I have a small web server which hosts several domains.

The webserver runs on my own network; I use EveryDNS for DNS hosting (works quite nicely, thanks!). Of course, a DNS lookup of a domain which I am hosting returns my own IP and as is the case with most routers, it can't connect to it's own external IP.

The workaround, of course, is setting up HOSTS files -- which while annoying, is doable (there are only six computers, plus the server) -- but this becomes a bit trickier with the laptops since they're often used on "foreign" networks (internet cafes, clients', partners' offices, etc); this requires constant editing of the HOSTS files to comment domains in and out.

I don't know the inner workings of your service, but from a layman's standpoint it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to add an "internal server IP" field in the Dashboard, and if the IP for a domain resolves to the same IP as the machine making the request, return the private IP instead.

E.G.;

my external IP is 123.45.67.89
MyHostedDomain.com is hosted on EveryDNS, IP resolves to 123.45.67.89
Server's IP on lan is 10.0.0.1

If I look up MyHostedDomain.com from my own network, I get 10.0.0.1 (allowing me to connect without using the HOSTS files), if anyone else looks it up it resolves normally to 123.45.67.89

I realize this messes with caching, but it seems like a relatively easy check/substitution to perform and could be done at the very last. Maybe even have it as an option which has to be explicitly turned on in the dashboard otherwise it's skipped entirely.

Patrick, several of us have suggested the same and it also is in the IdeaBank. Please vote for it there - http://ideabank.opendns.com/story.php?title=Custom_DNS_Records-1

Patrick, a custom DNS record would return a specific IP for a specific domain but only to requests made within your network. For example, if you have mydomain.com hosted by a computer on your LAN with the private IP of 10.0.0.1, then setting up a custom DNS record of "mydomain.com 10.0.0.1" would return 10.0.0.1 to anyone from within your LAN (using OpenDNS) but only to them. Everyone else would still be getting whatever public IP that domain is using.

As for BIND, it *is* more hassle than the hosts file. It is yet another process loaded in the memory. It requires the computer running it to be always on (or at least to be on when any other computer on your network is on). And if you are using it for nothing other than to redirect that one domain to your LAN, it is a total overkill. It makes sense in a corporate setting, but not for home use where having OpenDNS do it would be a better solution.