I have been pondering DNS resolution on small networks to solve problems that I am having with resolving name requests. I wanted something simple, lightweight, tested, opensource. I have dd-wrt and it uses DNSMasq and I find that will service my DHCPd needs, give me a dynamic naming interface, is well aware of the Windows and Samba naming resolution issues; however, I want my primary server to function in this capacity so I have setup DNSMasq and am testing it.
I will be rolling this solution to my school network where I expect that it will solve a great number of the naming request issues that I experience inside my lab. Sweet to begin getting experience on this commonly deployed solution. Even better to work with something that works with my favorite router software.
Well I am using it already and it does solve my number one problem, that of having a FQDN resolve to the internal address of a machine and not the external address. This feature alone will be a tremendous increase in speed for my students using my Moodle and Student Web servers which are dual-homed.