`hostname.local` When does it work?

[andrewufrank]

Most of the time I can use ‘hostname’.local (where hostname is one of the member names given in the zerotier central), but it fails sometimes with Could not resolve hostname .... Occurs on some hostnames and not on others on the same computer and it seems not to work on a some machines. What are the current conditions for hostname.local to work?

[dajhorn]

Most of the time I can use ‘hostname’.local

This is mDNS name resolution.

(where hostname is one of the member names given in the zerotier central),

The names you set in the Name/Desc field at my.zerotier.com don’t work like this. Ignore them.

What are the current conditions for hostname.local to work?

1. Broadcast traffic enabled.
2. mDNS resolvers running on each client (eg: Avahi, Bonjour, etc.)
3. Appropriately permissive firewall rules. (eg: The ZeroTier interface must be in the “Private” zone on Windows computers, which is not the default.)

It can take several minutes for .local names to become available through ZeroTier interfaces after disconnections and reboots. Use tools like mdns-scan at the command line to troubleshoot.

If you don’t specifically need IPv4 connectivity and can disable it, then you may find that this kind of name resolution through an IPv6-only connection is a better solution.