In reply to a post by Oliver341:

When a Windows PC is connected to my Sky router, the DNS server on the Sky router automatically creates a DNS record for it.

Useful, not something Plusnet, or Virgin Media routers do. Thanks!

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

When a Windows PC is connected to my Sky router, the DNS server on the Sky router automatically creates a DNS record for it.

Are you sure? I have a Draytek 2762 and it doesn't do that. Windows machines find each other via NetBIOS on my network. This was actually a problem for me when I started working at home because I sometimes have to do mobile app development and neither the Android nor the iPhone I use for testing could find the server hosted on my development PC.

I had to assign a static IP address to my development PC then manually create a DNS entry for that machine on the router. My colleagues had the same problem but some of them were relying on ISP routers that didn't support that kind of configuration so they ended up having to edit the hosts file on the phones.

Edited by Andrue (Sat 11-Mar-23 22:16:21)

In reply to a post by Andrue:

Are you sure?

Yes. Here I am querying my router's DNS server directly for the hostname of one of my PC's on the network:

C:\>nslookup pc2. 192.168.0.1
Server: SkyRouter.Home
Address: 192.168.0.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pc2
Address: 192.168.0.5

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by Andrue:

Are you sure?

Yes. Here I am querying my router's DNS server directly for the hostname of one of my PC's on the network:

C:\>nslookup pc2. 192.168.0.1
Server: SkyRouter.Home
Address: 192.168.0.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pc2
Address: 192.168.0.5

And it was automatic? That surprises me.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/652096/how-...

So that post does suggest that some routers will assign the hostname via DHCP. I'm intrigued that Sky's router does though. That link seems to imply that it's an 'enterprise' router feature. That seems a bit odd with the description given in the first reply to this thread:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/SR203-DNS-and...

'I do not dispute that the Sky hub is basic and a bit cr*p but it does the job it is intended to do according to your contract with Sky.'. That reply also implies that the router's DNS is locked down so maybe it was done to overcome an enforced limitation?

But hey, you live and learn

Edited by Andrue (Sun 12-Mar-23 08:48:49)

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Yes. Here I am querying my router's DNS server directly for the hostname of one of my PC's on the network:

And on my Asus, I get:
*** No internal type for both IPv4 and IPv6 Addresses (A+AAAA) records available for <hostname>.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

And it was automatic? That surprises me.

Yes, automatic. The router also creates DNS records for smartphones connected to it:

C:\>nslookup HUAWEI_P_smart_2019-a427e. 192.168.0.1
Server: SkyRouter.Home
Address: 192.168.0.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: HUAWEI_P_smart_2019-fee9b
Address: 192.168.0.3

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Yes, automatic. The router also creates DNS records for smartphones connected to it

Its quite easy to do with open source software on Linux, but it is interesting the router designers actually bothered to do it!

A Linux or Windows DHCP daemon/service can be linked to a DNS daemon/service.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

it is interesting the router designers actually bothered to do it!

It is a convenient feature. From my point of view it negates the need to set the device's LAN IP address as reserved in the router, since I can always reference the device by name even if the LAN IP address changes.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

It is a convenient feature.

Agreed, its why we build corporate systems that use DDNS.

But for many parents whom want to time lock their kids devices, or content filters etc, often only the IP is the constant.

But good on Sky as this may keep working when the MAC changes, as newer Android/iOS/Windows/Mac devices now implement by default.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

But good on Sky as this may keep working when the MAC changes, as newer Android/iOS/Windows/Mac devices now implement by default.

Yes, as I understand it the Sky router uses the hostname sent by the device's DHCP client to create the DNS record. This would be the same regardless of MAC address randomisation as long as the device does not randomise its hostname too!