Routers (as in ADSL routers and similar) and DHCP and DNS
Is it just me or are most routers' DHCP servers close to useless? I have several, all of which can provide DHCP and most of them also allow you to set them as the DNS server such that they forward (most?) requests to your ISP's DNS server. However *none* of them provide name access to clients on the LAN, so I have printers, a VOIP server, etc. on the LAN to which the router gives IP addresses (using DHCP) but the router *doesn't* allow one to reference anything by name. This makes the DHCP server completely pointless! If I want, for example, to be able to refer to my VOIP server by name (it has a web server for configuration) then I have to give it a fixed/static IP address and put it in /etc/hosts everywhere, by the time I have done that for the printers too I might just as well turn the DHCP server off in the router. Am I just unlucky in the routers I choose or are they really all like this? -- Chris Green
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:27:56 +0100 Chris G <cl@isbd.net> allegedly wrote:
Is it just me or are most routers' DHCP servers close to useless?
Chris Since you use dnsmasq, why don't you just use that as your DHCP server too? Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this? Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 08:36:22PM +0100, mick wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:27:56 +0100 Chris G <cl@isbd.net> allegedly wrote:
Is it just me or are most routers' DHCP servers close to useless?
Chris
Since you use dnsmasq, why don't you just use that as your DHCP server too?
I do at home for this very reason but I have the same problem on our boat and I can't really have a dedicated server there just for running dnsmasq. On the boat there's a VOIP server and a printer, both on the LAN, it's a real pain having to use their IP addresses all the time. -- Chris Green
On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 08:58:41AM +0100, Dan wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011, Chris G wrote:
However *none* of them provide name access to clients on the LAN, so I have printers
I have the BT Home Hub 2, which does provide name access with its internal DNS server.
Yes, I suspected that *some* routers do provide this. Unfortunately I need a router that can run as a WiFi client on the boat and that limits one's choices somewhat. The router on the boat is a TP-Link TL-WR743ND which performs admirably in most respects (especially that of working as a WiFi client) but it doesn't make names available for devices on the LAN. Can anyone think of any workaround for this, I just want three devices (which live permanently on the boat) to have names when I roll up and connect my laptop, plus it would be useful if other people who arrive with their laptops could use the printer at least (without having to printy to 192.168.13.101, or something). *Surely* this happens to other people. -- Chris Green
participants (3)
-
Chris G -
Dan -
mick