xref: /openbmc/u-boot/doc/README.dns (revision 28958b8bea4c66629c5a22fd3c8b0d49df90383d)
1*1a32bf41SRobin GetzDomain Name System
2*1a32bf41SRobin Getz-------------------------------------------
3*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
4*1a32bf41SRobin GetzThe Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers,
5*1a32bf41SRobin Getzservices, or any resource participating in the Internet. It associates various
6*1a32bf41SRobin Getzinformation with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most
7*1a32bf41SRobin Getzimportantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical
8*1a32bf41SRobin Getz(binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of
9*1a32bf41SRobin Getzlocating and addressing these devices world-wide. An often used analogy to
10*1a32bf41SRobin Getzexplain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the
11*1a32bf41SRobin GetzInternet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses.
12*1a32bf41SRobin GetzFor example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.
13*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
14*1a32bf41SRobin GetzFor more information on DNS - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
15*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
16*1a32bf41SRobin GetzU-Boot and DNS
17*1a32bf41SRobin Getz------------------------------------------
18*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
19*1a32bf41SRobin GetzCONFIG_CMD_DNS - controls if the 'dns' command is compiled in. If it is, it
20*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 will send name lookups to the dns server (env var 'dnsip')
21*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 Turning this option on will about abou 1k to U-Boot's size.
22*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
23*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 Example:
24*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
25*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> print dnsip
26*1a32bf41SRobin Getzdnsip=192.168.0.1
27*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
28*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> dns www.google.com
29*1a32bf41SRobin Getz66.102.1.104
30*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
31*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 By default, dns does nothing except print the IP number on
32*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 the default console - which by itself, would be pretty
33*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 useless. Adding a third argument to the dns command will
34*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 use that as the environment variable to be set.
35*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
36*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 Example:
37*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
38*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> print googleip
39*1a32bf41SRobin Getz## Error: "googleip" not defined
40*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> dns www.google.com googleip
41*1a32bf41SRobin Getz64.233.161.104
42*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> print googleip
43*1a32bf41SRobin Getzgoogleip=64.233.161.104
44*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> ping ${googleip}
45*1a32bf41SRobin GetzUsing Blackfin EMAC device
46*1a32bf41SRobin Getzhost 64.233.161.104 is alive
47*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
48*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 In this way, you can lookup, and set many more meaningful
49*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 things.
50*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
51*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> sntp
52*1a32bf41SRobin Getzntpserverip not set
53*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> dns pool.ntp.org ntpserverip
54*1a32bf41SRobin Getz72.18.205.156
55*1a32bf41SRobin Getzbfin> sntp
56*1a32bf41SRobin GetzDate: 2009-07-18 Time:	4:06:57
57*1a32bf41SRobin Getz
58*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 For some helpful things that can be related to DNS in U-Boot,
59*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		 look at the top level README for these config options:
60*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		    CONFIG_CMD_DHCP
61*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		    CONFIG_BOOTP_DNS
62*1a32bf41SRobin Getz		    CONFIG_BOOTP_DNS2
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