hostnamelinuxnetworkingwindows
I have a simple home network with Windows 7 machines and Linux machines (Fedora 12 and 13). I'd like to be able to resolve the Linux machine names from the windows machine. For example:
— Windows 7
ping mylinuxmachine
Currently this does not resolve. Any ideas?
Since the previous answers to this question were written, there have been a couple of RFCs that alter the guidance somewhat. RFC 6761 discusses special-use domain names without providing specific guidance for private networks. RFC 6762 still recommends not using unregistered TLDs, but also acknowledges that there are cases where it will be done anyway. Since the commonly used .local conflicts with Multicast DNS (the main topic of the RFC), Appendix G. Private DNS Namespaces recommends the following TLDs:
IANA appears to recognize both RFCs but does not (currently) incorporate the names listed in Appendix G.
In other words: you shouldn't do it. But when you decide to do it anyway, use one of the above names.
Best Answer
If you don't have a DNS server on your network (e.g. from your router), then you need to enable the Samba service and open up the NetBIOS ports (137-139) in your firewalls. The Fedora Firewall tools already have a default entry set up for this (may be described as something to do with "Windows File Sharing").