Question

Can't ping PCs by name

Asked by: photograffiti

I've ran into this issue randomly and decided this time to figure out what's going on. It doesn't always happen but sometimes it does.
I have a home network that has a Windows 2003 server that is acting as the DC, DNS, DHCP, etc. My laptop is a Windows XP Pro machine and it is picking up the proper DNS server (the W2K3 server) via DHCP. If I open up a Command Prompt and try to ping any of my other machines via the Netbios name or even the FQDN name, it will fail. However, if I do an nslookup it will resolve no problem. If I ping via IP address this works too. At first I was not able to ping the DC either but after a while it just started working. Now I can ping the W2K3 machine via it's Netbios name but noone else.
Any reason why I can resolve the name via nslookup but via ping it will not resolve?

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Asked On: 2005-08-25 at 21:54:24ID21540845
Tags: ping
,; name
Topics: Miscellaneous Networking
,; TCP/IP
,; Domain Name Service (DNS)
Participating Experts: 3
Points: 500
Comments: 26

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Answers

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-25 at 22:04:50ID: 14758617

Well, my default DNS settings were 'Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes'. Apparently that wasn't enough. I added the check mark beneath that which read 'Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix' and that fixed the problem.
I still don't see why I had to add that second portion. Actually, I don't even quite understand what it means. Plus, I was pinging via FQDN so did I even need any of this?
Still want to find out why.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 00:02:22ID: 14758940

<<I still don't see why I had to add that second portion.
<<
PC1; GM; Pup; <-- netbios name <-- requires Wins/lmhosts
Ping GM

pc1.domainName <-- FQDN <-- requires DNS
Ping GM.domainName
ping Pup.domainName

Think of a Domain as an inverted Tree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FQDN
---------------------

If you earlier windows versions than win2k/xp PCs -- you will need to add a WINS Server &/or configure a LMHosts file.

Verify DHCP scope option 44 (WINS/NetBIOS name server) points to the WINS server and scope option 6 shows the address of your DNS server. When you don't define these options, you almost guarantee problems with client browsing.

by: aplonaPosted on 2005-08-26 at 08:33:48ID: 14761850

Are these machines you are trying to ping xp sp2. If the firewall is enabled then it won't let you ping by name. You have to make an exception for file and printer sharing. Try disabling the firewall first and ping it by name.

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 08:53:14ID: 14762013

kbbcnet,

If I ping via the Netbios name I don't necessarily need a WINS server since I've got it configured to append the DNS suffix to finish out the FQDN. That's the whole point of DNS suffixes, isn't it? So in your example if the Netbios name is Pup, then it should automatically append .domainname when I ping it. Which it does do now.

aplona,

It is not the firewall. The pings are already working now that I modified the DNS settings in the TCP/IP Advance tab. Please read my second post.

My question, as it is right now, is why do I have to check that second option even when I'm already pinging via the FQDN.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 12:24:53ID: 14764084

<<That's the whole point of DNS suffixes, isn't it?
<<
Yes, suffixes will allow you to ping DNS names without the suffix of your domain.

<<My question, as it is right now, is why do I have to check that second option even <<when I'm already pinging via the FQDN.

However, if you have a parent domain then with out the second selection or approriate DNS setup -- it would fail. Also, creates problems mapping drives to parent domain resouces.

Example.
Local Domain - all success pings.
ping pup.mynet.parentnet
ping pup.mynet
ping pup

Parent Domain.
Ping kit.parentnet <-- works
Ping kit <--- fails

Hope this makes sense :)

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 12:52:44ID: 14764301

That makes sense. However, I only have mydomain.com. So I'm pinging DC it fails. If I ping DC.mydomain.com and it still fails. But if I do 'nslookup DC' it resolves.
Weird.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 13:02:45ID: 14764384

When you setup DNS -- did you sit as root or to foward out to the ISP DNS?

Nslookup will depend somewhat on the server queried & authoritive for the domain.

Is the W2k3 DNS server resolving mydomain.com?

Is this a registered domain name?

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 15:03:15ID: 14765605

The DNS server is my DC in my W2K3 domain. The domain name is a valid domain-name but the NS record still points to a public DNS server, not mine. My server is only for internal use. I do have a forwarder setup on my DNS server for anything outside of my domain. And yes, the server is resolving anything related to mydomain.com.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 15:59:14ID: 14765919

On your PCs TCP/IP Settings or in the DHCP Server --
is the local DNS server set as Primary & the internet DNS setup as seondary?

In the DNS MMC -
Do you show 'A' records in the forward lookup zone

Do you have a reverse lookup zone populated with the necessary PTR records.

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 16:26:57ID: 14766048

The local DNS server is primary and the secondary is 4.2.2.2, the same IP as the forwarder set up on my DNS server. As for A and PTR records, they are both there under Forward and Reverse Lookup Zones, respectively.
As I mentioned, the nslookup is successful. It's the ping that doesn't work. Really weird.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 16:54:11ID: 14766116

<<As I mentioned, the nslookup is successful. It's the ping that doesn't work. Really
<< weird.
<<
Agreed - wierd ':-/

i keep thinking i must have missed something simple.

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 17:31:47ID: 14766257

As of right now I can ping my DC but not another PC. Here is a screen shot of my setup.

http://images9.fotki.com/v171/photos/1/132936/1076386/EEQuestion-vi.jpg

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 17:36:38ID: 14766267

Crap, the picture shows me pinging by Netbios name only and it failed. I just tried it via FQDN and it works. But I swear it didn't earlier. However, currently if fails even by Netbios name which it shouldn't if it is appending DNS suffixes properly. Which I guess it isn't. But why not, the names are resolving via DNS properly.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 19:50:29ID: 14766558

<<Which I guess it isn't. But why not, the names are resolving via DNS properly.>>
*Usually DNS works fine with only these two default settings set & the other blank!
/ *DNS Server addresses in order of use <-- Local Domain DNS, then ISP DNS
/ *Register this conneciton's addresses in DNS
---------------------------------

You have a very unusual setup, especially if you do not have a parent domain.
*Instead, try these settings -

/ *DNS Server addresses in order of use <-- Local Domain DNS, then ISP DNS
/ Uncheck --> Append Primary ......
/ Check --> Append these DNS suffixes in order
/ Add your domain suffix & any ISP suffixes that you may use
/ DNS suffix for this connection <-- Leave Blank
/ *Register this conneciton's addresses in DNS
/ Use this connection's DNS suffix <-- Leave Blank

This should resolve your problem :)

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:05:00ID: 14766590

I made the changes you suggested, which was moving from Append Primary to Append suffixes in the order I added. And to also leave a couple of the sections blank.
However, I still have the same issue. I even added a new A record for my wireless AP called ap. If I try to ping ap.mydomain.com or just plain ap, it will fail. However if I do nslookup ap, it will show the IP address and the FQDN of ap.mydomain.com.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:13:32ID: 14766607

In your w2k3 server event logs you should see some DNS errors & the like.

Have you checked?

Computer Mgmt MMC/system tools/event viewer/system|
Look for errors - DNS, DCHP, TCPIP, etc.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:17:08ID: 14766616

Troubleshooting DNS
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/winsrvmg/dnspog/dnspog5.mspx
Overview
Problem #1: DNS Name Resolution Failure
Problem #2: DNS Client Receives Name Not Found Error
Problem #3: DNS Server Provides Stale Information
Problem #4: DNS Server Not Responding to Clients
Problem #5: Clients Not Providing Dynamic Updates
Problem #6: Server Not Providing Dynamic Updates
Problem #7: Zone Delegation Failures
Problem #8: Zone Transfer Failures

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:20:10ID: 14766623

One other thought -- In DCHP the client DNS is configure per the DCHP Server settings.

Have you check the DCHP setting for DNS?

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:21:26ID: 14766625

Event Viewer does not show any errors under system for DNS. The last errors were for IAS because I was trying to set up WPA with Radius authentication with Certificates. DNS server logs only show the DNS server as started.
Well, as I writing this I opened up a DOS prompt and started pinging again. Now I can ping ap and it will auto-resolve to ap.mydomain.com and ping successfully.
Maybe it just some time for things to work after I made the change. Who knows? I will test periodically to see if it keeps working. Like I said before, it's been intermittent.
I will monitor for a day or so and close it out. Thanks for you help.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:23:25ID: 14766628

It may be a good idea to verify the etc\Hosts files info -- nothing weird.

The Hosts files by default will have only one entry --
#
127.0.0.1 localhost

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:27:51ID: 14766635

Yeah, hosts file is clear. I checked that first. As for DHCP, the client is getting all the right settings from the DHCP server. I only have a few things configured in the DHCP scope. The router, the DNS servers (two of them), and the DNS domain name.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-26 at 20:51:37ID: 14766663

<<Maybe it just some time for things to work after I made the change.>>
Yes, propagation can take some time.

And as you said "intermittent" complicates the issue.
----------------------------------------

/ Run netstat -ano; netstat -abnov <-- look for some foreign process &/or executible.
/ Run nbtstat -n; <-- Get Unique name for host file below.
/ Run nbtstat -c; -r; <-- look for IPs in cache & resolution.

If you continue to have the intermittent issue -- Let's test by adding hosts to the Hosts file & see if the problem continues.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts|
#
127.0.0.1 localhost
10.10.10.2 Pc host name
10.10.10.3 Pc2 host name <-- etc.

by: calvinetterPosted on 2005-08-27 at 15:45:39ID: 14769292

>Maybe it just some time for things to work after I made the change.
If you're already aware of this, please disregard, but on W2k/XP, these are the default DNS cache timeouts:
DNS lookup successful - 1 day
DNS lookup failed - 5 minutes

>The domain name is a valid domain-name but the NS record still points to a public DNS server, not mine. My server is only for internal use
Could you clarify? Seeing your screenshot, I'm curious if the domain name "___group.com" is a 'real', registered DNS domain name. Having a local Active Directory domain name the same as a "real, outside" DNS domain can cause local DNS resolution problems, but probably you already knew this?

If you already have forwarding setup on your DC, I highly recommend setting your workstation(s) to *only* point to your local DC for all DNS resolution (you'll want to also change the DHCP settings). Also, please double-check the TCP/IP properties on your DC: the DC's NIC properties should have a single IP for its DNS entry: itself (either the loopback or it's normal IP). After making any changes to the DNS config on the DC, it's a good idea to flush the DNS cache on the DC (& any workstation having resolution problems) & restart the DNS service.

cheers

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-27 at 20:16:59ID: 14769819

The domain name is a real, registered domain name though I'm the only one that uses it. It is also my AD domain name. I know MS suggets you use .local or .loc for internal domain name but not quite sure why.
My DC does only have a single IP in its own TCP/IP DNS settings and that is itself... not the loopback. I will change my DHCP settings to remove the secondary server.
Thanks.

by: photograffitiPosted on 2005-08-28 at 19:14:38ID: 14773556

It's still working today so I guess this solved my problem. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks a lot for your help.

by: kbbcnetPosted on 2005-08-28 at 20:45:56ID: 14773811

Ok - good news! And Nice Job!!! :) Glad you got your resolve!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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Can't ping PCs by name

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Miscellaneous Networking

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Domain Name Service (DNS)

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