Using a Raspberry Pi for basic network services, Part 4: DNS server

Photo credit: Michael Henzler
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Raspberry Pi for basic Networking services series:

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: DHCP server
• Part 3: Static IP addresses
• Part 4: DNS

In previous articles, I described how to set up a Raspberry Pi computer to act as a DHCP server and how to configure it to serve static IP addresses. But this is only half of the solution.

If all your computers are only used to access Internet sites, then you may not need anything more, but if you run any services on your LAN, you will want to access them as well as Internet services. Some examples of services I run on my LAN include:

• Printer. My printer has a built-in Ethernet interface and acts as a print server for the entire LAN.
• Web server. Two of my computers are running web server software. I use these for documents that I want to make available to all the computers in my home. In the past, when I ran an Internet-accessible web site, I used my local web servers as a staging area for changes before uploading them to the main server.
• File servers. Several of my computers have file sharing enabled so I can copy files between my computers.
• Remote access. Several computers run different remote access tools including SSH, VNC, X2Go and others. This lets me access everything from anywhere in the house.

When accessing a remote service, you need to provide the machine's name or IP address. If you've got a small LAN, you can just type in the address. Or you can set up hosts files on your computers to assign names to the addresses. But once you get more than a trivial number of devices on your network, those two solutions quickly become unmanageable. As I wrote in part 1, I've got 26 active devices on my LAN and many more that are rarely used. Using hosts files really doesn't work because every computer needs to be updated whenever the content changes and some devices (especially embedded devices like set-top boxes and mobile phones) don't even have a hosts file that can be managed.

But there is a well-established solution to the problem. The solution is to use the DNS protocol.

Time for a new Mac

After many many years of using a Mac I purchased in 2011, it's finally time to upgrade to a new one. I just placed an order with Apple and I expect to have it in a week or two. The new computer will be much faster than the old one, but it will be missing a few I/O ports and the new version of macOS it runs will be pretty different.

How to deal with a patent troll

Lawsuit accusing entire computer industry of patent infringement fails on missed deadline
By Mike Peterson, Apple Insider. September 1, 2020

A lawsuit that accused essentially the entire computer industry of patent infringement has been dismissed because an opening brief wasn't filed by the deadline.

In September 2019, plaintiff Mers Kutt filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It alleged $350 billion in damages against more than 40 technology companies, telecom providers, and financial firms, among others. Apple was included at the top of the list.

After a majority of those companies filed opposing orders, a judge in March 2020 dismissed the case with prejudice. Kutt appealed that decision, but apparently failed to file an opening brief by a July 2 deadline. The lawsuit was tossed on Sept. 1.

In other words:

• Patent troll sues everybody in the universe for a quarter of a trillion dollars
• Everybody in the universe tells him to get bent and a judge agrees
• Patent troll claims he will appeal, but instead slinks off to his cave, not even bothering to file the paperwork to continue his suit

This is the only way to handle a bully. Don't settle out of court. Don't pay a penny. Force him to defend his idiocy and watch him back down. The last thing a troll wants is an actual fight.