Setting up your own DNS server is an effective way to enable more interaction between systems on your network. While NetBIOS and WINS can enable the same kinds of interactions without requiring users to resort to IP addresses, they often don’t work effectively in mixed-system environments (e.g. Windows and Mac computers) or where networks may be connected but yet distinct (such as a satellite office); further, many personal firewall products result in these systems simply not working at all.
Enter DNS, the basic system that makes the internet itself work. Today’s post will show you how to set up your own DNS server on your network. We will start with a simple caching-only (aka forwarding-only) set up, and then build upon that to assign DNS entries to systems within your own network.
This post will build upon my previous post, Networking 201: Running your own DHCP server, however you don’t need to have your own DHCP server to follow along; I will offer alternative suggestions to help you use a different set up at each step that refers to the DHCP server from that post. (more…)
Whether you run a small business network, or just your own home network, you’ve probably made use of what I call “plastic routers” – off-the-shelf devices that you plug in to share your single internet hookup between multiple computers. These convenient little boxes provide routing, basic firewalling, DHCP, and occasionally even DNS support for your network, via a handy web interface. However, if you find these devices to be too limiting, or you just want to flex your geek muscle by doing it all yourself, one of the first things you’ll need is a DHCP server.
This post will walk you through installing and configuring dhcp3-server on an Ubuntu server. The nice thing about this is that the resource requirements are very low – I use an old HP Pavilion computer running a scant 64 MB of RAM with a sloth-like 667 MHz processor, which is more than enough to also serve as my network’s DNS server and firewall. Installing Ubuntu in such a slim environment can be vexatious, but it runs just fine once installed; that, however, is beyond the scope of this post – for now I will simply assume you have Ubuntu installed and ready to go.
This is the first in a short series of articles about networking set up and configuration; this post will serve as reference material for later how-tos, including a detailed description of how I make effective use of VirtualBox’s internal network feature to virtualize entire networks of VMs. (more…)
Woo! Here’s how it went down: (more…)
So, I’m home now. Here are some parting thoughts on my stay in India, along with some travel tips. (more…)
I spent the weekend in a town called Poovar. Well, to be more specific, I spent it at a beach resort in Poovar called Isola Di Cocco. I highly recommend the place – great locale, awesome food, superb service all around, and even outdoor bathrooms in each room! And for you budget travelers – my entire weekend, including meals, cost less than US$65 – I’ve stayed in much lesser hotels in the US for twice that, food not included!
I also discovered that when I have an alarm set to wake me up, I sleep a lot better. Makes sense – without an alarm, I’m checking the time every time I wake up; with one, I just roll over and fall back asleep. I found Nini’s watch (she had forgotten the thing even existed!) in the small duffel bag I used when I went to Isla Di Cocco. I’ve now got it on my bedside table, with the alarm set to wake me up in the morning. Next time I travel, if I forget to pack a travel clock I’m buying one at the first airport I reach!
1 week down, 2 weeks to go.
The food here is amazing. I really wish we had some Indian cuisine back home – I’m going to miss this stuff! Maybe I’ll pick up an Indian cookbook and take to cooking more often.
Most meals seem to be eaten with one’s hands. It’s kind of weird, having grown up with Mom telling me to always use my fork, and then coming here and half the time not even having a fork! But, I’ll tell you one thing - you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten curry with your fingers!
They’re sending me off to the beach for the weekend. Should be fun. 
Well, I now have internet access from the comfort of my hotel room, which means posting will be a bit easier.
I’ve been watching a lot of TV, since there’s really nothing in walking distance and I didn’t bring a deck of cards. I’ve been to foreign countries before, where I did watch TV, so seeing commercials in a foreign language didn’t phase me at all. I did find something surprising, though. No, not the fact that it’s easy to find English-language television (I’ve been watching HBO mostly), nor even the fact that there are both English and non-English commercials during said English-language television. (more…)
Well, I’ve been in India for 16 hours now (give or take). My first impressions:
It’s hot and humid, but there’s the occasional whiff of sea air that’s awful pleasant. There’s also a lot of animal/insect sounds constantly, which was annoying at first but now is kind of a pleasant background.
The driving here is terrifying – seems there’s few (if any) rules of the road, and at best just a small handful of guidelines. People seem to just drive whereever/however they want to get where they’re going. Also, everyone drives on the right, which I guess I should have expected but didn’t.
My internet access is spotty, but I’ll try to update every few days or so with what’s going on.
Just discovered a bug in my new anti-spam WordPress plugin that made it impossible for anyone to comment. It’s been fixed, but this of course brings to the front the critical need for a proper testing environment!
If you’ve been paying attention to my Akismet counter on the sidebar, you’ve probably noticed the number trending upwards quite rapidly over the last week. Apparently the spambots have found me.
Akismet’s done a superb job of preventing you fine folks from seeing the spam. And WordPress similarly does a superb job of providing a single-click interface to purge all that spam. But I’d really rather not have to be bothered with that.
So I’ve just implemented a quick-and-dirty plugin that uses Tornevall’s DNSBL service to bar these spambots from posting at all. With any luck none of you will be affected or even notice at all, but do let me know if you find yourself unable to post comments (assuming you have another way of reaching me, that is).
Coincidentally, this is providing a handy lesson in writing WordPress plugins. In the dive-in-headfirst-and-hope-you-can-swim sort of way…
