====== dnsmasq ======

  * [[DNS]]
  * [[Avahi]]
  * [[Multicast DNS]]
  * [[launchctl]]

dnsmasq is a small domain name server designed to resolve host names on a LAN.

=== Wildcard Domains ===

You may want to assign an actual domain to a hostname, to provide wildcard name resolution.

An example would be that a host could be named ''server.local'', but ''*.server.local'' should also resolve to the same IP address.

Add an extra domain to ''/etc/dnsmasq.conf'', and then restart the server.

<code>
address=/.server.local/192.168.12.180
</code>

OS X also uses mDNS to do hostname lookups, so you can add an entry for the server as well.

==== OS X / homebrew ====

dnsmasq can be setup to do wildcard DNS resolution natively, instead of updating an ''hosts'' file.

First, install dnsmasq with homebrew:

<code>
brew install dnsmasq
</code>

Install the sample config file:

<code>
cp /usr/local/opt/dnsmasq/dnsmasq.conf.example /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf
</code>

Add this to configuration file to disable DHCP server, and resolve subdomains locally:

<code>
no-dhcp-interface=
address=/.steve.beandog.org/127.0.0.1
</code>

<code>
cp /usr/local/opt/dnsmasq/*.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons
launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist
</code>

Configure OS X to resolv all ''*.name.beandog.org'' to use the localhost DNS server:

<code>
mkdir -p /etc/resolver
echo nameserver 127.0.0.1 > /etc/resolver/name.beandog.org
</code>

==== HOWTO ====

== Remove a DHCP lease ==

  - Stop ''dnsmasq''
  - Edit ''dhcpd.leases'' aand remove the entry
  - Start ''dnsmasq''