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Forum Discussion
Is it possible for the R6400 to provide local DNS service (not forward requests; answer them)?
I finally realized today that I have lost days of work over the last 3-4 years maintaining tables and software for something that my router should do: provide local DNS service. I see from variou...
hdtodd wrote:
Well, the first question is: could I have set up email among local hosts without having an external domain name and the maintenance that goes with that, or could I have had my local hosts use their /etc/hosts files.
I do simple.
With email logs, I set up the sender to us the appropriate SMTP server. I have no idea how Pis handle their email protocols.
I have a bunch of different devices and programs that email out logs. (They may be nothing like your devices.) It is all in the hands of the SMTP settings and the addresses I send to.
When I can be bothered, I can then set up something like gmail to interpret and forward those emails.
I avoid anything and everything that requires messing around with network hardware.
Start with what you want to achieve, not your idea of how to achieve it.
My D6400 – there is no such thing as a "6400" – may not be quite the same as your R6400, but it has the same engine and just isn't that capable.
Yes, the 6400 is now 4-5 years old, I suspect, maybe more.
Make that 2015, seven years.
postfix is one of the SMTP servers available for the Pi, and the one I chose to use because it's simple to install and configure. It doesn't seem to have the ability to reference the individual host's /etc/hosts file, hence the focus on using a local DNS server -- in the router if possible but in a separate local DNS server if necessary. It seems that the latter is necessary.
It turns out that the Asus RT-AX86U has local DNS service built in, in conjunction with DHCP service. I think I looked at the RT-AC86U as an alternative when I bought my R6400, and it also has that service.
From lack of responses, it seems that the R6400 doesn't offer that service, and I'm happy enough with the dnsmasq service I set up on one of my Pis to just leave this alone for now. But when it comes time to replace my R6400, I've identified at least one alternative that appears to better suit my needs.
hdtodd wrote:
From lack of responses, it seems that the R6400 doesn't offer that service, and I'm happy enough with the dnsmasq service I set up on one of my Pis to just leave this alone for now. But when it comes time to replace my R6400, I've identified at least one alternative that appears to better suit my needs.
Like I said, the R6400 is an ageing and not very capable basic router. I am not surprised that there are more versatile devices out there. The challenge can be in finding one that provide all the features you need. Netgear's data sheets are often thin on useful technical details.
In general, this probably isn't the best place to get help with Pi hardware. It has its own lively community of experts. There are Pi users here, but not that many, and not enough to have a core team of experts.
I'd guess there are more Netgear experts in the Pi community than Pi experts here. Hence the lack of response. There might be a bit more feedback during the working week.