Networking Windows and Linux

rfult001

Don't know if I should put this here or not.

I have a private network setup in VMWare, for testing purposes, has active directory, etc. all the labs I have been using to study for my exams. For another little project I setup a CentOS webserver to host Moodle on that network. I have RRAS configured and all computers can reach the internet. I can reach all of the Windows VM's from the host by their hostnames except the CentOS box, though I can reach it by its IP address.

The linux guest has a static IP address and I assigned the nameservers addresses by hand. This seems to me like a DNS issue, as it still happens even if I turn off the firewall. I can't ping the hostname from the host computer either.

Anybody have any ideas where this is breaking down?

Mishra

Have you created an A record for the linux hostname in your DNS servers?

Try to explain your scenario with detail (like what you actually are trying to ping and why).

rfult001

The A records are in place. I was just trying to reach the linux webserver vm by it's hostname, ie webserver.test.domain and it wasn't working outside of the private network, in this case the VMWare host. Everything seems to be working inside the virtual network, but I can't reach the one computer. I am also unable to reach the pdc by its alias, again from the outside.

dynamik

Are you using bridged networking?

Have you done any troubleshooting with nslookup?

rfult001

only using bridged for the RRAS server, everything else is on an internal private network using the RRAS to get outside. NSLOOKUP from the host says the domain doesn't exist....hmmm...

Silver Bullet

You might try going into the TCP/IP properties of the VPN connection and manually specifying the DNS server to use there.

rfult001

This a virtual network in a virtual machine, though it is a "virtual" private network, it is not a VPN.

This only seems to be effecting the linux box... I know there was a line that was added to resolv.conf "mdns=off" that used to have something to do with connecting to a Windows DNS server, but it returns as a bad command now, which has something to do with some updates made to linux dns. I haven't figured out if that has anything to do with it. Anyone see that issue before?

Silver Bullet

Not sure how I got that this was a VPN you were dealing with.

Are you pinging by fqdn and not just netbios name?

rfult001

tried both. can get there by IP and it is only the linux box that I gives me issues.

undomiel

if you can get there by ip but not by name then I would definitely be looking at the dns server. Go into nslookup and make sure your machines are communicating with the proper dns server, and that they can look up other records properly. Then check for the linux server record. If it doesn't come up do a reverse look-up on the ip, if you've created a reverse look-up zone. If not then I would recommend creating one, and verifying your A record for the linux server as well.