DNS Server
The local DNS server does two things for your ClearOS network:
- it associates local IP addresses with hostnames
- it provides a caching DNS service for your local network
Configuration
A host is defined as any system with an IP address – desktop, laptop, printer, media device, etc. Each host can have a hostname, along with any number of aliases. For example, you could add a hostname for a file server on your network with the following settings:
- IP Address: 192.168.1.10
- Hostname: fileserver.example.com
After adding the hostname, you are given an opportunity to add additional aliases (or hostnames) for the given host. If we were using the file server as a backup server, we could add backup.example.com to the list of aliases.
Tips and Tricks
You may have noticed that a default alias is added whenever you add a hostname. For example, adding the hostname fileserver.example.com will also add the default alias fileserver. This alias can be used as a shortcut on your network. How? If you use the ClearOS DHCP Server, you can specify a default domain name. Staying with our example, our default domain name should be set to example.com. Any system using DHCP could then access other systems on the network using the alias (fileserver) instead of the full hostname (fileserver.example.com).