[Samba] Multicast DNS required?

[Ryan Ashley]

mDNS is also called Bonjour on Apple systems (or Windows system with 
iTunes and such installed). This is used for something unrelated to 
actual DNS. In Linux we have "avahi" that does the same thing. However, 
a domain ending in ".local" can have issues due to zeroconf things 
(printers, wireless TV's, etc) use that domain. In other words, never, 
ever end a domain name in ".local". I use ".lan" for my domains. The 
issue is common on older domains that have been upgraded dozens of 
times. Even I had issues with it for a while. I do not believe Samba 
needs mDNS/zeroconf support though.

You can read more on the matter at the link below. One of my clients (I 
picked them up a few years ago) had a domain ending in ".local" and they 
had begun using Apple devices (phones, iPads) and had all kinds of 
issues due to the ".local" domain being used by them. Long story short, 
I got lucky when their DC died and I got to do a new domain. Now 
everything is as smooth as butter!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local

On 09/23/2014 03:34 PM, James wrote:
> Hello,
>
>     I noticed all my DC's have port 5353 closed. I'm using the 
> internal DNS and wasn't sure if multicast DNS must be enabled? I do 
> not appear to be having any DNS issues. My only concern is with the 
> wiki on Multicast DNS.
>
> "By default, mDNS only and exclusively resolves host names ending with 
> the |.local| top-level domain (TLD). This can cause problems if that 
> domain includes hosts that do not implement mDNS but can be found via 
> a conventional unicast DNS server. Resolving such conflicts requires 
> network configuration changes that violate the zero configuration 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_configuration_networking> goal."
>
> Given my domain is 'domain.local'. I wasn't sure if I should find out 
> why the port is closed.  Thanks.
>