9fans archive / 1996 / 03 / 5 /    prev next

From: Luther Huffman, Jr. lutherh@inf...
Subject: Can't get dns to work
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 14:08:24 -0500

Hello, all.
   It seems that once a week there is a question about how to get DNS
to work. It appears that this week is my turn.
   I'm using pppclient to give me dial-up ppp to my internet service
provider. My machine is a standalone PC.
   I have been able to use everything (mothra, ftpfs, telnet, etc.)
provided that my /lib/ndb/local file has an entry for the site to
which I'm connecting. DNS can't seem to find either of my domain name
servers. I have both 'ndb/cs' and 'ndb/dns' in my termrc, thinking
that perhaps CS and DNS need to have an "active" /net/tcp to properly
initialize, I've even tried 'ndb/cs' and 'ndb/dns' in a script to be
started after the ppp connection is made. Nothing works. I keep
getting a "can't translate address message". Here's an interesting
clue: when I try connecting to an address, a message appears on my
screen background "gnot [current date and time] can't connect udp".
   Having tried every combination of invoking CS and DNS, I wish to
start tinkering more with /lib/ndb/local. Bearing in mind that I use
dynamic ip addressing, what should an entry for my system look like?
My ISP's domain name is infinet.com. 
My domain name servers are:
ns=ns1.infinet.com ip=206.103.240.1
ns=ns2.infinet.com ip=206.103.240.2
I can't predict in advance what my ip addresses will be but I can
determine them easily by reading /net/ipifc.
I can't even predict in advance what my full domain name will be, but
my system name is of the form: day-pXXX.infinet.com, where XXX is some
number.
   Has anyone been down this road before? Any suggestions as to what
my ndb/local entry should look like?

Luther