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Help for this subject
General Introduction
DNS—Domain Name Service
DHCP—Dynamic Host
NetDB Basic Operations
NetDB Record Types
Other Help Topics
Main Help Page
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General Introduction
NetDB is a Stanford University database application that
stores Network and Node configuration information. It is generally used
by local network administrators and ITSS staff. Most commonly, NetDB is
used to assign a new IP address to a computer or printer. The information
in NetDB is loaded into two important network services at Stanford: DNS
and DHCP.
DNS- Domain Name Service
DNS is the network service that maps internet names to
IP addresses. For example, a machine looking for forsythe.stanford.edu
would request forsythe's IP address. One of the DNS servers would return
this address, based on the NetDB entry for forsythe.stanford.edu.
Note that there are two special domains- .sunet and .NoDomain.
Names in the .sunet domain are only resolved for Stanford hosts. This is
useful for hosts on private address spaces (not reachable from the Internet).
Names in the .NoDomain domain are never resolved by DNS servers- they are
typically used as placeholders.
If a node has multiple IP addresses, DNS will return all IP addresses in
random order. If the DNS request comes from the same network as one of the
IP addresses, that address will be returned first in the list.
For reverse lookup, the name closest to the address will be returned first.
In other words, the order is IP address name, interface name, node name.
In the case of multiple node names, names are returned in random order.
For information about DNS update times, please see DNS Update Information.
DHCP- Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol
DHCP is the network service that maps hardware addresses
to network configuration information. If a machine is
configured for DHCP
or BOOTP, during network startup, it will send its
hardware address
and make a request for information called DHCP options. The information
returned is based on the NetDB entry for the Node associated with that
hardware address. For more information, see DHCP and Bootp
DHCP information is updated from NetDB
approximately every
10 minutes.
NetDB
Basic Operations
NetDB users can perform several basic functions, depending
on their access rights
- Search for records
- Quicksearch (name, IP address, hardware address and
record type)
- Fullsearch (search for node or user
records using any
field)
- Create a new record
- All records can be created from the NetDB home page.
- Users will only see those record types that the user
can create
- Modify an existing record (often
abbreviated as "Mod")
- First search for record. Then click on
Modify link.
- Delete an existing record (often
abbreviated as "Del")
- First search for record. Then click on Delete link.
- Use an existing record as a template for a new record
(often abbreviated as "Tmpl")
- First search for record. Then click on Use
as Template
link.
NetDB
Record Types
There are 6 basic record types in NetDB:
- Node- a networked device (computer, router,
printer, hub)
- Network- collection of address spaces
- Admin Team- group of people who administer nodes
- User- user of NetDB application
- Domain- Internet domain like stanford.edu,
stanford.org
- Group- access group used for security
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