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Name resolution problem

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11 replies

by craig it mangaer 2 views

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I have a machine that is having intermittent problems resolving names both internally and externally. Even using WINS and an LMHOSTS file it is taking up to two to three minutes to resolve a server name. It has the same problem resolving Internet names. Local names are caching properly, the WINS server shows up correctly as does the DNS server in WINIPCFG. Any solutions short of rebuilding the machine from scratch?? The network card does not appear to be the problem as mapped drives come up without a problem as well as pinging by IP address.

11 replies

by paidhima

I would try disabling both the WINS and LMHOSTS file. I found disabling them can speed up name resolution a little.

by craig it mangaer

How would that help resolve an internal name? And since the other 80 computers are not having the same problem there is obviously a problem with the software.

by dalejrfan

Is the LMHOSTS file local? IF so, make sure there are no bogus entries or other crap that's not needed in there. When doing a name resolution, the LMHOSTS file is read from left to right, starting at the top. If there is bogus info. listed, it will read through all of that before it gets to the entry you are trying to resolve.

by rkelly

This could well be a dns issue - is the DNS server that the machine points to setup to forward queries to the web? Does the machine have the correct dns domain name in it's ip properties (if not it could do a recursive lookup through the entire DNS system).

To rectify the problem I would check if it has problems if the DNS server IP Address is removed - the timeout for hostname queries is impressively large so it could well be your problem, I recently came across a Windows 2000 Server that was taking 25 minutes to resolve a host name due to incorrect DNS Settings (it was actually at British Telecom).

The order of name resolution on Windows is

Local Host Name
Local Cache
DNS
Hosts
Wins
Broadcast
Lmhosts

so incorrect hosts/lmhosts shoudln't case any issues.

by lister of smeg

I would try this....

DNS takes ages to timeout if it can't find the address. I would expect network problems between the machine and the DNS server.

Leave WINS in as this only takes a view ms to timeout if it can't find the address.
Consider using static mappings in WINS server on the Winnt4 Server for server names and domain names.

Use arp command from cmd prompt on the workstation

to view the list of cached addresses type
arp -a

to add a static address type
arp -s

I make batch files that run on bootup of the machines on my network so they statically map all the required IP addresses.

give us a shout if you're still stuck

Jamerson

by lister of smeg

I would try this....

DNS takes ages to timeout if it can't find the address. I would expect network problems between the machine and the DNS server.

Leave WINS in as this only takes a view ms to timeout if it can't find the address.
Consider using static mappings in WINS server on the Winnt4 Server for server names and domain names.

Use arp command from cmd prompt on the workstation

to view the list of cached addresses type
arp -a

to add a static address type
arp -s

I make batch files that run on bootup of the machines on my network so they statically map all the required IP addresses.

give us a shout if you're still stuck

Jamerson

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