At 06:51 AM 10/15/02 , Terry Lemons wrote:

You might also need to do a 'ping <client>' on the client and the backup
server.  nslookup will interrogate name server services (like DNS), but
doesn't (I believe) look at the local HOSTS file.  Since this local HOSTS
file is checked (on all/most systems) first, you need to make sure you
don't have an entry you don't want lurking in there.

You're right.  At least on most Unix machines, nslookup queries the
resolver directly, ignoring the hosts file.

However, ping (and almost every other network-aware program) call the
system routine "gethostbyname(3N)", which may or may not look at the hosts
file (and in either order of DNS and HOSTS first).  In Solaris, for
example, that is controlled by "/etc/nsswitch.conf".

I've written a little C program that basically calls gethostbyname and
displays the results so you can see what a program would see, not what
nslookup will show you.  It has resolved many confusions.

If there's any interest, I could post the program or make Solaris and
FreeBSD packages available on my FTP site.


        -crl
--
Chad R. Larson (CRL22)    chad AT eldocomp DOT com
  Eldorado Computing, Inc.   602-604-3100
     5353 North 16th Street, Suite 400
       Phoenix, Arizona   85016-3228

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