Can't access internal local website by host name

Question

I just set up a new Ubuntu 11.04 test VM which I hope in the future to use as a wiki for internal documentation.

My problem is that I cannot seem to reach it via hostname through a web browser (IP address works fine). The environment I am testing on is predominantly a Windows domain with Windows Server 2008 running our DNS and DHCP service. I would like to keep the address of this test box dynamic if possible and simply access it by hostname.

Is there something that I need to do in Ubuntu to have it get picked up by DNS (most googling suggests modifying dhclient.conf)? Or is this something that should be configured through Apache?

The Windows machines seem to configure to DNS automagically.

Answer 1

Try this website. It will let Ubuntu respond like Windows machines to netbios requests, essentially like a local DNS configuration for computer hostnames, using WINS though.

Answer 2

The quick and dirty fix would be to create an A record in your zone on the DNS server that points to the webserver. This means that any changes to the IP will need to be manually reflected on the DNS server.

I believe there's a way to make it automatic in Ubuntu, but I don't know it offhand. You could look for material relating to Windows Dynamic DNS and Ubuntu to start out.