Can't browse to devices using DNS? Have to use IP Address?

Networking & Firewalls
1

I have 4 VLANs configured in pfSense. One of them is called IoT.

Each VLAN is configured to provide DHCP. Each DHCP server is configured with its own IP address as the DNS server --see table below. Anyway, when I try to browse to one of these devices using the domain name, it fails. If I use the IP Address, it connects fine.

I’ve tried this from my laptop (at 10.10.0.101) and via my phone which for troubleshooting purposes is currently connected to the IoT Network (at 10.20.0.250). The device I was trying to access is Home Assistant (in the IoT network).

I’ve tried assigning 10.1.1.1. as the DNS server for all the VLANs and that didn’t help either.

VLAN Name VLAN Gateway DNS Address Description
LAN (the default LAN) 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.1 Contains the pfSense Router at 10.1.1.1, Proxmox (with pfSense as a VM) at 10.1.1.2, a managed switch at 10.1.3, & a VLAN capable Wireless Access Point at 10.1.1.4
Primary 10.10.0.1 10.0.0.1 Contains my personal laptop and work-from-home laptop.
Phones 10.10.1.1 10.10.1.1 Contains personal cell phones – segregated due to their potential for hacking.
IoT 10.20.0.1 10.20.0.1 Smart devices (shelly switches & bulbs, Home Assistant, Roku TVs etc).
Guest 10.30.0.1 10.30.0.1 For guest access.

EDIT: This is the DHCP lease for Home Assistant. It has an address (assigned by Static IP Mapping in pfSense) of 10.20.0.2. When I attempt to browse to homeassistant.local:8123, it times out. When I attempt to browse to 10.20.0.2:8123, it connects with no issue.

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2

On your DNS resolver did you enable hostname registration?

3

I don’t see that option. After reading your reply, I checked both General Settings and Advanced Settings under the DNS Resolver Service.

4

Just to be clear: still don’t see that option.

5

Are you using KEA DHCP? Its possible that option was removed due to the new implementation of KEA and all of its features aren’t complete. Below you will see netgates docs about DHCP registration and Static registration.

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https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/services/dns/resolver-config.html

6

Yes. I was getting a message that the other method had been deprecated and would be removed soon. So I updated now.

7

I almsot forgot to mention that DNS Resolver is enabled and is configured with the default (unmodified) settings.

8

After my last reply, I went back and changed it to use ISC DHCP instead of KEA. Having done so, I found this in the DNS Resolver settings (I’ll look again after I reenable KEA). Then I turned on DHCP Registration and Static DHCP both. Still unable to browse to homeassistant.local:8123.

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9

Only other option is to create a DNS entry inside the DNS resolver.

10

Thanks. I was able to set up a Host Override and now it does allow browsing to homeassistant.local. But needing to manually add each device seems silly.

11

I agree. But I think once KEA is fully implemented you should be able to set that option in the future.

12

Thanks for trying. Your time and efforts were appreciated.

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