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Help Access web page on local machine

Mick Sulley

Mick Sulley

Lurker
I am trying to access a web page on a machine that is on my local network, the machine is called pi-solar. From my desktop I can see it in a browser with the url http://pi-solar.local but that does not work on my Nexus 4. I can see it if I enter the IP address, but as that is dynamic I won't know what it will be. How do I do this?

Thanks
Mick
 
This is a pc problem as opposed to android. What OS are you running? If its windows i believe you need to add the domain to your hosts file
 
I think it's actually an Android limitation - to save battery life, Android doesn't include zeroconf addressing because processing of multicast packets is off by default.

You could also argue that it's a router issue.

Even though the router is the primary DNS, and it knows "machine" exists and is in the device list, it doesn't know how to resolve "machine" or "machine.local" - that's it.

Only workaround I've found - give the machine in question a year long DHCP lease and update the ip-based bookmarks once a year.
 
OK so static IP is the only way to fix it. This seems to be a bit short sighted in Android, but I guess I cannot change that :(
Thanks for the replies anyway.
 
That or a zeroconf capable router, if I'm correct.

I used the first Apple Airbase router years ago - that knew how to handle it as memory serves.

I saved it, wish I could test the theory for you - someone felt that it didn't contain enough coffee while operating and... Lol
 
Ahh thanks for that. I recently installed a new (and expensive) Draytek router which has Bonjour capability, which I believe is the same as zero conf. My son did all the setup for that so when he gets back in a few days I will see if we can figure out how to do it.

Cheers
Mick
 
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