Hostnames and DNS filter

[makkie2002]

I noticed that hostnames (as defined in the static DHCP address list) don't get translated to the correct ipadresses when the DNS filter in parental controls is on. When I switch off the filter everything works OK. Is there a way to solve this?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is there a way to solve this?

No. The static DHCP address list creates host name entries on the routers own DNS server. By using parental control you are telling the router to bypass its own DNS and go straight to the external DNS server specified (which has no knowledge of your local host names).

 

[makkie2002]

No. The static DHCP address list creates host name entries on the routers own DNS server. By using parental control you are telling the router to bypass its own DNS and go straight to the external DNS server specified (which has no knowledge of your local host names).

That is a pitty ... hosts on the local net should be trusted (at least in a home situation ... where parental controls are used) ... thanks for the explanation !

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well the choice is yours really. Your clients are either using the routers DNS server (with the ability to resolve local host names) or they're not. (Parental control is not doing anything more than intercepting the DNS packets and redirecting them to another server. There is no way local host names can be resolved using this technique )

However, there is a sort of work around.

If your clients are set to use the routers DNS server (the default behaviour) you can then set the router to use something like OpenDNS Family as its upstream DNS server instead of the ones supplied by your ISP. Not an ideal solution because it would effect all the clients on your network.

Alternatively, if you're only talking about a couple of clients and a couple of host names, you could manually put entries in the clients /etc /hosts file. But that's not something that I would recommend.

 

[makkie2002]

Well the choice is yours really. Your clients are either using the routers DNS server (with the ability to resolve local host names) or they're not. (Parental control is not doing anything more than intercepting the DNS packets and redirecting them to another server. There is no way local host names can be resolved using this technique )

However, there is a sort of work around.

If your clients are set to use the routers DNS server (the default behaviour) you can then set the router to use something like OpenDNS Family as its upstream DNS server instead of the ones supplied by your ISP. Not an ideal solution because it would effect all the clients on your network.

Alternatively, if you're only talking about a couple of clients and a couple of host names, you could manually put entries in the clients /etc /hosts file. But that's not something that I would recommend.

Thanks for this information. The use of an upstream dns is indeed not ideal as all clients would use this. But I am gonna try to use the hosts files trick (the one you would not recommend ). I only want the hostnames for the servers not for the regular clients, so this is managable. Thanks!

BTW: Can't I use a script that automatically adjusts the hosts file based on the static dhcp list?

 

[ColinTaylor]

BTW: Can't I use a script that automatically adjusts the hosts file based on the static dhcp list?

Just to be clear, you'd have to modify the hosts file on each of the client PC's, not the router itself.

 

[makkie2002]

Just to be clear, you'd have to modify the hosts file on each of the client PC's, not the router itself.

Thanks ... just found that myself the hard way ...