Hey there,
I am running a rather unique Linux system, but as far as I've been able it's pretty close to Ubuntu 8.04. Well, it is now at any rate, and that's caused me a problem. Since upgrading this strange machine to 8.04, I'm no longer able to resolve the other computers on my LAN by their DNS hostnames, but only by their IP addresses (and also by their NetBIOS names, but let's leave that aside for a moment). By resolve, I mean that I can't ping the other computers using their DNS hostnames, nor can I mount Samba shares using their DNS hostnames - these are the two functions most important to me.
The general setup is this:
1 unique almost-Ubuntu-compatible Linux computer
2 computers dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows Vista (one wired to router)
2 computers running Windows
All of these computers connected to a Netgear DG834Gv3 router via wireless (except for one Ubuntu/Windows computer), which connects to the internet via ADSL2+
Only this unique system has this problem with local DNS hostname resolution. All of the other computers can resolve every other computer just fine.
I should add that resolving by hostname on the internet works fine - I have perfectly fine internet connectivity.
So here are my relevant important files:
/etc/resolv.conf:
Code:
nameserver 203.12.160.35
nameserver 203.12.160.36
/etc/nsswitch.conf:
Code:
# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.
passwd: compat
group: compat
shadow: compat
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
# hosts: dns files
networks: files
protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files
netgroup: nis
(NB: If I add "wins" to the "hosts:" section, I get hostname resolution through NetBIOS, but that's a bit of a band-aid solution.)
/etc/host.conf
Code:
# The "order" line is only used by old versions of the C library.
order hosts,bind,nis
multi off
And here are some common outputs:
ping:
Quote:
dsl@phoenix:/etc$ ping glamdring
ping: unknown host glamdring
|
nslookup:
Quote:
dsl@phoenix:/etc$ nslookup glamdring
Server: 203.12.160.35
Address: 203.12.160.35#53
** server can't find glamdring: NXDOMAIN
|
nbtscan:
Quote:
dsl@phoenix:/etc$ nbtscan 192.168.1.1-5
Doing NBT name scan for addresses from 192.168.1.1-5
IP address NetBIOS Name Server User MAC address
------------------------------------------------------------------------
192.168.1.3 PHOENIX <server> PHOENIX 00:00:00:00:00:00
192.168.1.2 GLAMDRING <server> <unknown> 00:18:4d:ef:0b:bb
|
dig:
Quote:
dsl@phoenix:/etc$ dig glamdring
; <<>> DiG 9.4.2 <<>> glamdring
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 41866
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;glamdring. IN A
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
. 1420 IN SOA A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. NSTLD.VERISIGN-GRS.COM. 2008052600 1800 900 604800 86400
;; Query time: 43 msec
;; SERVER: 203.12.160.35#53(203.12.160.35)
;; WHEN: Tue May 27 03:03:47 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 102
|
Hopefully that's enough for you to diagnose at least some of what's going on here. This seems to be a bit of a common problem, and it seems that something this fundamental to home networking should be fairly ironed out by now. It'd be good to try to fix it. If you need me to show you anything else, just ask me.
As I already mentioned, I can enable hostname resolution using NetBIOS, but this seems to me to be a band-aid solution (for those of you in other cultures, a band-aid is a sticking plaster, and what I mean is that it's like putting a sticking plaster on a broken leg - might stop some bleeding but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem).
Thanks for persisting in reading this!