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Host name resolution overview

Contributors netapp-barbe

ONTAP must be able to translate host names to numerical IP addresses in order to provide access to clients and to access services. You must configure storage virtual machines (SVMs) to use local or external name services to resolve host information. ONTAP supports configuring an external DNS server or configuring the local hosts file for host name resolution.

When using an external DNS server, you can configure Dynamic DNS (DDNS), which automatically sends new or changed DNS information from your storage system to the DNS server. Without dynamic DNS updates, you must manually add DNS information (DNS name and IP address) to the identified DNS servers when a new system is brought online or when existing DNS information changes. This process is slow and error-prone. During disaster recovery, manual configuration can result in a long downtime.