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peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

[solved] Port forwarding based on hostname rather than IP address

I have a WRT54GL device that serves as a gateway to 5 computers (some wired and some wireless connections). All client computers get their IP addresses through DHCP, and they are turned off and on frequently, therefore their IP addresses change over time. The default firmware of the router lets me forward ports based on the IP address of the client, but this sucks because the addresses of the clients change over time.

I like DHCP and would like to keep using it. How can I forward ports based on the clients' hostnames, rather than their volatile IP addresses?

One solution I saw is to always assign the same IP address to the same MAC address. I could do that as a last resort (but I haven't found a way to do it with the default firmware), but forwarding based on hostname seems more elegant and less of a hassle. Anyone know how? I'm willing to use differnet firmare (e.g. openwrt) if necessary.

Last edited by peets (2008-09-05 19:33:06)

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: [solved] Port forwarding based on hostname rather than IP address

on original firmware dhcp cannot be configured to give the same ip for an mac adress. this is why now i use openwrt on wrt54gl.

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Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

panzer

Member

Registered: 2006-08-28

Posts: 15

Re: [solved] Port forwarding based on hostname rather than IP address

Actually, using the MAC adress to always lease the same IP adress to the same computer is the lesser of a hassle. If you wanted to do it by hostname you'd have to setup a name service on your router (such as DNS or WINS). Each client would have to regsiter it's name and after that you could forward ports to specific computers. Using the MAC adresses really is the easier and better solution, if you ask me.

moljac024

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2008-01-29

Posts: 2,676

Re: [solved] Port forwarding based on hostname rather than IP address

Actually, using the MAC adress to always lease the same IP adress to the same computer is the lesser of a hassle. If you wanted to do it by hostname you'd have to setup a name service on your router (such as DNS or WINS). Each client would have to regsiter it's name and after that you could forward ports to specific computers. Using the MAC adresses really is the easier and better solution, if you ask me.

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peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: [solved] Port forwarding based on hostname rather than IP address

huh. I thought the router had a DNS service. OK I'll fiddle with openwrt with mac<->IP DHCP. Thanks all.