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Why do other computers on my home network sometimes resolve as xyz.local and other times as xyz.lan ?

I have a NAS device that shows up in Safari Bonjour bookmarks as xyz.local. I've copied a direct link to a folder on the NAS into my bookmarks, sth like http://xyz.local/file/here. Sometimes the xyz.local link does not work. But when I replace the suffix .local with .lan, it works! What is the difference between .local and .lan?

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Playing around some more, I noticed that .local seems to work only when I am wired to the network with a cable, and .lan seems to work only when I am on wifi. But if I use the IP address of the NAS box (in the same subnet), it works regardless of wired or wifi. – Eero Apr 29 '11 at 10:09
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The .local domain is usually used by Zeroconf MDNS, which is a non-centralised DNS system where each machine announces the hostnames which they have. The .lan domain is probably used by your router, which runs a DNS server containing hostnames based on what machines declare when they DHCP. If the .local hostname isn't working then something is wrong with MDNS (not being announced by remote machine, local resolver not working, etc.).

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