Timignored_mailbox@yahoo.com.au wrote:
If you want a predictable LAN, then I really only see two ways to manage that without major pain:
- Run a DHCP server with a DNS server...
- Manually configure each device to have a fixed IP.
R. G. Newbury:
I think you left out a third method, which uses part of your version
Use a router and set static addresses for each device. Today, all
routers act as DHCP servers, and setting a static address/MAC address pair in the router setup ensures that any listed device will get the same address every time. The router does not have to act as a DNS server for internal devices: it passes external name calls to the gateway.
That doesn't give an entirely predictable LAN, though. Or sometimes even a working LAN.
Sure, if all your PCs ever do is browse the net, and only ever need to resolve external addresses, that works fine. But if you want intercommunication inside your LAN by host names, then I find that most ISP modem/routers don't resolve your LAN IP addresses to LAN host names.
Despite two of mine letting me fix an IP to a MAC, and letting me give a name to that setting, it doesn't have the brains to incorporate that name into a DNS answer. You're left with also *having* to configure all your hosts files to provide the answers (not just using it remind you of what you did, but actually using the data). And that's only possible on devices that have a hosts file.
I can see why some people like the mDNS automatic self mismanagement schemes, but that doesn't help you when you have some devices that don't support mDNS, there's no crossover to normal DNS queries to coordinate both methods.