reverse lookup not working

[hp_user_1]

Hello,

I have an rx3600 with 11.31 running. DNS is disabled. The settings are:

/etc/nsswitch.conf: hosts: files
/etc/hosts: 172.92.22.24 servera1

Problem is that I can ping the IP address, but not the hostname "servera1"...

Any ideas folks ???

Thanks

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Reverse lookup will not work with /etc/hosts support.

You need to install BIND 9 and configure a reverse look up server or configure it on an external DNS server.

http://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=BIND

http://www.tech-faq.com/reverse-dns.shtml

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245574

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-23-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=253457&start=0

SEP

[Patrick Wallek]

That is not entirely accurate. If all you have is an /etc/hosts file then you should still be able to look up via name or IP address.

What happens when you do:

# nslookup servera1
Does this return the IP address?

# nslookup 172.92.22.24
Does this return the host name?

[Tim Nelson]

SEP U sure ?

ping should work both directions with only a host file..

[Tim Nelson]

Ignore my last post ( SEP has corrected ).

There is a new issue with nslookup when you have a DNS server that does NOT have its reverse configured correctly.

nslookup will fail but dig and nsquery work.

I may even have a post about this issue. One moment.....

[Tim Nelson]

Here was the issue I had..

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1170091

[TTr]

> Problem is that I can ping the IP address, but not the hostname "servera1"

Ping-ing the IP address does not tell anything about a name resolution problem.

Failing to ping the hostname is a direct (not reverse) name resolution issue.

Please answer Patrick's questions. It may be a hostname configuration issue or an /etc, /etc/hosts file permission issue or an invisible character in the /etc/hosts line. I assume you are doing this as root?

[hp_user_1]

The DNS service is not running on the server.

nslookup works fine on both hostname and its IP address, and returns the right information. But ping only works on the IP address, and hangs on the hostname.

[Bill Hassell]

Run nsquery and post the results:

$ nsquery hosts 15.216.110.140

Using "files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] dns " for the hosts policy.

Searching /etc/hosts for 15.216.110.140
15.216.110.140 was NOTFOUND

Switch configuration: Allows fallback

Searching dns for 15.216.110.140
Hostname: hpqainspect.org
Aliases:
Address: 15.216.110.140
Switch configuration: Terminates Search