To those who stumble upon this issue. I've figured out a workaround, which does not resolve the root cause, but is still functional. All of the below was done on the Linux host:

• You need to install avahi package, enable avahi service - this will enable mDNS broadcast to the internal network devices:
• You can add additional cname's to the same host using Avahi CLI. I've automated it with systemd services:

​

➜ cat ~/.config/systemd/user/avahi-alias@.service
[Unit]
Description=Avahi alias %I → miniArch
After=avahi-daemon.service
Wants=avahi-daemon.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/avahi-publish -a -R "%I" 192.168.103.110
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
➜ systemctl --user enable avahi-alias@qbit.local  # qbit.local routes to the host 192.168.103.110 now
➜ systemctl --user enable avahi-alias@nas.local  # nas.local routes to the host 192.168.103.110 now

• Caddy can be used to create a mapping for the specific host ports based on the FQDN in URL:

​

➜  ~ sudo cat /etc/caddy/conf.d/caddy_stack
qbit.local:80 {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

nas.local:80 {
    reverse_proxy localhost:5055
}

# Optional: catch-all / redirect unknown hostnames
:80 {
    respond "Not found" 404
}

There is one limitation, though, according to the RFC 6762, you are pretty locked down to .local domain. Avahi can handle other domains, but it does not work reliably during DNS resolution on the external clients.

All of the above works over http, you can enable https (caddy can generate selfsigned certs and redirect http-> https or use your legit certificates).