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    How to setup a Host Override

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved DHCP and DNS
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    • U
      Uglybrian
      last edited by

      It’s your host name and domain. So pfsense.home.arpa

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      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
        last edited by johnpoz

        @jimfreeze home.arpa is the new standard use local domain.

        https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8375
        Special-Use Domain 'home.arpa.'

        And yes not exactly sure what exact version of pfsense moved to it vs .localdomain.. But from your previous post that is what you showed as your pfsense name and domain.. pfsense.home.arpa

        I kept meaning to move to it from my local.lan - but have a lot certs I have created using local.lan in them, and just haven't bothered to switch yet.

        I haven't added anything to /etc/hosts.

        Please show it like I did - this will show us what pfsense fqdn should be and any host overrides, etc. you have created. I just snipped mine because I have a lot of stuff in there and was just wanting to what my sg4860.local.lan is listed in there from my general page setup.

        BTW - are you using pfblocker? And have something odd setup there? But pfsense from the diag host lookup should for sure be able to lookup its own name ;)

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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        • J
          jimfreeze @johnpoz
          last edited by

          @johnpoz Thank you. That's great information.

          /etc/hosts looks standard to me.

          % cat /etc/hosts
          ##
          # Host Database
          #
          # localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
          # when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
          ##
          127.0.0.1	localhost
          255.255.255.255	broadcasthost
          ::1             localhost
          
          127.0.0.1	local.host
          

          I installed pfblocker a few hours ago. I just did the basic install.

          And, it still doesn't seem to be able to find the home.arpa domain.

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          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
            last edited by

            @jimfreeze that doesn't look like pfsense hosts file..

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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            • J
              jimfreeze @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz Looking at the link you set, should the domain setting under general setup be home.arpa. and not home.arpa?

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                last edited by

                @jimfreeze dude that is not your pfsense hosts file..

                Here

                pfsensehosts.jpg

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • J
                  jimfreeze @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz Hey, sorry about that. I saw your post and responded, but it didn't go through.

                  cat /etc/hosts
                  127.0.0.1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                  ::1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                  

                  BTW, I'm not sure how this setup has changed, but it NOW recognizes pfsense.home.arpa, without a host override.

                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                    last edited by johnpoz

                    @jimfreeze said in How to setup a Host Override:

                    without a host override.

                    Because you shouldn't have to do that - since that is pfsense default name.

                    Now can your clients resolve pfsense.home.arpa? And can you access the webgui via that name.

                    But your failing to show your full hosts file - since your not showing pfsense.home.arpa in there and just the first 2 lines..

                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                    • J
                      jimfreeze @johnpoz
                      last edited by jimfreeze

                      @johnpoz Yes, clients can ping pfsense.home.arpa and web access also works.

                      That is the full /ect/hosts file.

                      8) Shell
                      
                      Enter an option: 8
                      
                      [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: cat /etc/hosts
                      127.0.0.1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                      ::1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                      [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root:
                      
                      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                        last edited by johnpoz

                        @jimfreeze how exactly would you be resolving pfsense.home.arpa if its not in your hosts file?

                        edit: ah look in here
                        cat /var/unbound/host_entries.conf

                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                        • J
                          jimfreeze @johnpoz
                          last edited by

                          @johnpoz Hmmm

                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: cat /var/unbound/host_entries.conf
                          local-zone: "home.arpa." transparent
                          local-data-ptr: "127.0.0.1 localhost.home.arpa"
                          local-data: "localhost. A 127.0.0.1"
                          local-data: "localhost.home.arpa. A 127.0.0.1"
                          local-data-ptr: "::1 localhost.home.arpa"
                          local-data: "localhost. AAAA ::1"
                          local-data: "localhost.home.arpa. AAAA ::1"
                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root:
                          
                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: cat /etc/hosts
                          127.0.0.1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                          ::1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root:
                          

                          However, when I opened my laptop up this time (no changes to pfsense), it is NOT resolving

                          arm64:~ % ping pfsense.home.arpa
                          ping: cannot resolve pfsense.home.arpa: Unknown host
                          arm64:~ % ping home.arpa
                          ping: cannot resolve home.arpa: Unknown host
                          arm64:~ % ping localhost.home.arpa
                          PING localhost.home.arpa (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
                          64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.077 ms
                          64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.097 ms
                          ^C
                          
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                          • johnpozJ
                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                            last edited by

                            @jimfreeze Well no it can not and would not resolve if there is no entry there..

                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                            • J
                              jimfreeze @johnpoz
                              last edited by

                              @johnpoz So, how do clients recognize the home.arpa domain without setting a host override?

                              johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • johnpozJ
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                                last edited by

                                @jimfreeze Huh.. home.arpa is your domain that is being handed out via dhcp.. Why you have no entry for pfsense.home.arpa I have no idea what your actually doing..

                                Your general setting that you posted before showed pfsense with home.arpa as the domain. This is a default.

                                Did you change that?

                                But if there is no entry for pfsense.home.arpa for unbound to know about, then no it can return an answer for that via a dns query.

                                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                • J
                                  jimfreeze @johnpoz
                                  last edited by

                                  @johnpoz The home.arpa was "just there" when I installed pfsense. I don't know that that means anything, that is, that such a domain exists. If it exists, it seems it needs to be defined by pfsense somewhere.

                                  The DHCP service was already running, I only configured the port range and main address.

                                  Screen Shot 2021-11-13 at 8.05.23 AM.png

                                  Screen Shot 2021-11-13 at 8.05.38 AM.png

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                                  • johnpozJ
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                                    last edited by

                                    @jimfreeze again yes home.arpa is default... And right there in your dhcp server it clearly states that system will be used

                                    domain.jpg

                                    And again if unbound has no entry for the system name.. Did you change that or get rid of it?

                                    From your previous post

                                    setup.jpg

                                    So again - if unbound has no entry for pfsense.home.arpa or whatever other domain you might set in system. Then NO it could not respond for a query.. How would it know what to respond with, etc..

                                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                    • J
                                      jimfreeze @johnpoz
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz I don't think you understand the problem. The problem is not that I believe the router should break the laws of physics or that it should function in a way it's not supposed to. The problem is there are multiple touchpoints in configuring a system to work, and they do not work out of the box. That is, they do not define the home.arpa domain and clients are not able to resolve home.arpa when that domain is defined in "General Setup".

                                      So far we have talked about 3 configuration points to get a local domain defined and resolvable:

                                      • "General Setup": Hostname and Domain
                                      • "DHCP Server": Gateway and 'Domain name' left blank to use default host
                                      • "DNS Resolver": No config added

                                      The above steps do not allow clients to resolve home.arpa.
                                      I am not seeing in the docs how this setup should be done. It seems like it should be a basic procedure.

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                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @jimfreeze
                                        last edited by johnpoz

                                        @jimfreeze said in How to setup a Host Override:

                                        and they do not work out of the box.

                                        Sorry but they do.. I have setup pfsense countless times.. All of it just works out of the box..

                                        are not able to resolve home.arpa when that domain is defined in "General Setup".

                                        What would they resolve home.arpa too? That is just the domain, there is no host there.. So no trying to resolve just home.arpa wouldn't resolve to anything... What should resolve is pfsense.home.arpa since that would be the default fqdn..

                                        Out of the box pfsense

                                        default.jpg

                                        Working just fine...

                                        Here is that other file I said to look at - on a default fire up of pfsense..

                                        defaultsetup.jpg

                                        So I am not sure what you have going on - but this works just out of the box..

                                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                        • J
                                          jimfreeze @johnpoz
                                          last edited by

                                          @johnpoz So, that is the real question. Why is that line not getting defined on my router?

                                          arm64:~ % nslookup pfsense.home.arpa
                                          Server:		192.168.100.1
                                          Address:	192.168.100.1#53
                                          
                                          ** server can't find pfsense.home.arpa: SERVFAIL
                                          
                                          arm64:~ % ping pfsense.home.arpa
                                          ping: cannot resolve pfsense.home.arpa: Unknown host
                                          

                                          It's almost certain that I have some config that is preventing that from happening, but I don't know what it could be. You have verified the settings are correct on General setup, DNS resolver and DHCP server.

                                          /etc/hosts is still the same and does not include the pfSense line like yours does.

                                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: cat /etc/hosts
                                          127.0.0.1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                                          ::1	localhost localhost.home.arpa
                                          [21.05.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root:
                                          

                                          Can you think of a configuration setting that I changed that would cause this?

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                                          • M
                                            MoonKnight @jimfreeze
                                            last edited by MoonKnight

                                            @jimfreeze

                                            What DNS servers do you have in your General Setup?

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