Problem with local network

[Les Mikesell]

On Fri, 2006-01-13 at 14:58, Chris Jones wrote:
> >
> >>>> I have a networking problem which is puzzling me. I am
> >>>> clearly missing something. Several of my servers apps are
> >>>> failing because they are unable to resolve any of the local
> >>>> hostnames. I have checked /etc/hosts, /ete/resolv.conf and
> >>>> both are as they should be, yet I am unable to ping any of my
> >>>> LAN connected PC's by name. I can ping them by their IP
> >>>> addressess, but not by name.
> >>>>
> >>>> What else should I look for?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> What's in /etc/nsswitch.conf?
> >>>
> >>> $ grep hosts /etc/nsswitch.conf
> >>>
> >>> Paul.
> >>>
> >> I get the following from that:- [root at bilbo ~]# grep hosts
> >> /etc/nsswitch.conf #hosts: db files nisplus nis dns hosts:
> >> files dns
> >
> >
> > Who is providing dns and are the names in there? What does 'dig
> > host.your_domain' say?
> >
> DNS is provided by a caching-only nameserver on bilbo and the only
> names I can see in the named.conf file are for localhost and
> localdomain. The output from the dig command is:-
> [root at bilbo ~]# dig bilbo.stow-jones.local
> 
> ; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> bilbo.stow-jones.local
> ;; global options:  printcmd
> ;; Got answer:
> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 59692
> ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
> 
> ;; QUESTION SECTION:
> ;bilbo.stow-jones.local.                IN      A
> 
> ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
> .                       10729   IN      SOA     A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
> NSTLD.VERISIGN-GRS.COM. 2006011300 1800 900 604800 86400
> 
> ;; Query time: 57 msec
> ;; SERVER: 212.23.3.100#53(212.23.3.100)
> ;; WHEN: Fri Jan 13 20:50:09 2006
> ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 115
> 
> [root at bilbo ~]#

Let's start back at the beginning, then.  Why do you
expect any DNS server to know the names of your local
boxes?  If they are public machines they should in a
real domain with a real DNS server.  If not, and you
want local dns to work you should add your own local
zone file with the names instead of just using the
caching-nameserver setup.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com