The Domain Name System (DNS) has been and still is mostly a mystery to me. What the heck are A records and cnames? I know it doesn’t work well for my homelab servers. I do appreciate the convenience of remembering and referencing a computer name versus a four-octet number (IP address).

On a network, when references to computer names are not reliable, fixed IP addresses are a requirement. An easy but unmanageable solution is to put server names and IP addresses in a hosts file on each computer and to hard code static IP addresses on each computer. Using permanent IP reservations on the DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol) server is a big improvement, but name resolution is still spotty. If you throw in a Microsoft computer on you network, it has a separate name resolution process – WINS (Windows internet name service). This can help for computers that talk “Microsoft” that are either Windows or have SAMBA (server message block networking protocol) installed (Linux computers).

For convenience, I use my AT&T modem/router’s DHCP server to dole out IP addresses. It provides permanent IP address reservations which is essential for servers. When I embarked on the hypervisor/virtual machine endeavor, I saw the benefit of installing one service on one server. Therefore, MQTT, Plex, Pihole and other services each have their own server. I learned this lesson the hard way. As I busily doled out servers, each with it’s own IP address reservation, I quickly hit the limit of 16 on my DHCP server.

I dislike the inconvenience of managing static IP addresses. However, fixed IP address for servers are really importantI’m hoping Pihole

I need to update my DNS entry for lynnhargrove.com at NameCheap.