Context: EC2 testing puts us in a BIND
We're increasingly using amazon ec2 instances for testing.
The one pain point: each time we restart an instance the IP address changes. (static ip's aren't an option as we only have a few addresses and don't need the addresses permanently ).
Our workaround is to have everyone update their '/etc/hosts' with the new IP address, so they can use 'test.cloud.local' for browsing and remote desktop rather than the IP address.
This is OK for developers, but it's harder for qa and other testers. Plus it doesn't scale.
The question
Is there any easy way to have a separate DNS server just for ".cloud.local" domain, to which users can easily add/remove entries, i.e. this usecase:
- dev/admin restarts an EC2 instance which gets a new iP address
- dev/admin updates the dns entry for "test.cloud.local"
- browsers resolve to the correct ip when they browser to "test.cloud.local"
It's still manual work, but only one edit per restart.
IT Department
We're a windows shop and DNS falls squarely in the domain of IT department. I haven't broached the topic yet before gathering data, as the answer is likely to be "NO!". Also, we don't want to open an IT ticket each time we restart an ec2 instance.
Specifically
- does such an dns app exist? I'm a linux user, but I've never messed with DNS or bind and always think of it as very complex. ideally the dns app would offer a web interface to add/remove ip addresses, rather than ssh and edit a file.
- how best to broach this with IT
thanks
will