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Ashen Chathuranga
Ashen Chathuranga

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mDNS Setup on Arch Linux

This will let other devices on your local network access your machine using a hostname like:

http://archlinux.local:8080
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instead of remembering the IP (192.168.x.x).

1. Install required packages 

sudo pacman -S avahi nss-mdns
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2. Enable and start Avahi 

sudo systemctl enable --now avahi-daemon
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3. Configure /etc/nsswitch.conf

Open /etc/nsswitch.conf with your favorite editor:

sudo nano /etc/nsswitch.conf
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Replace its contents with this (copy and paste):

# Name Service Switch configuration file.
# See nsswitch.conf(5) for details.

passwd: files systemd
group: files [SUCCESS=merge] systemd
shadow: files systemd
gshadow: files systemd

publickey: files

hosts: files mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] dns myhostname
networks: files

protocols: files
services: files
ethers: files
rpc: files

netgroup: files
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Save and exit.

4. Restart name resolution 

sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved
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5. Test

On your Arch machine, run:

ping archlinux.local
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You should see it resolve to your LAN IP (e.g., 192.168.3.224).

On another device (Linux/macOS/iOS), try opening:

http://archlinux.local:8080
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