Name resolution with unqualified names

[Kevin O'Gorman]

First an admission: I have only a general understanding of IP and name
resolution.

My issue has to do with my local subnet, so let me describe it:
1. there's a fairly new LinkSys AC1900 MU-MIMO gigabity router connected to
my cable modem.  Most of the things attached to it have reserved IP numbers
in the 10.x.x.x range.

2. Since I have more than 4 wired connections, I have 2 TP-LINK TP-SG105E
switches, one in my garage (where my 4 desktop computers live), one in my
office where there are also a printer, 2 laptops and some other stuff.

3. The desktop I spend most of my time on (Camelot) also has a wireless
connection to the router, which bypasses the switches.  The same is true of
my laptops.

I'll ignore the laptops because they're usually running Windows.

What I don't really understand is that on Camelot, I can use a command like
    ssh -X plato
to get to the desktop named plato with the same login name that I'm using
on Camelot, presumably because the unqualified "plato" is the name I gave
it the router when reserving IP numbers.  I cannot do this from the other
desktops; I get a warning that the name cannot be found.

On Camelot, /etc/resolv.conf shows DNS service from 127.0.1.1 which appears
to be Camelot itself.

On the other desktops, /etc/resolv.conf shows the 10.x.x.x IP number for
the switch they're connected to.  And the switch apparently can resolve
fully qualified names, but not the local names.

I'm guessing that Camelot is pulling this off by doing name resolution
directly with the router over its wireless connection.

I'd like some way to give the other desktops access to the same
information, but of course these days /etc/resolv.conf is not a static
file, so I can't just edit it.  This is important because I want to make a
team of them (probably using ZeroMQ) and they need to be able to find
eachother.  The desktops do not have qualified names, though if there's a
way to set that up I might use it.

I'd be happy with a way to get the other desktops to use Camelot as the DNS
server.  But of course they'd have to be able to find it.

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman
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