Create an Intranet - Fedora

[NoMansLand]

Hello,

I have just recently jumped into the Linux band wagon (Been Using Mac's & Windows my whole life). and Just wanted to know if it is possible to make an address like: "ht tp: // intranet/" I know it can be done, we have it done at work.

Just the tech guy wont tell me how to do it. You guys have been able to help me with alot more of other issues. So thanks for being here for a nublet like me =)

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Kris

[zombykillah]

Here the basics:
1. DNS:
Domain Name Server
Is a Server that is used to find a IP Address to a written name.
Example:
Name: intranet
IP: 192.168.1.100

Theres much more to tell about DNS, because it also gives the possibility to define more than one server for a name, or to ask for IPv6 Addresses, Server of a Name for special Services (Mail) ... etc.etc.

But the basic is that it gives a client an address to an asked address.

Software:
Linux: bind (most advanced, also means most complicate to configure)
There many more DNS Server.
Most Router have one integrated.

2. http Server:
A http Server listens on the Port 80, and answers the requests a client gives to him. (Client = You starting Firefox and accessing the page)
It also starts the scripts that may are needed to create the page (php) which ist most times interpreted as html.
Software:
Linux: apache

3. Intranet - Page:
These are basicly the scripts and pages that are stored on the Server and accessed by the http Server to create the page.
Depending on what you wanna show on the Page there several free Products, as joomla, phpbb, etc. etc.
They have different names, according to your needs:
CMS, Forum, Blog, Groupware, ...

4. Data:
When you install one of the named Pages it allways splits two things:
The Page you show and the information you show.
While the Page itself consists of scripts that are getting information out of files or most times, out of a Database.
That means you will need a database installed on you Server.
Software:
Linux: (MySQL, Postgres, Firebird, etc.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
So a short summary for you:
1. You start firefox with address http://intranet
2. Your computer asks DNS what address is intranet ... getting information 192.168.1.100
3. Your computer connects to http Server on 192.168.1.100 telling it it wanna see the page for intranet/
4. Server takes a look what file is needed to be transported or executed, prefers index.html then index.php ... etc.
5. If needed Scripts will get executed.
6. The scripts ask database for information, what shall be displayed.
7. Your computer gets the result echo from the script.

[NoMansLand]

Hey zombie, thanks for the help.

I have installed bind etc (I already have httpd (Apache) MySQL, Php, phpMyAdmin installed).

but now trying to start bind I get this issue:

[root@Kris-Fedora kris]# service named start
Starting named: 
Error in named configuration:
/etc/named.conf:46: unknown key 'rndckey'

I have been reading a heap of websites about this but cant seem to figure this one issue out..

Here is a bit of my conf file:

authoritative;
include "/etc/rndc.key";
# Server configuration:


server-identifier    server;
ddns-domainname         "intranet.";
ddns-rev-domainname     "in-addr.arpa.";
ddns-update-style       interim;
ddns-updates            on;
ignore                  client-updates;


# This is the communication zone

zone localhost. {
    primary 127.0.0.1;
    key rndckey;
}

[NoMansLand]

Ok, I got rid of the last error.. but I cant get past this long error >_<

[root@Kris-Fedora named]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/named start
Starting named: 
Error in named configuration:
zone localhost.localdomain/IN: loaded serial 0
zone localhost/IN: loaded serial 0
zone 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.ip6.arpa/IN: loaded serial 0
zone 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded serial 0
zone 0.in-addr.arpa/IN: loaded serial 0
dns_rdata_fromtext: named.local:1: near eol: unexpected end of input
named.local:2: ignoring out-of-zone data (intranet)
dns_master_load: named.local:3: unexpected end of line
dns_master_load: named.local:2: unexpected end of input
named.local:4: unknown RR type '28800'
named.local:11: using RFC1035 TTL semantics
dns_master_load: named.local:12: isc_lex_gettoken() failed: unbalanced parentheses
dns_master_load: named.local:12: unbalanced parentheses
zone 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa/IN: loading from master file named.local failed: unexpected end of input
zone 0.0.127.in-addr.arpa/IN: not loaded due to errors.
_default/0.0.127.in-addr.arpa/IN: unexpected end of input
dns_rdata_fromtext: intranet.rev:1: near eol: unexpected end of input
intranet.rev:2: ignoring out-of-zone data (intranet)
dns_master_load: intranet.rev:3: unexpected end of line
dns_master_load: intranet.rev:2: unexpected end of input
intranet.rev:6: unknown RR type '14400'
intranet.rev:12: using RFC1035 TTL semantics
dns_master_load: intranet.rev:20: isc_lex_gettoken() failed: unbalanced parentheses
dns_master_load: intranet.rev:20: unbalanced parentheses
zone 2.168.192.in-addr.arpa/IN: loading from master file intranet.rev failed: unexpected end of input
zone 2.168.192.in-addr.arpa/IN: not loaded due to errors.
_default/2.168.192.in-addr.arpa/IN: unexpected end of input
dns_rdata_fromtext: intranet:1: near eol: unexpected end of input
dns_master_load: intranet:3: unexpected end of line
dns_master_load: intranet:2: unexpected end of input
intranet:4: unknown RR type '28800'
intranet:11: using RFC1035 TTL semantics
dns_master_load: intranet:36: isc_lex_gettoken() failed: unbalanced parentheses
dns_master_load: intranet:36: unbalanced parentheses
zone intranet/IN: loading from master file intranet failed: unexpected end of input
zone intranet/IN: not loaded due to errors.
_default/intranet/IN: unexpected end of input
                                                           [FAILED]

[zombykillah]

The first errors invoke, that you have a syntax error (forgotten }, or ; or anything else ...) in named.local
He simply tells you that he would expect more information in that file.

Here I would start looking.
Maybe the following errors are triggered by that one.

I've never installed bind for dynDns myself.
Most time I simply write the few addresses I have myself into the db file.

[zombykillah]

Howto setup DHCP Server and Dynamic DNS with BIND in Debian

That link may help you.

[NoMansLand]

Ok I couldnt get bind to work >_< but I am trying a new tactic, using my router, but the router isnt showing the hostname, thanks zombie for all your help.

[Freston]

I use dnsmasq for all my dns/dhcp and related solutions. It's never as flexible as specialized daemons but it's easy to configure and it does the trick very nicely.

But by far the easiest way, though, is to just add this line to your host file:

/etc/hosts

192.168.1.100 intranet

If it's just your home network, then that is good enough I suppose. Enter that line in any machine that needs to access intranet and you're done.

What happens is, when a machine gets directed to a name rather than an IP address it'll query a DNS server for an IP address lookup, as defined in /etc/resolv.conf. But before it does that, it looks in /etc/hosts to see if that name is already known. And you can edit that file as you see fit.

___
Routers differ greatly in capabilities and interface. If you want to use your router for these things, you may or may not succeed depending on the precise type of router.

[NoMansLand]

Ok. Its a Belkin Router it has a DHCP Client List in there and I can access all my PC's (Windows, Mac) my Mobiles (iPhones) My Gaming Consoles (Xbox's, Wii, PS3) all through it but not my fedora machine.

I am going to keep on looking.. but the only thing I can think of is Fedora isn't giving the Router the hostname..

Thanks for all your help guys.

[coopstah13]

OK, so now we can actually see what your problem really is

You have a router that is acting as your name server, and only the fedora machine isn't working with hostname resolution

You are probably right, you will probably need to set the option to send the hostname to the router for DNS purposes in your DHCP client (i'm not sure which one fedora uses, dhclient or dhcpcd)

Also, make sure /etc/resolv.conf has a line in it that starts with "search" and it will need to point to whatever your local domain is, so you can make sure you can resolve those other hosts from fedora as well