Simon Slater wrote:
Is there any overlap in the functions of NIS, bind and LDAP? Or are these mutually exclusive?
I would be surprised if you needed either NIS or LDAP for a SOHO network. However, I would say NIS and LDAP are similar, but bind (i.e. DNS) serves a fundamentally different purpose.
When using DHCP, is /etc/hosts redundant?
Well, you won't /need/ to use it. You configure a server to assign IPs (DHCP) and automatically tell other computers which computer maps to which IPs (DNS).
What is the optimal way to resolve names in a small but growing network?
Depends how small, of course. But I would think a simple DNS/DHCP server like dnsmasq is reasonable for such a network. See http://www.linux.com/articles/149040 for a good start.
Matt Flaschen