Topic: DNS Issues with SME 6.0.1 (from Contrubs.org)

[Buddha_Joe]

(I accidently posted this in the experinced users forum while I wasn't logged in.... sorry about that.)

First let me say that I really do like this Distro. So far it looks like it will be able to do what I want it to. I really apreciate all of the community has done.

I am more of a Desktop guiy coming from the windows world. What Linux experince I have is limited and revolves around the desktop as well. I do have some light Net admin experince. so I am not a complete newbie, but it is from a windows/novell world.

I installed SME 6.0.1 from contribs.org in a mixed windows /linux network. The server installed fine. I also have installed the following additional contribs:

devinfo-mitel-update-system-0.0.1-15.noarch.rpm
dmc-mitel-adv-backup-restore-0.0.1-5.noarch.rpm
sme-dhcp-dns-0.9-rc1.noarch.rpm
e-smith-dhcpmanager-1.3-4.noarch.rpm
e-smith-navmanager-0.1-2.60beta.noarch.rpm

The problem:

Name resolution does not appear to be working properly. If I ping www.home.lan I should get response form the server but instead it tells me the host can't be found.

I can connect to the server from the windows machine by entering \\servername and I get a list of shares.

If I ping the servername I get a response

So I know the wins server is working fine.

If I ping servername.home.lan it say's that it can't find the host.

also I am unable to ping any of the DHCP clients by name. I am obviously missing something here but I don't know what. any info would be greatly appreciated.

Buddha Joe

[Buddha_Joe]

This post is definitly for noobies like myself working with sme 6.0.1.

I managed to solve the problem and am posting the resolution here incase anyone else encounters it.

It was not a problem with the server but with how I configured it. During th e install process it asked some questions about DNS. One of them asked for the address of another DNS server that was resolving internet address's for you r network.

What I have found here is if you plan for this box to act as an authoritative DNS server for your network do not enter an address in this field. Your gut reaction will be to want to add something here since you are not asked about any DNS information when configuring the DHCP server or when configuring the network interface for this server. That's ok.


As far as DHCP is concerned and configuring additional DNS servers. I suggest either creating a custom template for the dhcpd.conf or installing a contrib  named dhcpconfig-v0.4.2beta.tar.gz. I recomend installing the contrib. I wanted to put a link to it here but for some reason I can't seem to find it. So if you would like it let me know..

[Mumm-Ra]

Is home.lan the domain name that you entered into the SME setup.
If it is then www.home.lan should definitely ping (althought this may differ if you set your server up as a server/gateway, as this will act as a firewall and may deny ping requests - maybe someone who has their sme box setup like this will confirm?).
I have mine setup as a server only and it pings my domain name.
If you entered another domain name in the setup then you must enter home.lan as a virtual domain under Configuration / Domains in the server-manager web interface and point it to the relevant i-bay.
The link to the dhcp contrib is here
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/smeserver/contribs/gwukoutz/beta/SME6/dhcpconfig/

[Buddha_Joe]

Everything is working fine now. The mistake I made was when configuring the server there is a point where the setup asks you for the address of another DNS server handling local request for the network. I miss-understood what it was asking for and initialy thought it was asking for a DNS server to forward external requests to. As soon as I removed my ISP's DNS server from this field the SME server started handling my local queries. Prior to that any DNS queries ment for my local network (home.lan) were being forwarded to the ISP's DNS and were subsequently failing, meanwhile WINS requests were resolving fine.

I'm a noobie to networking and linux so you'll have to execuse my ignorance. What networking skills I have are related more to windows networking and are basic. I've done mostly Desktop work.

I plan on doing more reading about tinydns as I am curious as to how it is configured, especially with SME. I am curious to know how the server knows where to forward external requests to as I have no recollection of entering the address of an external DNS server for the system to query. I assume it is performing some sort of discovery process or some other type of boradcast request. If I'm off base here please let me know

I am a firm believer in the statement that the only stupid question is the one never asked.