Abstract of CCNA study guide-20 - Resolving Hostnames

To use a hostname rather than an IP address to connect to a remote device, the device that you are using to make the connection must be able to translate the hostname to an IP address.

There are two ways to resolve hostnames to IP addresses: building a host table on each router or building a Domain Name System (DNS) server.

Building a Host Table

A host table provides name resolution only on the router that it was built upon. The command to build a host table on a router is as follows: ip host host_name tcp_port_number ip_address

The default is TCP port number 23, but you can create a session using Telnet with a different TCP port number if you want. You can also assign up to eight IP addresses to a hostname.

Here’s an example of configuring a host table on the Corp router with two entries to resolve the names for the R1 router and the ap device:

Corp#config t

Corp(config)#ip host R1 10.2.2.2

Corp(config)#ip host ap 10.1.1.2

Notice in the above router configuration that I can just keep adding IP addresses to reference a host, one after another, up to eight IP address. And to see the built host table, just use the show hosts command:

Corp(config)#do show hosts

Default domain is not set

Name/address lookup uses domain service

Name servers are 255.255.255.255

Codes: UN - unknown,            EX - expired,   OK - OK, ?? – revalidate  ,temp - temporary, perm - permanent

NA - Not Applicable None - Not defined

Host                             Port      Flags                Age      Type    Address(es)

ap                                None    (perm, OK)      0          IP         10.1.1.2

R1                                None    (perm, OK)      0          IP         10.2.2.2

Corp(config)#^Z

Corp#

You can see the two hostnames plus their associated IP addresses in the preceding router output. The perm in the Flags column means that the entry is manually configured. If it said temp, it would be an entry that was resolved by DNS.

To verify that the host table resolves names, try typing the hostnames at a router prompt. Remember that if you don’t specify the command, the router assumes you want to telnet.

In the following example, I’ll use the hostnames to telnet into the remote devices and press

Ctrl+Shift+6 and then X to return to the main console of the Corp router:

Corp#r1

Trying R1 (10.2.2.2)... Open

User Access Verification

Password:

R1>Ctrl+Shift+6

Corp#ap

Trying ap (10.1.1.2)... Open

User Access Verification

Password:

ap>Ctrl+Shift+6

Corp#

Notice that the entries in the show sessions output now display the hostnames and IP addresses instead of just the IP addresses:

Corp#sh sessions

Conn Host Address Byte Idle Conn Name

1 r1 10.2.2.2 0 1 r1

* 2 ap 10.1.1.2 0 0 ap

Corp#

If you want to remove a hostname from the table, just use the no ip host command like this:

RouterA(config)#no ip host R1

The problem with the host table method is that you would need to create a host table on each router to be able to resolve names. And if you have a whole bunch of routers, using DNS is a much better choice!

Using DNS to Resolve Names

Any time a Cisco device receives a command it doesn’t understand, it will try to resolve it through DNS by default. Watch what happens when I type the special command todd at a Cisco router prompt:

Corp#todd

Translating “todd”...domain server (255.255.255.255)

Translating “todd”...domain server (255.255.255.255)

Translating “todd”...domain server (255.255.255.255)

% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find

computer address

Corp#

It doesn’t know my name or what command I am trying to type, so it tries to resolve this through DNS. This is really annoying because I need to wait for the name lookup to time out.

You can prevent a time-consuming DNS lookup by using the no ip domain-lookup command on your router from global configuration mode.

If you have a DNS server on your network, you need to add a few commands to make DNS name resolution work:

- The first command is ip domain-lookup, which is turned on by default.

_ The second command is ip name-server. This sets the IP address of the DNS server. You can enter the IP addresses of up to six servers.

_ The last command is ip domain-name. Although this command is optional, it really should be set.

Here’s an example of using these three commands:

Corp#config t

Corp(config)#ip domain-lookup

Corp(config)#ip name-server 192.168.0.70

Corp(config)#ip domain-name lammle.com

After the DNS configurations are set, you can test the DNS server by using a hostname to ping or telnet a device like this:

Corp#ping R1

use the show hosts command to see that the device cached this information in the host table:

Corp#sh hosts

Default domain is lammle.com

Name/address lookup uses domain service

Name servers are 192.168.0.70

Host Flags Age Type Address(es)

R1 (temp, OK) 0 IP 10.2.2.2

ap (perm, OK) 0 IP 10.1.1.2

Corp#

The entry that was resolved is shown as temp, but the ap device is still perm, meaning that it’s a static entry. Notice that the hostname is a full domain name. If I hadn’t used the ip domain-name lammle.com command, I would have needed to type in ping r1.lammle.com, which is a pain.