MacOS – Cannot reach a .local domain without setting an option with discoveryutil

dnsmacos

I have a .local website at: mysite.myname.local

If I try to http mysite.myname.local in a browser, nothing happens.

If I 'ping mysite.myname.local', it reports 'ping: cannot resolve mysite.myname.local: Unknown host'.

If I 'nslookup mysite.myname.local', it will report the correct IP Address.

If I 'host mysite.myname.local', it will also report the correct IP Address.

However, if I leave off myname.local from the ping and http:// address, 'ping mysite' and http mysite will both work as expected.

I used tcpdump to see if it would tell me anything and the only clue I spotted in there was:

0:36:07.466728 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 64, id 52932, offset 0, flags [none],
proto UDP (17), length 67, bad cksum 0 (->221a)!)
192.168.4.122.59479 > 192.168.4.1.domain: [bad udp cksum 0x8a0c -> 0x7ba3!] 27737+ A? mysite.myname.local. (39) 10:36:07.467151 IP (tos
0x0, ttl 64, id 6826, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length
97)
192.168.4.1.domain > 192.168.4.122.59479: [udp sum ok] 27737* q: A? mysite.myname.local. 1/1/0 mysite.myname.local. [1m] A
192.168.4.235 ns: mysite.myname.local. [1m] NS mysite.myname.local. (69)

so, it looks like there is a bad cksum somewhere.

In order to be able to specify the complete address, I found the discussion Trouble to access ".local" domain in which someone suggested the following command 'sudo discoveryutil mdnsactivedirectory yes'

Once I execute this command, 'ping mysite.myname.local' and http'ing to mysite.myname.local both work.

I have couple of questions:

  1. Is there a way to modify /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist to turn on mdnsactivedirectory after a reboot? If so, what do I need to add to the plist?

  2. Can anyone explain what is going on? I am not sure I understand what the problem really is or why that discoveryutil command fixes it.

Best Answer

There was an answer posted to this discussion.

Linc Davis

The "local" TLD is reserved for Bonjour. The restriction was not enforced in older versions of OS X, but it is in Yosemite. Unicast domain names with that TLD will not resolve by default. To make your configuration change permanent (not recommended), create your own launch daemon. Don't modify an existing one. See the launchd.plist(5) man page for details. A much better solution would be to change the domain name.

There is a wikipedia article on the .local domain which does state:

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards-track RFC 6762, which has been approved and was officially published on February 20, 2013, essentially reserves the use of .local as a pseudo-TLD for link-local hostnames that can be resolved via the Multicast DNS name resolution protocol.

So, the answer is that I should not be using .local in the way I am currently using it in order to comply with current standards.

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