ESP8266 Community Forum

How i can set up the ESP8266 with the arduino IDE to use an host name to reach to the module?
Example: http://espthing/web-page

I think you need to describe more where your ESP8266 will "live" with respect to the potential callers? For example, you could have your ESP8266 have a static IP address and then register that IP with the DNS registrars. However, if you (like me) are a hobbyist with a DSL or cable modem connection to an ISP and you want outside agencies to reach your ESP8266 through the Internet, then I would recommend duckdns.org. This allows you to create a logical hostname such as:

XXXX.duckdns.org

Where when someone tries to reach that host, the resolution of the address points to the IP address of your home router and if you then configure that to forward traffic on a certain port to the static IP address of your ESP8266 inside your own private network, all will work well.

Read the specs and story at duckdns.org's web site to see how it works ... but for me, it works great. You can have ANY PC on your lan maintain the "updates" to duckdns's registry dynamically or even use a REST request from the ESP8266 to register your current router's public IP.

Neil

I've used dynamic DNS before and duckdns seems a good way to go.
And what if i'd want a host name valid only within the local network?
I know i can reach my pc in the local network by typing http://my-pc because my pc told the router that his client name is my-pc.
There should be a way to do that also with an ESP8266.

If you just want DNS within your LAN, mDNS will do the trick: https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/blob/fa9d102b6a42dde92ce41fe5440227bd9c9e75c4/hardware/esp8266com/esp8266/libraries/ESP8266mDNS/examples/mDNS_Web_Server/mDNS_Web_Server.ino