the only way your device can be setup to talk > to the network is DHCP, and simply preventing any other method of > configuration. > > It was not a comment directed at any "functionality" of those devices > after they've been connected to your network. I was merely pointing out the contrast: streaming devices, for example, have amazing functionality, yet they cost very little to purchase. For /consumer/ electronics, it's arguable that it would be stupid to complicate their configuration screens with features that almost nobody will use and many will find confusing. > > > mDNS is just a simplified name resolution tool. It doesn't do host > > > configuration for network/netmask/gateway. > > > > No, I think it's designed just for a single network. As I said above, > > I've found it useful for driverless printing, but nothing else. > > Yes, that would be "simplified" name resolution. > > > > > Sounds like getting a better router would be a good idea (I mean, when > > > the current one starts acting wonky). There are (or were) a handful of > > > options that could manage to update the DNS resolver when new DHCP Hosts > > > were added to the network (and, likewise, static entries for non-DHCP > > > hosts). > > > > > > Granted, these days, they may need *wrt or tomato firmwares, because the > > > good features always seem to be the ones that go away. :( > > > > My first router bought over here is now about 12 years old, cost $86 > > at Radio Shack (R.I.P), has lost its WAN port and one LAN port over > > the years, but is still working. It's replacement cost $38 at Walmart > > and is also still at work. The third one, which hosts the DHCP server, > > cost all of $14 at Staples (clearance). So I've got great coverage > > with 3 APs, and one device could die with limited degradation, so > > I can't say I'm in the market for yet another, and I've see no need > > for a DNS server here. > > Did you miss the "when your current router starts acting up" part of my > statement? No, just pointing out that rather than buying "better" routers, presumably meaning ones with a DNS server built in, I've bought cheaper. I only check that they have the features I need. Cheers, David.
