It would be good to have an option to set NS, not just A records as static entries in Mikrotik DNS. That would be really helpful for managing internal DNS for larger networks.
for larger networks you can opt for bind server and use routers as DNS cachers, as what they are.
For example, run BIND server in virtual machine with 256MB of ram and some storage space (enough to install os and store some config)
What about not so large networks where dedicated machine would be overkill? It would be really cool feature there.
E.g. small company with one internal Windows SBS server and MikroTik router as internet gateway. There’s internal company.lan domain and you want to use it to give various other devices DNS names, because it can save few headaches in the future, compared to using numeric addresses. But you don’t want to use the server as DNS resolver for client computers, because in unfortunate case when something happens to it, they would lose internet access (there’s not much joy without DNS). So you need MikroTik router to be resolver for clients, but you also want it to be able to resolve names under company.lan.
It’s possible to solve it using L7 trick, but it in fact sucks, because in most cases it means redirecting queries from client computers, not the queries sent by router (router’s regular DNS servers are reachable through WAN and the outgoing DNS packets are decided to go there from the beginning, while the internal server is on LAN and it’s too late to redirect the packets there). And generally there are enough ugly NAT rules in firewall already, even without this.
Per domain forwarding in ROS DNS cache would be real nice and clean solution. It can’t be so hard to implement. And IMHO it’s much less crazy than static entries using regular expressions that are already supported.
Strange, allowing NS records is just matter of good will, and it requires almost no efforts to be implemented.
Oh well, SMB features are so higher level priority than DNS features for a router, you know… ahem.
You’ve got the point. SMB requires lots of resources so it is likely to be run on separate hardware scaled to provide what is needed. Local DNS does not require much resources and it is unlikely one will install separate server with too complex BIND or something else just to get basic DNS functionality.
I never understood why static DNS in Mikrotik is limited to only A records. I guess Mikrotik stuff decided that is not money making option as they decided that SMB is.
For a home router like the RB751, SMB actually does make more sense. Plug in your USB drive and share movies between computers.
not the same person works on all these things, you know.
and bind as it is does not require a lot of resources to work exceptionally well.
I am running one that is heavily used with 256MB RAM 1GB hdd as a virtual guest.
there were few older threads about the subject. But now when you know it for sure, maybe you could do something about it, given how easy to implement it should be? It’s exactly the same mechanism as you already have in place for static A records. Just instead of returning fixed answer, you’d forward query to other resolver.
For this simple use, bind would be overkill even in smallest Metarouter on slowest RB. But fine, sometimes I’d gladly do it that way, unfortunately I’m one of those people who didn’t see a stable MR yet.
I do not need full featured NS. A, NS and maybe CNAME will do.
Fully featured DNS server would be too much work for too small target audience, so there’s no chance to get it in ROS, I guess. Unless MikroTik decided to include e.g. BIND, but I don’t think so. Not that I would protest against optional package with this functionality.
But they could at least add these simple features:
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Allow to add more types of static records. Now they allow A records, so the required ground for adding more is there. It’s simply a matter of adding user interface for few other common types.
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Add support for per-domain forwarding to external resolvers, so user could say that e.g. everything under company.local should be forwarded to resolver 192.168.1.10, instead of to default resolvers configured under /ip dns.
Neither requires any big changes, the basic framework is there already. And once it’s done, it doesn’t need to be touched again for years. It’s so simple there’s not even any place for bugs.
I kind of want to be in the Mikrotik meeting where they decided to add Samba server and not fully functional NS. Just to hear how that conversation went.
+1000000
Such meetings never take place (where one feature is put against another). The reason is simple - our home routerboard models, such as RB751G are ideal for using as home file sharing servers. You keep your files there, for everyone else in the home to be able to use. Many other brand routers in this class also have such features, some even include built in HDD drives.
The rest of missing home features includes DLNA (miniDLNA for ex.) and printer sharing (p910nd for ex.). For now only choice is OpenWRT.
Yes, I know is offtopic
this is off topic (see title) but RouterOS v6 already includes USB feature where you will be able to connect printers too.
Keeping it off topic in happyness and love of everyone
Shouldn’t buyers/customers decide if a router is supposed to be a “home router” or… a “networking router”? I mean, is there some distinction that should be made based upon the price the customer paid? If he paid too much, it’s not a “home router” anymore? Not enough, and he has no valuable opinion and should keep it shut?
That said, if both “home routers” and “really serious networking routers” are running the very same software… isn’t it even more stupid to make such a distinction?
So please, don’t tell me what I need and I don’t need, I’m pretty sure I know that better than you.
Still, all repect due to support crew here
that’s the beauty of RouterOS. it can be whatever you want. It has MPLS and it has SMB. choose which features you will use. Nobody forced SMB on you. You can ignore it, and use it as a networking router for an ISP.
Slowly but surely RoS is becoming more and more of an consumer / SOHO device, rather than an enterprise device…
Given what was posted above already, I seriously think that when v6 reaches the masses, it’s going to be time to investigate alternatives for enterprise services. How more bloatware is added, how more overhead is added, how more potential problems is created. -sigh-
Either split RoS into two version trees, or provide specific NPK packages which can be installed / uninstalled at will. Whether active or not, I’m -definately- not happy about having services ‘forced’ on to me in RoS that is not used.