Configuring a network

[f-rod]

I am new to Linux/UNIX and am starting out by installing the FC4 on a couple of machines and see if I can make them talk to each other.

I have a very simple setup, two machines connected to a hub. I plan to add two more as soon as I resolve my immediate problem, which is this:

If I set static ip addresses I can ping by ip, but I can't get them to ping by host name. I would also like to set them up to automatically obtain an ip.

Help?

[brandor]

To ping by name, you'll need one of 2 things... An entry in a DNS server that resides on your LAN (not so easy, but not hard) or entries for each machine in the /etc/hosts file on each machine (easy).

To automatically obtain an IP, you'll need a DHCP server running on your lan.

You can find info for both by searching the forums here.

[f-rod]

I will do the search, but I have 2 more questions if you don't mind.

Does this mean that the two machines already connected have to be configured, one as a dns server and the other as a dhcp server?

Once this is accomplished, will I be able to ping each other by name, or will I need to add a client to test this out?

[f-rod]

Not much luck with the search.

Are there any newbie books on the subject?

[brandor]

You don't necessarily have to have a DNS, in fact, I would recommend just editing the /etc/hosts file... issue a "man hosts" at a command line to see how to edit the file. You'll have to do this on all machines on your lan.

Give the computer running the DHCP server a static IP, something like 192.168.0.1. The rest of the computers on the lan will be assigned an IP by this box.

[f-rod]

The purpose of the exercise is to learn the DNS/DHCP/NIS stuff. If I do it the static IP way, then the purpose is defeated.
I really need a "for dummies" approach to this.

I found a site where there were "how to" docs. The NIS doc was very simple and easy to follow, the NDS one was not. I'll try reading it again and see if I can make better sense of it.

BTW, here is the link: http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com

Thanks for your help.

[capnlinux]

It's a chicken/egg thing. If the box that you set up to assign new IP addresses doesn't have a static address itself, it will not know how to assign new machines addresses. One of them has to be first (your DHCP server) and that one needs to be static.

[capnlinux]

DNS actually is fairly complex. But the environment you describe with a single subnet is not overly complicated. A lot of what you read about DNS pertaining to multiple subnets and domains will not apply to your case. What you described is a single domain and single subnet.

One problem you will run into is trying to combine dynamic addressing and DNS. They don't really go together. Standard DNS servers want to have static addressing.