Resolving host names to their domain name in an internal BIND domain

I'm setting up a domain on my home network for learning purposes, using BIND on CentOS to act as the name server. I've got the name server up and running as type master for my internal domain (plumbnicoll.family), and can do forward and reverse lookups from other computers in my LAN. For example, host office2.plumbnicoll.family correctly returns office2.plumbnicoll.family has address 192.168.1.3.

What I'd like is to be able to resolve just office2 to its address, without needing to put .plumbnicoll.family at the end.

Is this possible, or even desirable to do? I'm running a mixed environment at home with both Linux and Windows computers.

Answer

It is possible and perfectly desirable. On the Linux machines:

1. Add search plumnicoll.family to your /etc/resolv.conf

On the Windows machines (instructions for Windows XP, other versions will require adaptation but should be similar):

1. go to Start > Settings > Network Connections


2. right-click local network connection > Properties


3. left-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)


4. left-click Properties


5. left-click Advanced


6. left-click DNS tab


7. left-click Append these DNS suffixes



8. left-click Add


9. type plumnicoll.family


10. left-click Add


11. left-click OK


12. left-click OK


13. left-click OK