nss-mdns is a plugin for the GNU Name Service Switch (NSS) functionality
of the GNU C Library (glibc) which provides host name resolution via
Multicast DNS (a.k.a. Zeroconf, a.k.a. Apple Rendezvous, a.k.a Apple Bonjour).
This effectively allows name resolution by common Unix/Linux programs in the
ad-hoc mDNS domain .local.

To test, the following command should return a mapping for the remote host:
  getent hosts <hostname>.local

This requires avahi.