DNS resolve problem - HP-UX to Win2k

[Timothy Czarnik]

Hey all,

I'm running HP-UX 11.11. I am atempting to configure it to use DNS. The DNS server is a Win2k box.

I have /etc/resolv.conf set correctly I believe (first line is domain name, next lines are 'nameserver '). My /etc/nsswitch.conf file is setup to point to /etc/hosts first, then to DNS (no NIS here). I have verified with the network guys that I have the correct IP address for the DNS servers.

I can ping the DNS servers, but when I go to do the nslookup, it checks /etc/hosts, then goes to DNS (like it should), but hangs for a bit, then comes back saying that it can't find the hostname of nameserver.

Is there an issue with 11.11 trying to use a Win2k DNS server that I'm not aware of? I have successfully configured DNS use on other machines, which makes this even more annoying! :)

Any help would be appreciated!

-Tim

[linuxfan]

Hi Timothy,

Did you try an interactive nslookup session?

#nslookup
> server
> some_host_name

Also just curious, have you defined the DNS server in your hosts file?

Here is another thread which talks about a similar problem
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,1150,0xf4eaf9beca68d511abcd0090277a778c,00.html

-Ramesh

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Tim,

Set swtrace on in nslookup and you should be able to see how the system is trying to resolve the address. Also try to put the hostname and ip address of the DNS server in the /etc/hosts file. Since you are able to ping the DNS server, your gateway should be set correctly.

You can try one more thing, I believe there is a command "trace" in /usr/contrib/bin (or somewhere). Use that to trace the ip of your DNS server.
//trace

What is the setting of your /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

hosts files DNS [Notfound=continue]

can you put DNS first and try. Also in place of domain name in /etc/resolv.conf file, try to put search and see if it helps
search
nameserver
nameserver

Hope this gives you something to work on.

Thanks

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

This is (an all too common) nameserver defect. For some reason, DNS administrators put all the IP addresses and hostnames into the DNS database EXCEPT itself. nslookup is trying to avoid using a spoofed IP address by asking the nameserver: "Whatis your name?" The nameserver responds with: "I don't know."

So nslookup gives up because a DNS server that doesn't know it's own name (also called reverse DNS lookup) must be a forgery. Tell your DNS admin to add the entry to the DNS server and nslookup should start working OK.

[Ravi_8]

Hi,
in your resolv.conf file you have said that you have 2 lines containing domainname and nameserv , remove the domainname line, and make sure the system's IP and hostname have the entry in DNS server.