MSU Network Experts,
I've had, and heard of, a few problems with dial-up that seem to be related to
the Win200 DNS client, so I'm looking for advice from folks in this
list. Rich W. long ago asked for experiences with campus dialup. This is in
part a late answer to that. I prob. shouldn't bother this list - but I'm at a
loss as to what to do.
Here is my (probably ignorant) question: do MSU DNS server block specific
clients, similar to the DHCP blocking strategy?
The symptom is DNS unresponsiveness when dialed in, and in one case even
on-campus ethernet, using Windows 2000. But let's consider just dial-up to
start.
System:
Windows 2000 (all patched up, no worms detected), no firewall software, NAV
corporate, DCOM disabled.
Symptoms:
After dialing in and checking the ipconfig, the computer is assigned a host &
DNS addresses by the DHCP server (see output below). However, when using any
network software, 'unknown host' or similar errors, e.g. ping, webbrowser, etc.
Sometimes nslookup will return an IP given a host name, even though
other apps (including ping) cannot, but nslookup does not always work. In the
latest case (late Th. night) nslookup will provide MSU host addresses, but no
external hosts, even with timeout set for 10 seconds. I've tried
explicitly setting the DNS to the (...41 and ...42) and also DHCP (which comes
back with radius5.merit.edu). Same behavior. In fact using nslookup and
changing the lookup-server there makes no difference.
I'm convinced the problem is mine, and not the computer lab servers. In one
case I uninstalled/reinstalled the TCP/IP protocol in Windows 2000 and the
problem was fixed (caveman-style configuration editing). But I've found that
doesn't always work, and I've heard from a few other users who've had this
trouble, which leads me to wonder where the problem actually is.
Any hints on how to attack this problem? Thanks for any and all input!
--- An MSU network user.
sample IP config output:
PPP adapter MSU:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 35.12.19.54
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 35.12.19.54
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 35.9.10.6
35.9.10.8
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
ps. I'm using pilot for mail becuase mail.msu.edu won't work with just an ip in
the browser. I will miss telnet!
..........................................................
Patrick Bills [log in to unmask]
Michigan State University tel 517/432-0849
East Lansing MI 48824
