OK this is what I want to do:

On server1 I want to type <ping server2> and be able to get:

pinging 192.168.0.12 ...... etc.

and by server2, I mean one-word, not server2.example.com

I know if I add the addresses to /etc/hosts I can achieve this, but I would like to not have to update all the hosts files when I add a server or change an IP.

I have 2 nameservers with tinydns running on the external nic and dnscache running on the internal.

So, is it possible to get dnscache / tinydns to publish a one-word alias that points to 192 addresses?

Thanks

Alan

addendum: The original reason I wanted to do this is I want to use the software from Unattended.sourceforge.net.
This is what they say:

Now please extend the configuration of your dns server. The Unattended server must be reachable with the name "ntinstall". Please configure an appropriate alias (CNAME). There may be problem when connecting to Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003-based computer using this alias. Please look at following MS article

You will find plenty of documentation about this on the net.

Well, I found lots on Cnames pointing to FQDNs (ie Yahoo!) but nothing about ntinstall pointing to 192.168.0.12.

Again any help would appreciated.

if you want to use "ping server1" approach, add in /etc/resolv.conf :
, thus when you do :
ping server1 - it will be resolved internally as "ping server1.mynetdomain.net"

Thanks, I'll try that

Alan