37.4 Zero-Configuration Networking (mDNS/DNS-SD)

Zero-configuration networking (Zero-configuration networking, also known as Zeroconf) is a set of technologies that simplify network configuration, enabling network devices to automatically complete address assignment, domain name resolution, and service discovery without administrator intervention.

This functionality is particularly useful on embedded devices. In some scenarios, users cannot obtain the IP address of a Raspberry Pi through a screen or serial port but need to connect via SSH. Raspberry Pi OS enables the Avahi service by default and supports multicast DNS. In this case, users can directly use ping raspberrypi.local to obtain the IP address, or connect directly via SSH to raspberrypi.local.

The main components of zero-configuration networking include:

Component	English Name	Description
Link-Local Addressing	Link-Local Addressing	Provides automatic assignment of numeric network addresses
Multicast DNS	mDNS	Provides automatic distribution and resolution of hostnames
DNS-Based Service Discovery	DNS-SD	Provides automatic discovery of service instances

A common implementation of Zeroconf is Avahi. nss-mdns enables all tools that use nsswitch (The Name Service Switch, NSS) to look up hostnames with the *.local suffix via the mDNS protocol.

Installing Avahi and nss-mdns

Install using pkg:

# pkg install avahi-app nss_mdns

Install using Ports:

# cd /usr/ports/net/avahi-app/ && make install clean
# cd /usr/ports/dns/nss_mdns/ && make install clean

Configuring the Name Service Switch

dns/nss_mdns installs the following NSS modules:

lib/nss_mdns.so.1
lib/nss_mdns_minimal.so.1
lib/nss_mdns4.so.1
lib/nss_mdns4_minimal.so.1
lib/nss_mdns6.so.1
lib/nss_mdns6_minimal.so.1
lib/nss_mdns.so
lib/nss_mdns_minimal.so
lib/nss_mdns4.so
lib/nss_mdns4_minimal.so
lib/nss_mdns6.so
lib/nss_mdns6_minimal.so

For descriptions of the above modules, see avahi/nss-mdns.

The /etc/nsswitch.conf file is the nsswitch configuration file, with source code located at lib/libc/net/nsswitch.conf. The default file content is as follows:

#
# nsswitch.conf(5) - name service switch configuration file
#
group: compat
group_compat: nis
hosts: files dns
netgroup: compat
networks: files
passwd: compat
passwd_compat: nis
shells: files
services: compat
services_compat: nis
protocols: files
rpc: files

To enable mDNS, append mdns and mdns6 after the hosts: files dns line.

hosts: files dns mdns mdns6

Enabling Services

D-Bus is automatically installed as a dependency of Avahi. Set it to start automatically at boot:

# service dbus enable

Start the D-Bus service:

# service dbus start

Set the Avahi daemon to start automatically at boot:

# service avahi-daemon enable

Start the Avahi service:

# service avahi-daemon start

Testing the Service

Execute the ping command to test the FreeBSD hostname, which will display the IP address.

PS C:\Users\ykla> ping ykla

Pinging ykla.local [192.168.179.129] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.179.129: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.179.129: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.179.129: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.179.129: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.179.129:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 6ms, Average = 3ms

Tip

The ykla and ykla.local in the above example are placeholders and need to be replaced with actual values.

You can also view the IPv6 address:

PS C:\Users\ykla> ping -6 ykla

Pinging ykla.local [fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18: time=1ms
Reply from fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18: time=3ms
Reply from fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18: time=4ms
Reply from fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18: time=13ms

Ping statistics for fe80::20c:29ff:fe8a:22dc%18:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 5ms

This matches the actual IP address of the FreeBSD host, confirming the configuration is correct.

Connect to the device using SSH:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> ssh ykla@ykla

FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (GENERIC) #0 main-n285005-e9fc0c538264: Mon Apr 13 12:44:54 UTC 2026

Welcome to FreeBSD!

……partial output omitted……

Tip

The username ykla and hostname ykla shown in the examples in this section are for demonstration purposes. Please replace them with the actual username and hostname for your environment.