DHCP & DNS

[Jacques B.]

On 10/21/07, Frank Cox <theatre at sasktel.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:48:42 -0600
> Karl Larsen <k5di at zianet.com> wrote:
>
> > 216.31.109.91   k5di.com
>
> k5di.com doesn't belong to you.  In fact, it doesn't appear to belong to anyone
> at this moment.
>
> I'm not sure what kinds of problems can be caused by using a .com domain name
> when it's not yours, but I don't think it can lead to anything good.
>
> You would be well advised to either register k5di.com (which doesn't have to be
> expensive) or use another domain name that you do own, or simply stick with
> localhost.localdomain
>
> --
> MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
>

It doesn't cause any problems to use it in one's host file as long as
there isn't a site also by that domain name that you wish to visit.
I've created some false domain names for a classroom exercise and then
had the students populate their /etc/hosts file accordingly so that
when I had them navigate to the domain name in question they ended up
on a local server on our network.

In Karl's case when he puts that domain name in his address bar it
navigates to the IP he has there.  The only consequence would be if
that domain name was registered.  And then the impact would be to Karl
only.  He would not be able to navigate to it because your machine
uses /etc/hosts to resolve domain names first.  If not in there it
goes out to your DNS server.  So Karl's PC would resolve that domain
to the IP he has hence it would navigate to that IP, not to the IP for
the publicly registered domain by the same name.

I've modified my hosts file and put in the IP of my router and then
put in router for the domain name.  Now when I enter router in my
address bar I navigate to my router.  Likewise at work I did the same
for our email server.  I put in its IP and "mail" for the domain name.
 So I simply have to put mail in the address bar to navigate to my
webmail server.

Jacques B.