network endpoint accessible via hostname only, not address?

Question

someone told me that this piece of network hardware (netapp NAS) has a security setting such that it can only be accessed by hostname, not by IP address. I don't understand, as I thought DNS resolved the hostname to an address on the connecting client's side, then at protocol level always used the raw address, so how can this 'security' measure be possible?

"the NAS won't allow for access by IP, i.e. \\x.y.z.w\SHARE. Instead, you have to use \\hostname\SHARE after creating the DNS entry.

edit: it appears to be a CIFS thing: you can access the nas from linux via NFS by address, but not on windows via CIFS.

Answer 1

It's likely that he meant the Web interface (that's provided by a web server running on the NAS itself) has a virtual host configured on it that requires you to send along the host header with your request; if you're trying to go to http://12.34.56.78, it doesn't know what website to bring up.

Answer 2

What's the device in question? There may be an option where it filters out like you describe, but it's not part of the SMB or CIFS protocols (assuming that you're talking about these protocols). That would be a device specific option. I've never seen that, though, and question the usefulness of such an option.