Note: System description is borrowed from my previous post, but is slightly different here -- specifically the domain name is changed.
I have an e-smith 4.1.2 server at home:
system name (TCP/IP) = e-smith
domain name (TCP/IP) = smith.dns2go.com
windows server name (SMB) = e-smith
windows workgroup (SMB) = smith
domain master (SMB) = yes
There are 6 Win98 workstations attached. In the client for ms networks options, logon to window domain is disabled, and logon and restore connections is selected. In the network properties, identification tab, each workstation uses the person's name for identification:
computer name = {dad, mom, trevor, etc.}
workgroup = smith
In the TCP/IP configuration for the workstations:
IP address = automatic
WINS = disabled
gateway = blank
DNS = disabled
The e-smith server is running the dns2go client. Works like a charm, and the DNS2GO domain (ie,
www.smith.dns2go.com) does bring up my web page, ssh to smith.dns2go.com works, etc. I've also got a couple of other domains at DNS2GO grouped with 'smith' and attached to virtual domains and i-bays -- they work fine to.
That's the configuration. Here's the problem/question:
Basically, everything works great except when I try to access one Windows workstation from another using the Windows computer name. (See my post on DHCP issue for more on that subject.) If I 'ping mom' from the 'dad' system, the ping will succeed -- but it returns the address of the dns2go.com server!
After some poking around, I found that what happens on the Windows clients is that the system name 'mom' is resolved as 'mom.dns2go.com'. The DNS2GO server is apparently configured to respond to *.dns2go.com, which explains why the ping "works" (the result is not what is expected, but it technically works.)
Since the domain name on e-smith is set to 'smith.dns2go.com' I would have expected the ping for 'mom' on the Windows client to resolve to 'mom.smith.dns2go.com'. I suppose there is something I don't understand about DNS as to why this works as it does.
Questions: Is this normal behavior or is there a setup change needed? If it is normal, then how are Windows workstations supposed to talk to one another?
Looking forward to your responses.
Thanks
Scott