DNS issue

[Hemispheres]

Hello. I'll apoligize up front that I'm not a network admin - I know just enough to be dangerous. My IT department has officially given up on solving my issue, though, so I thought I'd look for some suggestions here.

Yesterday, I got a new hard drive for my machine. All I've done so far is install Windows, along with SP2 and all of the available updates, and Office. I've joined the domain and am able to access all internal and external sites that I've tried so far except one - our Exchange server. The internal IP address and server name are set up in my hosts file. When I try to ping the server by the server name, though, it tries to ping an external IP address and fails. I am able to ping the internal IP successfully. When I go into the mail setup and try to do a name search, and I enter the server name, it fails. If I enter the internal IP address, it's able to find my ID on the server and replaces the IP address with the server name, but it won't go any further than that.

I've checked other machines in the office that are set up in the same way mine is (DHCP), and they work properly. I compared the output of ipconfig/all, and everything matches.

Any help would be appreciated. Please let me know if there's additional information that would be helpful.

Thanks,

-Dave

 

[kcnychief]

Just out of curiosity - why does your network maintain the HOSTS file? That is such a headache to deal with in regards to maintenance and updates.

Can you post the contents of your HOST file, as well as screenshots for the results of trying to ping by IP and by Name?

 

[Hemispheres]

As far as the "why" goes, I couldn't say. The only uncommented line in the Hosts file is:

10.10.11.12 npopower.nposolutions.com

Which is the internal IP and server name of the server I'm trying to connect to.

I've attached the screen shot that you requested.

Thanks,

-Dave

 

[mlakrid]

First of all, I think your company has echo turned off unless from inside your network, I have no clue why you are not able to see your own sever...

Here is tHe reason I say that:
H:\>nslookup nposolutions.com
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: nposolutions.com
Address: 208.255.110.70

and...

H:\>nslookup npopower.nposolutions.com
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: npopower.nposolutions.com
Address: 63.67.135.3

H:\>ping 63.67.135.3
Pinging 63.67.135.3 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 63.67.135.3:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

H:\>ping npopower.nposolutions.com
Pinging npopower.nposolutions.com [63.67.135.3] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 63.67.135.3:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

and...

H:\>ping 208.255.110.70
Pinging 208.255.110.70 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 208.255.110.70:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

H:\>ping nposolutions.com
Pinging nposolutions.com [208.255.110.70] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 208.255.110.70:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

Unless this is another external address? That CAN be pinged?

 

[Hemispheres]

Thanks for the reply, mlakrid. I'm not sure just what you're saying, though. The problem that I'm having is that, for some reason, my machine is relating the server name (npopower) to the external IP address. Other machines here in the office (all of them) use the same DNS servers, but, for some reason, I'm not getting sent to the right address.

-Dave

 

[kcnychief]

Probably won't do anything, but open the CMD line and type this...

ipconfig /flushdns [ENTER]
ipconfig /registerdns [ENTER]

Retry?

 

[Hemispheres]

Thanks, but no change.

 

[Hemispheres]

** I figured out what the problem is, and started a new thread.

 

[Hemispheres]

Windows XP not seeing hosts file

This is a renaming of my previous thread from earlier today. The specific problem that I'm having is that Windows simply isn't seeing the hosts file. It's in the correct location - c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. For some reason, though, it's being ignored. I checked the environment variables to see if the location was there, but it isn't. Is there a way to tell Windows where to find the Hosts file? Is there a way to turn the use of the Hosts file on and off?

Thanks,

-Dave

 

[Admiral Michael]

Re: Windows XP not seeing hosts file

Taken from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file

Windows XP SP2, and perhaps other versions, appears to ignore the hosts file if the "DNS Client" service is running. One workaround is to stop the DNS Client service using the Administrative Tools/Services icon in the Windows Control Panel. To preserve this setting across reboots ensure that the service is reconfigured to start manually. It is not known whether there are better ways to workaround this quirk.
This quirk has been confirmed to apply to XP Pro x64 (v2003) SP1.
This quirk has been confirmed not to apply to Windows Vista.

Also,

The hosts file is generally named "hosts" and is located in the following directories for each operating system:

* Linux and other Unix-like operating systems: /etc
* Windows 95/98/Me: %windir%\
* Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\ is the default location, which may be changed. The actual directory is determined by the Registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DataBasePath

 

[Hemispheres]

Re: Windows XP not seeing hosts file

Thanks, Michael. I actually just found this myself, and was coming in to post it. I turned off the DNS service as suggested, and it worked like a charm.

Thanks all,

-Dave

 

[kcnychief]

I have merged your threads, please don't start a new thread for the same issue.