DNS and DHCP should be optional, for real

[aanensen]

Hi
First of all I would like to say I like the idea of Amahi. Unfortunatly I cant use it the way its built now.
My big issue with Amahi is that it has to be DHCP and dns server for the good features to work.
Yes I know its possible to turn it of, but then again you are left with a boring NAS with no real features.
Its better to just use fedora/ubuntu/winxp with shared folders/samba. At least then you can use the web interface of transmission, install apache, open vpn etc.
So why not use dns/dhcp?
Well for many suppliers of ADSL over cable, you cant access and control the dhcp server on the combined modem and router. Also I personally use multiple wifi routers (large house built of concrete and brick) linked with cable which needs to talk to a router that can pass you over from one transmitter to another. I use airport extreme and express for this.
So I cant use the dhcp on Amahi.
So why cant you make it so that the webapps use the ip address instead of name if dhcp is turned off?
That would solve soo much As far as I can see from the forum, a lot of the problems for new users are related to Amahi being the dns/dhcp server.
People are also very familiar with ip adresses, at least more than changing dhcp settings on their router. By doing this small change, Im think it would be so much easier to market to windows users.

Well, I hope you can agree on this with me, but then again, its your time and money in this project so you are of course free to do what you think its best and what you like. I just think Amahi has the potential to be in every home if its just easy enough for people like my parents...
And one more thing: It would be nice if you would post which applications that will cost money on version 6 and which are now ready.

[joeaverge]

I found this. It is a work around to basically render DHCP on the airport useless.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... dID=121990

JoeAverge

[aanensen]

I found this. It is a work around to basically render DHCP on the airport useless.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... dID=121990

JoeAverge

I`ve tried a similar method and it works with only one airport. (used IP assignment to the MAC address on the Amahi server also)
My point is this is a lot of hassle and it could be solved so easily if Amahi let us install without home domain, dns and dhcp. My parents are abt 60 years old, try to tell them how to set up their home server with all this work. For them it would be a lot easier if they just specified the IP address for the server and voila. The only separate thing they would need to do is to forward the ports on the NAT to that server (or set it as DMZ).
Im not looking for a workaround to use Amahi with dhcp/dns, Im trying to have a home server with my router as DHCP server. And for now, Amahi is basically useless without it. (cant even use transmission from another computer)

I know a lot of people find the dns/dhcp solution on Amahi as a big bonus, but for others is just a big drag. And for us, it would be a huge benefit if we had the choice of installing it without. So my big hope is that Amahi listen to this, cause I think Amahi otherwise is great and has the potential to be in every home.

[bigfoot65]

Not sure this is such a simple modification to the Amahi platform. You can submit a feature request, bugs at amahi dot org.

[bkobb]

Aanensen is totally correct and I can only hope that the developers take this request seriously.

[bigfoot65]

We take all feature requests seriously, but some are not possible or would require a complete code rewrite. It just depends on how difficult this will be to accomplish.

Please understand our team is small and all volunteers. We do our best to accommodate user requests. Sometimes it is not feasible or will just take some time to complete.

We prioritize them and work each as best we can. So, I hope no one expects this to happen overnight. It may be weeks, months, or longer depending on the current workload.

[g4sho]

I agree with the OP, I have tried Amahi, and this issue with dhcp was the reason I went back to windows home server. I have two separate networks with 2 separate subnets. One for internet access and one for local networking. Which is the one that Amahi was residing on. I want my movies to be shared only on local. And my internet access is controlled by the dhcp on my dsl router. So it is not feasible for me to have amahi as my dhcp dns server, as I need to keep the addresses separate, but still be able to access my internet nics. I have more than one nic in all my computers. So a change in this feature would allow me to try amahi again.

[bigfoot65]

Nothing says you cannot turn them off. Just realize there are trade offs, some functions of Amahi will not be available. Check out the FAQ on the web site.

[vastmeridian]

I'd just be happy to have control over the range of IP addresses offered. There is no one fixed way of setting up a network subnet apart from the network address and broadcast address so why Amahi insists on setting the DHCP scope the way it does isn't clear. I edit the DHCP scope as soon as I build my HDA's. Seems to work for me.

Regarding the problems experienced above, these may be better covered in a networking forum, so forgive me if I'm in the wrong place:

• g4sho. I don't understand why you ... "need to keep the addresses separate"? Dual-nic'ing computers is a messy and insecure way to implement the protection I think you are setting up. It takes up resource on each PC as they each have to each maintain routing tables and check each packet against the table to make sure they know which nic to use to send the traffic. If you want protection from the Internet, use a proxy or additional firewall between your internal network and your internet. Much easier to maintain and much less likely to be a security hole.
• In larger LAN's VLANs are defined to segregate network addresses into subnets. The switches that support the VLANs are capable of acting as DHCP 'proxies' using helper addresses to point the device requesting a DHCP lease to the DHCP server. The server in turn maintains a scope for each VLAN. Not rocket science in network terms and easily achievable on a unix server like Fedora - although probably too much to hope for within Amahi. Poss. a good candidate for an (free!) app?
• You're usually stymied in setting up your Internet router to point to internal addresses when you set them up - you'd need that to get your internet-only setup to be able to address the HDA in these networks. Putting the HDA in as your networking centre gets round this.
• Pardon my ignorance, aanensen, but why does setting up a series of Airports mean you have to have separate subnets? I have two wireless gateways and a switch in my house and have one subnet, one SSID, one Internet gateway and support virtual hosts on my network that are routed separately. PC's laptops and smartphones can be used anywhere and can move between coverage zones without being reconfigured. Can't the Airports be configured the same way?

Cheers,

Martin

[aanensen]

• Pardon my ignorance, aanensen, but why does setting up a series of Airports mean you have to have separate subnets? I have two wireless gateways and a switch in my house and have one subnet, one SSID, one Internet gateway and support virtual hosts on my network that are routed separately. PC's laptops and smartphones can be used anywhere and can move between coverage zones without being reconfigured. Can't the Airports be configured the same way?

Cheers,

Martin

Im not using different subnets, at least not in a traditional way with subnet masks. It's not possible to turn off dns/dhcp for some reason on the airport extreme so to make autodns function, the ip range is set to two where one is the Extreme and the other is the Amahi server. My problem is that I also have an Airport express to extend the wireless range which talks to the Extreme via cable and I have not been able to get this to work (setting range to three).
But my point is that using Amahi is dns/dhcp just creates a lot of trouble. People are used to IP and it's not a problem. In the Amahi code, dnsname should be changed to localhost if dns is turned off. Then the address would be ip/transmission and it could be accessed from the network. Standard ubuntu and fedora can do this....

Well the reason I haven't commented earlier is that I now use plain Ubuntu and bought a QNAS 412 aswell. My Ubuntu box will probably converted into open media vault when (if...) it's released. Amahi is a great concept and I thought it really could be one of the big breaks for Linux for home usage (who are we kidding, Linux is just for us geeks today). But we need to make it simple for normal people and setting it up is why people are going back to winblows. Why do people buy iOS devices? It's just f... simple to use and do hazzle to get up and running.