# Private, local DNS server



## klaus (Dec 1, 2010)

Hello,

I have a small question regarding DNS servers. I am somewhat familiar with the DNS terminology but haven't had the chance yet to actually work with one.

The thing is that I have quite a few test servers at home, most of them virtualized and a few physical, and I'm getting tired of remembering them by their IP's 

So my thought was whether it could be possible to set up a local DNS server for my own, private LAN-domain and as such would be able to create a bunch of, primarily, A-records to my home network (this will not work from the WAN side since I've just got one public WAN IP).

Therefore, and I'll apologize in advance if this question have already been answered, is this possible to do - and if yes, does anyone have any details or will the FreeBSD introduction to DNS (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-dns.html) be enough? As far as I can read, it should be an authoritative DNS server I should be setting up.

Thank you in advance,
Klaus


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## SirDice (Dec 1, 2010)

klaus said:
			
		

> So my thought was whether it could be possible to set up a local DNS server for my own, private LAN-domain and as such would be able to create a bunch of, primarily, A-records to my home network (this will not work from the WAN side since I've just got one public WAN IP).


That's possible, I have the same setup.



> Therefore, and I'll apologize in advance if this question have already been answered, is this possible to do - and if yes, does anyone have any details or will the FreeBSD introduction to DNS (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-dns.html) be enough? As far as I can read, it should be an authoritative DNS server I should be setting up.


An authoritative server is the one where the domain is defined. So your server will be authoritative for your domain.


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## jalla (Dec 1, 2010)

If you find BIND to be a bit of a mouthful you could take a look at simpler alternatives like dnsmasq


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## DutchDaemon (Dec 1, 2010)

dns/unbound is also very light-weight, and putting some local records in there is quite easy.


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## graudeejs (Dec 1, 2010)

dns/nsd <- I love it


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## aragon (Dec 1, 2010)

jalla said:
			
		

> If you find BIND to be a bit of a mouthful you could take a look at simpler alternatives like dnsmasq


+1

It's a DHCP server too, and integrates well enough to make dynamic DNS a breeze.


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## klaus (Dec 2, 2010)

Hi all,

Thank you for your advices - I started out with BIND since, well, it was already installed - but after a few hours it became clear to me that you don't just throw BIND up as a local-LAN authoritative DNS server in a jiffy without prior experience, so that will have to wait for a bit 

I am, however, going to create a few virtual servers and try out your suggestions one by one and see what suits me and my (lack of) DNS skills best 

Until then, I have my nerdy whiteboard with a "structured" overview of what IP addresses run which services 

Thanks to you all!

/Klaus


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## codeWarrior (Dec 2, 2010)

Easiest solution if you are running local development boxes is to use WebMin -- it has a great interface to BIND and makes it really easy to create DNS records...


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