Topic: DNS problem

[tonyw]

I am using SME7rc1
I have been using SME for some time and yesterday it suddenly had these symptoms:

I can not access my information bays from windows client.
The fileserver is not listed in the windows network neighbourhood, neither are any other windows clients shown. This is the case with all windows clients.

I can not access the server manager with http://<fileservername>/server-manager.
I can access the server manager using the servers IP address.
Using  http://<fileservername>/server-manager brings up a website to do with available domain names. i.e. its resolving the DNS externally.

I can access the internet and email.

It appears that its a local DNS problem. I don't understand how this works.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks

[idp_qbn]

Problems like this can come from:
A) DHCP not working ie each PC gets its own Microsoft random IP address:169.x.y.z (something like that). Get to a DOS box and do IPCONFIG to see what the IP adress is.

If DHCP is done by the SME box, check that DHCP is ON on the SME box.

If you have some other box as DHCP server, check it is ON and DHCP is set ON....and make sure the DHCP on SME is OFF.

B) Check the WORKGROUP names....make sure the WInPCs and the SME are using the same workgroup name.

If you can PING all the boxes from each other, it is likely to be one of the above problems......likely, but not 100%.

If you make changes on the WinPCs you may need to reboot them....good idea, anyway, with Windows.

Cheers
and good luck!

Ian

[tonyw]

Thanks Ian,

I have all fixed IP addresses and DHCP is turned off on SME and all Win Clients.

The Workgroup name has not changed and I have checked it.

I can ping the server and the windows clients.

I have rebooted the server and the windows pcs with no change.

[idp_qbn]

Hmmmm...
Are the WinPCs running a software firewall? I used to use ZoneAlarm and had to make sure the local network was set as TRUSTED.

I now just use WinXP Firewall and had to enable File and Printer Sharing in the Start/Control Panel/Windows Firewall/Exceptions tab.

Failing this, I am stumped. Good luck.
Ian

[larry007]

No VPN access and PC's didn't pick IP via DHCP.

 dhcpd seems to die his morning, probably explaining the above, since I configured all IPs in "hostnames" option.  However,  I then assigned the IPs statically, but DNS such as 'mail' or 'proxy' doesn't resove but the FQDN does resolve....  

Lets fix it:
I Checked out the /etc/dhcpd.conf and range is totally wrong!!  
192.168.10.10 192.168.9.225 - last ip is totally wrong.
Used the admin wizard to re-assign range - no avail, I can't seem to set that second ip to 192.168.10.19, no matter where I try to set it up.  Looked in the templates and it refers to $endDynamicIPRange, but I have no idea what to use this info for.  I presume that this might be the problem.

This machine is in production at my office and I urgently need this resolved for VPN - I presume this is why VPN doens't work?

Many thanks

[tonyw]

Thanks Ian,

ZoneAlarm could of been the problem, but it checks out OK and I even turned it off, but no change.

[tonyw]

I don't think this is a dhcp problem, its more of a DNS problem.
The names are not resolving locally but by the DNS servers at the ISP. The whole system works OK using IP Addresses, but not by using the server name.
I guess the Samba shares also use the server name instead of IP address, so thats why the network shares are not working either.

Any other ideas would be welcome.
Thanks

[raem]

tonyw

You didn't answer what does ipconfig show on a workstation
Open a command prompt in Windows and run
ipconfig

Also what is the DNS server IP setting in server manager review configuration ?

Did you recently add any Windows workstations, say notebooks, that are (unwittingly to you) acting as browsemasters or DHCP servers ?

also on the server what do you get if you do
/etc/init.d/dnscache status
/etc/init.d/tinydns status

[tonyw]

I have solved the problem.
Thank you for your help.

It was my network hub that was at fault. I rebooted the hub and it all started to work again.
I thought the hub was working OK, as I was still able to access the internet and email.

What led me to the hub, was when I moved my laptop onto another hub that I don't use much and it all worked from there. I then moved the laptop back to the original hub without turning the laptop off, and it still worked. I then rebooted my laptop on the original hub, and things did not work again. I then rebooted the hub and it all started to work again.