mDNS Setup on Arch Linux



This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Ashen Chathuranga

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

http://archlinux.local:8080

instead of remembering the IP (192.168.x.x).

1. Install required packages

sudo pacman -S avahi nss-mdns

2. Enable and start Avahi

sudo systemctl enable --now avahi-daemon

3. Configure /etc/nsswitch.conf

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

sudo nano /etc/nsswitch.conf

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

Save and exit.

4. Restart name resolution

sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved

5. Test

On your Arch machine, run:

ping archlinux.local

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


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Ashen Chathuranga