IP Networking

Hello.

I have been working on an issue I hope someone can help me out with.

I have a small network with an NT4 Server, 15 Win2K PC, and four Unix workstations. I am having problems resolving the name of one of the workstations from the server and PC's. I am attacking this issue from both sides of the coin.

To better explain say I have two workstations, workstation_1 and workstation_2. From either the server or any PC, I can ping workstation_1 by either its IP address or it's name and receive a reply back. However, when I ping workstation_2, I only receive a reply when I ping by IP address. I get an unknown host error when pinging from a PC, and a bad IP address error when pinging from the server.

I have looked at the LMHOSTS file, and can find no reference to any of the workstations, either by IP address or machine name, (even for the ones that their names do get resolved.)

I have also looked at the nsswitch.conf files on both workstations. The two files are almost identical, except for one line. Workstation_2, has the following line:

ipnodes: files

I have tried commenting it out, and repinging the machine. I receive the same result. Does this line possibly have anything to do with my issue? If so, do I need to update/refresh the nsswitch.conf file before trying to ping the workstation_2 again?

Also, I noticed that workstation_1 is running Solaris 6, and workstation_2 is running Solaris 8. Are there differences in how these two OS's resolve names?

Also, I am able to ping machine names between workstations, and that is okay.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

medmonson

The entry for ipnodes in your /etc/nsswitch.conf is for IPv6 - see SUN docs for further info - this should not be related to your problem.

What are the WIN and NT systems using to resolve names/IPs?

What is listed in your Solaris systems in the /etc/nsswitch.conf for hosts? Is it the same on all Solaris servers?

Solaris 2.6 and 8 resolve the same way.

Thanks RTM. (Is this for Read The Man-pages?)

I'll take a look at the Sun Docs for more on the ipnodes.


As far as how the Win and NT machines resolve names, I am pretty sure they resolve names via DNS. However, I modified the HOSTS file on a couple of my Win2K machines, and added in the workstation_2 name with its associated IP address. I then re-imported the HOSTS file. After doing this I was able to ping the workstation_2 name as well as its IP address. These machines essentially can resolve the workstation_2 name now. I think this would deduce my problem to a Windows resolution issue versus a Solaris resolution issue. However, I am still not sure how the other workstations are getting their names resolved because they are not referenced in the HOSTS file...

On the Solaris Workstations in the /etc/nsswitch.conf files:

for hosts:


hosts: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files dns


Now I know this is different than what I have seen in other postings, (hosts: files dns), but this is what is in all of the workstations' nsswitch.conf files. I would think this could not be the problem.


Cheers,

medmonson

So your Solaris servers are attempting to find host information via nis first, if not found, files (/etc/hosts), and then dns.

If you don't use nis for host resolution, you could remove the "nis [NOTFOUND=return]" portion in your nsswitch.conf files. If you do use it, then you can check to see if it needs to be updated by getting on the master nis server.

You still will have a problem until you figure this out - the next time you add another workstation it may have the problem, plus you will still have to update each workstation that you added the HOSTS files to. You might want to look into this to avoid problems in the future (sorry but I don't work that much on workstations so have no opinions to give on this portion).

Just a question: Could it be that your hostname has underscores in it ? Technically this is not allowed according to the defined standard for host names (RFC 952). Windows unfortunately allows it. Solaris has problems with it as far as I remember. If this is your problem then get rid of those underscores. They will only cause you problems.