DNS - trying to add local hosts fail

[wseaton]

Greetings...

I have  very simple network with my 200D acting as a sole DNS server (no AD or anything else). I have a very large mix of proprietary devices on the network that don't work as smoothly as workstations when it comes to registering themselves with DNS, and developers need these devices to resolve as host names rather than IP.

First idea is the good old hosts file in Windows, which works but it will be cumbersome to install in all the clients, impossible to manage, and frankly I feel the Forti should be able to do this very simple task.

My intuition is to just add A-records for the specific host under DNS Servers > DNS Database but not sure if this is the right way to do this. In any case, that doesnt work.

[sw2090]

yes create a zone for you local domain you want to use at dns-databse and then add A ([strike]and if you need reverse dns also add PTR[/strike]) records to it. Make sure your clients have the FGT as DNS Server then.

For reverse DNS you would need an extra DNS Zone for your subnet and then PTR Records in there.

the FGT will then first use the local zones for lookup and if they don't match it will hand over the request to its system dns servers.

[ede_pfau]

@sw2090: sure you can add a PTR zone as well. Not as comfortable as in Windows DNS but it works for reverse lookups.

[wseaton]

Yeah, I tried all this but I'm not the strongest when it comes to centralized DNS services, but I need to get this working ASAP. 

My Forti handles all my DHCP and DNS, so that's not an issue.

The domain name context i'm working with is 'production.local', the host alias I'm testing is called 'booger', and when I add the A record with proper IP  it should be 'booger.production.local', right?  The zone I created uses 'production.local' (??) If I then ping 'booger.production.local' from a member client pointed at the forti for DNS it should work, and it doesn't. What aint I doing right?

[sw2090]

the zone would be called "production.local"

the A Record in there would just be "booger IN A <ipaddress>"

@ede yes you can but since PTR is reverse it is tied to the (sub)net and not to the domain. Due to this it has to have its own DNS Zone for the subnet as I wrote. You due to this just cannot mix A and PTR in one zone.

[rwpatterson]

if you are using a Windows client, get to a command prompt and type "nslookup". It should respond with your DNS server and the greater than '>' symbol. type 'booger' and see what reply you get. Try 'booger.production.local' and see what you get there. Post the results here please. See example below. "Web" is the server, "camerabob.lan" is the domain.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601] Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\webster>nslookup Default Server: camerabobnas2.camerabob.lan Address: 192.168.200.11

> web Server: camerabobnas2.camerabob.lan Address: 192.168.200.11

Name: cb-web-2017.camerabob.lan Address: 192.168.252.2 Aliases: web.camerabob.lan

> web.camerabob.lan Server: camerabobnas2.camerabob.lan Address: 192.168.200.11

Name: cb-web-2017.camerabob.lan Address: 192.168.252.2 Aliases: web.camerabob.lan

> exit

C:\Users\webster>