resolution

[Scot L. Harris]

On Tue, 2006-01-17 at 15:46, Chris Norman wrote:
> ...
> >> Is there any setting where I can have the name resolved to the IP and 
> >> visa verser please?
> > 
> > 
> > Simplest solution is to add entries for the machines you want to connect 
> > to in /etc/hosts
> 
> Never do this where DHCP is involved.
> 
> What do I do then?
> 

Evaluate if you need DHCP for that device.  If it is a desktop or a
server a static IP assignment is IMHO a better solution in most cases. 
And on a small home network even a few dozen entries in /etc/hosts is
not difficult to manage.  Just because DHCP is available does not mean
you have to use it.

The other option if you want to spend the time to run this down is to
read up on dynamic DNS.  This should allow you to set things up so when
a system is assigned an address via DHCP it can update the DNS server
with the name and IP address.  Have never found a need to implement this
so I have not used it.  But it is available if you want to pursue that.

Another option I have used is to have the DHCP server assign a fixed IP
address based on the MAC address of the host.  Then set your /etc/hosts
file for those IP addresses.  I use that for the laptops in my network. 
Everything else uses static addresses.