[aklug] Re: internal domain name recommendation

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Damien <damien@linuxninjas.tv> wrote:
> This is not a Linux or windows problem. This is a DNS problem. How do
> you access yourwebsite.com out on the net if your internal dns points
> to a local server?

I run local (intranet) services that I don't *want* available on the
Internet, even to not putting them into my public-facing DNS zones. I
started with .local originally in the pre-OS X era, regretted it when
Mac OS X was released, but worked around it and am still using .local
as of 2010. Windows has never had any problems resolving .local via
DNS, afaict.

> There might be an issue with .local domains. There is a configuration
> service on Mac and Linux that uses it. Zero conf on the mac. I think...

In Mac OS X versions < 10.4, .local only resolves (by default) using
zeroconf, or rather multicast DNS. /etc/resolver/local (I think) could
be edited to support resolving .local by DNS. That's what I used as a
workaround, but it was a pain, i.e., DNS servers couldn't be pushed
via DHCP.

.local resolves properly in OS X versions > 10.3.

.local fails to resolve via DNS in iPhone/iPod touch OS < 3.x, I
believe. It works as of current versions. Be aware that if you use a
PAC file, you can't host it (for older/not-yet-updated iPhones) on
any-web-server.local

Avahi (a zeroconf implementation) uses .local, but I don't believe it
interferes with resolving .local via internal DNS. I've never had any
problems; I use avahi to advertise services, though, not to resolve in
any meaningful way. YMMV

jermudgeon
IT Administrator
Whitestone, Alaska
---------
To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
Received on Sun Jun 6 19:39:25 2010