User guide

Forum 523/524 in a Serverless LAN 91
Configuration Examples
DNS Name Resolution
In a serverless LAN, the internal DNS name resolution is per-
formed by the Forum 523/524. If you type the string
“host.domain” into your browser, a DNS request is sent to the
Forum 523/524 IP address. The Forum 523/524 responds with the
correct IP address, so that the Configurator home page can be
called up.
In a peer-to-peer network (Windows network), the workstations
each have a name which is displayed in the network environment.
These NetBIOS names can differ from the DNS names assigned to
the workstations by the Forum 523/524. The Forum 523/524 is
not visible in the network environment.
Internet Access
If access to an ISP has been configured on the Forum 523/524,
the Forum 523/524 can be operated as an Internet access server
without any additional configuration of the workstations. When
you want to see a Web page, you simply type the URL (uniform
resource locator; Internet address; “http://...”) in your browser.
In a serverless LAN, the Forum 523/524 is configured as a DNS
server and default gateway. The workstation computer therefore
sends its Internet connection request to the Forum 523/524.
In almost all cases, the request will contain a DNS name which is
unknown in the internal network. When you type a URL into your
browser, the Forum 523/524 receives the request to find the cor-
responding IP address. If the name is unknown in the LAN, the
request is forwarded to an ISP’s external DNS server.
Note: Workstation computers automatically add a domain name
to URLs without a dot. You specify this domain name in the Con-
figurator. For example, if you have configured “firm.co.uk” as
the domain name, an access request for “www.firm.co.uk” will be
interpreted as a local DNS request which does not lead to the
establishment of an Internet connection. For this reason, you
should choose a name which is not used in the Internet as the
domain name (“firm-forum.co.uk” for example).