How do UNIX clients resolve names?

[chesman]

ok, i have a network in a mixed enviroment with UNIX and windows clients. i have a WINS and a DNS server. can the UNIX clients get ther name resolution done from one of these or do they need to manuelly edit either the host or lmhosts file locally?


thanks!

 

[Shakie]

Unix clients use something called BIND, which stands for Berkley Internet Name Domain. Most server OSes can be configured to work with BIND.

BIND is basically the same thing as DNS.
BIND = UNIX
DNS = Windows

 

[chesman]

yes, but i have been told that i must assign it manuely thorugh the hosts file on the client.


is this valid?

 

[Shakie]

Not necessarily. I think you can configure it to pull from a pool. I will have to do some checking to confirm.

 

[HoLoCroN]

Configuring the host/lmhost files will definitely make sure all unix clients have adequate name resolution. If you don't too big of a network it might be easier to manually setup the host file.

Unless, you are a master with the BIND configuration!

 

[office politics]

Unless, you are a master with the BIND configuration!

no guts, no glory

 

[Shakie]

chesman, check this out:

All clients are configured to use one or more DNS servers using the /etc/resolv.conf file. This file can contain a number of directives including nameserver, domain, search, sortlist and a number of options. (Try the man resolver command for more information.) The only directive you really need is one nameserver entry listing the IP address of a DNS server. Multiple nameserver directives can be used.

That is from here: http://www.eece.maine.edu/~brucel/classes/ece435/dns.html

Is this kinda what you were looking for?