Hostname resolution issues

[Francois_Lamour]

Hi all,

I'm running into a strange issue where hostname resolution is failing from within the guess OS (XP SP3), host is running WS 7.1.1 on Ubuntu 10.04.

Details from within the guess

• nslookup returns a valid IP address

• the IP addresses returned can be ping'ed

• the same hostname used in the nslookup is not resolvable

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>nslookup www.google.com

• Can't find server name for address 75.154.133.68: Non-existent domain

• Can't find server name for address 75.154.133.100: Non-existent domain

• Default servers are not available

Server: UnKnown

Address: 75.154.133.68

Non-authoritative answer:

Name: www.l.google.com

Addresses: 74.125.127.99, 74.125.127.104, 74.125.127.103, 74.125.127.147

74.125.127.106, 74.125.127.105

Aliases: www.google.com

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ping 74.125.127.99

Pinging 74.125.127.99 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.127.99: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=54

Reply from 74.125.127.99: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 74.125.127.99:

Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 30ms, Average = 30ms

Control-C

^C

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ping www.google.com

Ping request could not find host www.google.com. Please check the name and try again.

It looks like I'm running into the same issue described in the thread , but the guy ended up installing Vista. I can't. I must get this fixed.

I tried re-installing vmware tools, ipconfig /flushdns, /release, /renew, restarting "DNS Services", the whole shebang.

NAT or Bridged, same result.

No indication in Windows Event viewer.

hostfile is clean

Windows firewall is turned off

All services are started

The VM got created using VMware Converter, from a laptop with Safeboot encryption software. After the vm'ization, I uninstalled Safeboot and the VM is working like a charm, except this. Not very useful if you can't connect anywhere.

I can get Google's website to respond an HTTP 303 error if I send "GET /" in "telnet 74.125.127.99 80", so network-wise, it is working. Name resolution is not.

Any clues?

[louyo]

>>Any clues?

Will it resolve using an entry in the hosts file?

What do you get from ipconfig/all on guest and ifconfig -a on host?

What DNS server do you get with nslookup on the host?

Is the laptop still on the network and does it have the same MAC address as the guest? (although I wouldn't that matters with NAT)

You might also try entering a static DNS server in the Guest for test purposes, like 8.8.8.8 (google's public DNS server), see what you get from nslookup www.google.com with that.

Lou

[Francois_Lamour]

Will it resolve using an entry in the hosts file?

No. Really odd.

What do you get from ipconfig/all on guest and ifconfig -a on host?

Guess:

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : flamoureux-l
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : corp.emc.com
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : corp.emc.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-EB-BC-C7

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-EB-BC-D1
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.175.108
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.175.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.175.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 75.154.133.68
                                            75.154.133.100
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, September 02, 2010 6:11:57 PM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, September 03, 2010 6:11:57 PM

Host:

lamouf@flamoureux-l2:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1c:23:48:ce:a5  
          inet addr:192.168.175.100  Bcast:192.168.175.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21c:23ff:fe48:cea5/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:18265 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:13045 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:6465541 (6.4 MB)  TX bytes:2479341 (2.4 MB)
          Interrupt:17 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1f:3a:4a:2b:8d  
          inet addr:192.168.175.105  Bcast:192.168.175.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21f:3aff:fe4a:2b8d/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:10398 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:22123
          TX packets:3245 errors:13 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:3358512 (3.3 MB)  TX bytes:451834 (451.8 KB)
          Interrupt:17 Base address:0xc000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:2886 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2886 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:175370 (175.3 KB)  TX bytes:175370 (175.3 KB)

vmnet1    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:01  
          inet addr:192.168.60.1  Bcast:192.168.60.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:35 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vmnet8    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:08  
          inet addr:192.168.250.1  Bcast:192.168.250.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fec0:8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:161 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:34 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

What DNS server do you get with nslookup on the host?

lamouf@flamoureux-l2:~$ cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 75.154.133.68
nameserver 75.154.133.100
nameserver 75.154.133.68
# NOTE: the libc resolver may not support more than 3 nameservers.
# The nameservers listed below may not be recognized.
nameserver 75.154.133.100

Is the laptop still on the network and does it have the same MAC address as the guest? (although I wouldn't that matters with NAT)

Yes and No

You might also try entering a static DNS server in the Guest for test purposes, like 8.8.8.8 (google's public DNS server), see what you get from nslookup www.google.com with that.

If I change the DNS server on the host to be 8.8.8.8, I get the same problem and the following nslookup output:

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>nslookup
Default Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address:  8.8.8.8
> www.google.com
Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address:  8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    www.l.google.com
Addresses:  74.125.127.99, 74.125.127.147, 74.125.127.103, 74.125.127.105
          74.125.127.106, 74.125.127.104
Aliases:  www.google.com
C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ipconfig /flushdns

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>nslookup www.google.com
Server:  google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address:  8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    www.l.google.com
Addresses:  74.125.127.99, 74.125.127.147, 74.125.127.103, 74.125.127.105
          74.125.127.106, 74.125.127.104
Aliases:  www.google.com


C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ping 74.125.127.99

Pinging 74.125.127.99 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.127.99: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=54
Reply from 74.125.127.99: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 74.125.127.99:
    Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 30ms, Average = 30ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Documents and Settings\lamouf.CORP>ping www.google.com
Ping request could not find host www.google.com. Please check the name and try again.

[louyo]

>>Really odd.

Unfortunately, I can only agree with you. No other ideas, although you might look in device manager and see if all looks OK with the NIC.

Have you tried installing a VM of XP from scratch?

Lou

[Francois_Lamour]

Not on this same host, but on a different Ubuntu host yes. It was not running WS 7.1.1 when I installed it however. No reason that this doesn't work. You think it's a VM problem or just a network problem? I've never seen such network problem however, which is why I started posting this here.

[louyo]

I think it is a VM problem. FWIIW: I am running several XP and W7 VM's on Ubuntu (9.10) host and have not seen that problem. I do not run any VM's made from real machines, all mine are installs or copies from another host. That is why I asked about installing from CD. I am not sure what the risks are, but I think I would make a copy of the VM files, then remove the NIC and install a "new" one. I have, however, never done that.

Lou

[Francois_Lamour]

I tried a couple of things so far without any luck

• Disabled IPv6 in both the host and guess

• Tried all solution mentioned in here

• replacing dnsapi.dll and dnsrslvr.dll from Windows/System32 folder

• the MS hotfixes

• Uninstalling the network devices from the Device Manager

• Uninstalled SP3

• Re-installed SP3

• Stopped the VM, removed the virtual NIC, booted in safe mode, removed any hidden network adapter from Device Manager, restarted with a new virtual NIC

Note : I copied a guess XP that was known to work on a Windows Server 2003 host, and this copy works like a charm. So I know the host is correct. It might be in the Converter process, as right when I boot the VM initially right after conversion (I kept an original copy which I won't touch), I get the problem. Now I'm trying to get a case opened with VMware to get some more help on that.

More odd facts:

• In the same NAT subnet, I started that working VM and I'm able to access the problematic VM, but the other way around it also does not work ( nbtstat -a shows host not found )

[Francois_Lamour]

Ok, "Good News"...

When I virtualized my laptop running XP, I used VMware Converter and created it on a network share, which I kept a copy of the VM untouched. I then plugged in my new larger HD in my laptop, installed Ubuntu & VMware, and copied the VM from the network share to my laptop. So when starting up the VM, it was its first boot since its virtualization, so there are lots of things happening: XP detects new hardware & all, VMware Tools installs itself, lots of reboots, etc. This was all normal stuff and I ended up with the problem described above.

I tried re-copying the fresh VM back to try a second initial boot. Same problem. So yesterday from a different box running Windows 2003 SP2 & VMware, I booted up a copy of my untouched VM so that the initial boot occurred on that different box. No problems at all !!! So shutdown of the VM after all the re-configurations & reboots, copy this initialized VM to my laptop, and voilà! Network is working fine.

So I think the culprit is the re-configuration process during the initial boot after virtualization when it happened on the laptop. So who's at fault? XP? VMware? Ubuntu? I have no idea and I don't care but I can reproduce it anytime for anyone interested in investigating this issue.

But for now, case closed.

Thanks anyway louyo.