web browsers and network cards

[Josh_13]

i'm trying to get netscape working on a d370 running hpux 11i. the network card is recognised and working (i can use xterm, and it also can perform such functions as nslokup), however, every time i invoke the web browser, it gives the following two error messages:

netscape is unable to locate the server netscape.home.com

warning the following hosts are unknown:
home.netscape.com
home6.netscape.com
internic.net
this means htat some or all host will be unreachable
prehaps there is a problem with your name server? if your site...


i've looked through every faq i can find on netscape and hpux without finding anything that helps with this problem.

has anyone dealt with this before? any hints or suggestions?

[Uday_S_Ankolekar]

Hi,

It depends how your server connected to Internet.
Check if you need to connect to Internet thru a firewall server. If yes then you have to mention this in Netscape> preference > connection with Firewall server and the protocol address.
Goodluck,
-USA..

[Craig Rants]

Just like your home isp provider would say, see if adding a proper DNS ip inside the preferences section makes a difference. No dns, no netscape.com

Happy surfing.
C

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Hi:

It appears that your box does not know how to resolve these hostnames. Before you try to run netscape, you need to make sure that you are able to resolve well known hostnames. Check your /etc/resolv.conf file to make certain that
you have a valid nameserver and also check /etc/nsswitch.conf to make certain that you are indeed using DNS. You will probably need to test using nslookup rather than simply pinging www.xyz.com because many sites do not respond to pings. You also need to check with your WAN manager (if you have one) to make sure this box is allowed through the firewall.

Clay

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Josh,

How are you resolving the host names. Are you using DNS. If so, have you configured the /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/nsswitch.conf files correctly and also /etc/hosts. Next Try this,

If you are using proxy,

Seletc edit --> Preferences --> Advanced --> Proxies -->Manula Proxy configuration

Add the proxy name and the port(normally 8000). Save and exit and then try.

hope this helps.

regds

[Josh_13]

A. Clay Stephenson :

i tried that the other day to test the network card and be sure that hte system knew how to find it. i have checked both files against the other machines here and they only deviate becuase i never entered the older names that are now commented out on some of the other machines.

i have hosts check files and then dns. everything else just checks files.

do you thinnk that might have anything to do with it?

[Josh_13]

one more thing, this machine is not suppossed to go through any proxies. the conneciton is direct.

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Josh,

If your system is on DNS and using DNS resolution can you do a nslookup and see if the internet names are being resolve.

try

nslookup

>your_server_name
>your_server_ip
>www.hp.com
>www.msn.com
>exit

If these addresses are resolved correctly, you should be able to use the browser. If the outside network addresses. for eg: www.hp.com and www.msn.com are not being resolved, the probelm is with the host name resolution.

Hope this helps.

regds

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Hi Josh:

If I understand your resonses, you have one active NIC in your D-box. If that is the case, then do an nslookup internic.net. Does that work. If should be fine to first look in files then DNS. However, the nslookup internic.net must work before Netscape has a prayer of working outside your local network. It is possible, that your nameserver is not configured properly so that it does not know how to climb up the tree to find addresses outside your domain.

If you have more than one NIC in your D-box then you probably need to add a route.

[Josh_13]

Sanjay :

i can get names that way. if i then type the dotted decimal address into netscape it will get the webpage, but netscape can't find domains using the names such as www.msn.com or forums.itrc.hp.com

adding http:// before the name doesn't help either.

[Josh_13]

there's three possible. one built in and a card with two on it. how do i find out which one netscape is using? how do i set it to the proper one? is this even the issue since it clearly uses the correct one when given a url in dotted decimal?

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Hi Josh:

Since you can get to the website via an IP address, routing is not a problem. All your problems are hostname resolution. It appears that we need to put some domain entries and possibly some search entries in your resolv.conf file. Please post your resolv.conf file as well as your fully fully qualified hostname and I thing we can get you going.

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Josh,

Try this in your /etc/resolv.conf file

search xyz.com
nameserver a.b.c.d

here adc.com is your domain if your host is resolved as host.xyz.com and a.b.c.d if the ip address of your nameserver.

hope this helps.

Regds

[Josh_13]

resolv.conf:

domain unet.brandeis.edu
nameserver 129.64.99.11
nameserver 129.64.99.12
nameserver 129.64.1.3
search unet.brandeis.edu brandeis.edu


the host name for the machine with the problem is hal.net.brandeis.edu

[Craig Rants]

Josh,
Just give Uday and my thought a try. It will only take a second to try, and since you can get to sites by ip... In netscape there is an entry for primary and secondary dns.

C

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Hi:

You indicated that your host name is 'hal.net.brandeis.edu'; should it not be
'hal.unet.brandeis.edu'? If that is simply a typo make certain that nothing (no whitespace) follows your domain.

[Josh_13]

there is a domain net.brandeis.edu within brandeis.edu. hal is within the net domain, however the name servers are within the unet domain.

the netscape suggestion were tried earlier in the week without success. at the same time the resolv.conf and hosts files were fixed.

[rick jones]

wild guess - was netscape started before any changes to /etc/nsswitch.conf or /etc/resolv.conf? if so it needs to be restarted to pick-up the changes.

another wild guess - make sure that the preferences does actually say a direct connection and no proxies.

finally, if indeed you can resolve all those names with nslookup, i would suggest trying a verbose tusc trace of netscape and verify that it is indeed making the sequence of system calls indicative of DNS lookups:

roughly:

socket(SOCK_DGRAM)
connect()
send()
select()
recvmsg()
close()

i probably have the specific ones wrong, but hopefully you get the gist.

you could also consider taking a tcpdump trace (only looking at port "domain" (53)) (again verbose) and make sure that there are indeed DNS requests leaving your system when you run netscape.

[Roger Baptiste]

<>

#netstat -a |more

and look for the netscape connection in the
output. It should show which interface it
is using.

< how do i set it to the proper one? is this even the issue since it clearly uses the correct one when given a url in dotted decimal?>
No, i think the network interface part is fine. Since you are able to reach the sites through their IP notation and not the names, in
all likelihood this is a DNS resolving problem.

Make sure the /etc directory does not
have any resolv.conf.old (or similar extensions to resolv.conf.* ). The same
applies for nsswitch.conf.* extensions.
Move them out from the directory.
To ensure these two files (and the host file)
is absolutely Ok, edit and recreate them.

Also, ensure your browser settings are correct.

HTH
raj

[Josh_13]

since hpux deviate from the linux i know and use on my personal computer, i tired to look up the "tusc trace" but found nothing under tusc or tusctrace. i want to be sure i have the usage correct. can you tlel me what the manual entry is named?

ok. double checked the netscape prefs, removed the old versions of resov.conf (xemacs add a ~ to the name and saves an old) and then restarted netscape to no avail. however netstat reveals:

Active Internet connections (including servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address (state)

netscape not running:

tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED

netscape just starting up:

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53434 hal.registrar TIME_WAIT

netscape trying to find: http://216.115.108.243 (nslookup: yahoo.com; says it can't find www.yahoo.com when searching for this)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53437 img3.http TIME_WAIT

netscape trying to find: http://64.58.76.222 (nslookup: www.yahoo.com; brings up the page; netstat run immediately after sending netscape on it's way)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED

netscape trying to find: http://64.58.76.222 (nslookup: www.yahoo.com; brings up the page; counting to ten then running netstat)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53444 hal.registrar TIME_WAIT



i get the feeling that this might help you figure out what's wrong. all i'm sure of right now is that with my inexpirience with hpux, i won't be able to figure this one out.

thanks for all your help and patience so far.

-Josh

[Josh_13]

since hpux deviate from the linux i know and use on my personal computer, i tired to look up the "tusc trace" but found nothing under tusc or tusctrace. i want to be sure i have the usage correct. can you tlel me what the manual entry is named?

ok. double checked the netscape prefs, removed the old versions of resov.conf (xemacs add a ~ to the name and saves an old) and then restarted netscape to no avail. however netstat reveals:

Active Internet connections (including servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address (state)

netscape not running:

tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED

netscape just starting up:

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53434 hal.registrar TIME_WAIT

netscape trying to find: http://216.115.108.243 (nslookup: yahoo.com; says it can't find www.yahoo.com when searching for this)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53437 img3.http TIME_WAIT

netscape trying to find: http://64.58.76.222 (nslookup: www.yahoo.com; brings up the page; netstat run immediately after sending netscape on it's way)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED

netscape trying to find: http://64.58.76.222 (nslookup: www.yahoo.com; brings up the page; counting to ten then running netstat)

tcp 0 0 hal.53436 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53419 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.49186 hal.registrar ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53366 dyn-129-64-5-253.6000 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.registrar hal.49186 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 hal.53444 hal.registrar TIME_WAIT



i get the feeling that this might help you figure out what's wrong. all i'm sure of right now is that with my inexperience with hpux, i won't be able to figure this one out.

thanks for all your help and patience so far.

-Josh

[Eugen Cocalea]

Hi,

modify your /etc/nsswitch.conf to have the line:

hosts: files dns

E.

[Josh_13]

so far all the suggestions, although helpful have failed. i was tlaking with some of the people who are hired by the university and do this full time as suppossed to the students who are hired to help them (myself) about this since they have more unix/linx/etc experience. apparently during my day off yesterday few of them talked about it and came to the conclusion everything SHOULD be working becuase it is set up correctly. since everything in the ns* files are working and is set correctly, and since netscape can find the url if i give it the dotted decimal form, i feel that the problem is netscape incorrectly calling whatever is suppossed to direct it to those files.

i am on a d370 that hpux 11i was installed onto. this problem is with the netscape that was installed as part of the OE (netscape 4.75)

is anyone else having trouble with netscape talking the the nsswitch files?
has anyone encountered this?
does anyone have any sugestions on this?

it seems to me that this problem is not witht eh way the nsswitch files are set, but with how the netscape calls them.

-josh

[Steve Tasker]

I had same problem today on a workstation. I installed HPUX 11i on my workstatation. Before that I have 11.0 and netscape is working fine. After I installing 11i, it stopped working. Later I found out that I did not put my default gate way entries in /etc/rc.cofnig.d/netconf file. Once I add my default gateway entry, netscape is working fine.
Hope this will help your situation.

Thanks
Srini

[Josh_13]

Genexadmin


November 07, 2001 22:21 PM GMT [ 7 pts ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had same problem today on a workstation. I installed HPUX 11i on my workstatation. Before that I have 11.0 and netscape is working fine. After I installing 11i, it stopped working. Later I found out that I did not put my default gate way entries in /etc/rc.cofnig.d/netconf file. Once I add my default gateway entry, netscape is working fine.
Hope this will help your situation.

Thanks
Srini

----------------------------------------------
thanx for the tip. i looked there and it had nothing listed for default gateway or a few other things it was supposed to have. i had someone who's been here longer help me list them so that they are now listed and correct, however netscape still complains about $SOCKS_NS enviroment variable and the SOCKS host prefrence.

i've manually set the enviroment variable to no avail and i can't find where it wants the SOCKS host preference stated.