Fedora name resolution

siringo

Got a problem with Fedora v28 w/station unable to resolve names.

It has valid IP address, DNS addresses and can ping by IP address but can't resolve names or FQDNs.

The NIC icon up top right hand corner has a question mark over it.

Anyone have any ideas?

I'm new to Linux so will require spoon feeding.

Obsolesce

is it a .local domain?

scottalanmiller

Welcome to Linux.

Are you maybe not using DHCP?

scottalanmiller

Same command as on Windows...

nslookup sitename

That'll tell us what it is "doing."

Obsolesce

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

siringo

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

is it a .local domain?

No, I nuked that localhost.localdomain and changed it to just a hostname, hpfed.

siringo

@scottalanmiller said in Fedora name resolution:

Welcome to Linux.

Are you maybe not using DHCP?

No I'm using DHCP.

black3dynamite

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

siringo

@scottalanmiller said in Fedora name resolution:

Same command as on Windows...
nslookup sitename
That'll tell us what it is "doing."

If I go "nslookup hostname" I get told that there is no entry for 'hostname' in DNS which looks correct.

scottalanmiller

Your DNS settings are kept in a file called /etc/resolv.conf, you'll want it to look something like this...

nameserver 1.1.1.1
nameserver 1.0.0.1

Obsolesce

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

I wasn't aware of that option.

Can you tell me why one solution is better than the other or why one is worse than the other?

Obsolesce

@scottalanmiller said in Fedora name resolution:

Your DNS settings are kept in a file called /etc/resolv.conf, you'll want it to look something like this...
nameserver 1.1.1.1
nameserver 1.0.0.1

If he has to do that something is wrong. Otherwise, won't he need to change that every time he connects to a different LAN?

I ran in to that issue before. A reboot solved it, rather than having to manually enter nameservers.

scottalanmiller

@siringo said in Fedora name resolution:

@scottalanmiller said in Fedora name resolution:
Same command as on Windows...
nslookup sitename
That'll tell us what it is "doing."
If I go "nslookup hostname" I get told that there is no entry for 'hostname' in DNS which looks correct.

You are doing hostname, not FQDN?

scottalanmiller

If searching for a hostname, do you have a "search" option in /etc/resolv.conf ?

stacksofplates

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

I wasn't aware of that option.

Can you tell me why one solution is better than the other or why one is worse than the other?

nsswitch defines the default order to look for information. Thats where you define user, group, sudo, DNS, etc lookups.

stacksofplates

A couple things. As @scottalanmiller pointed out, make sure to check your /etc/resolve.conf. That gives you the DNS servers and search domain to query. If all of that lines up, then I would check your /etc/nsswitch.conf file and make sure dns is after files.

black3dynamite

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

I wasn't aware of that option.

Can you tell me why one solution is better than the other or why one is worse than the other?

Has long as dns is after files in the hosts: section in nsswitch.conf file, utilities like nslookup should work correctly.

black3dynamite

@stacksofplates said in Fedora name resolution:

A couple things. As @scottalanmiller pointed out, make sure to check your /etc/resolve.conf. That gives you the DNS servers and search domain to query. If all of that lines up, then I would check your /etc/nsswitch.conf file and make sure dns is after files.

I notice with a clean install of Fedora 28, the nsswitch.conf is auto created and manage by authselect instead authconfig.
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/AuthselectAsDefault

The settings in the nsswitch.conf file is different too.

# Generated by authselect on Fri May 11 18:52:54 2018
# Do not modify this file manually.

passwd:      sss files systemd
group:       sss files systemd
netgroup:   sss files
automount:  sss files
services:   sss files
sudoers:    files

shadow:     files
ethers:     files
netmasks:   files
networks:   files
protocols:  files
rpc:        files
hosts:      files dns myhostname

aliases:    files nisplus
bootparams: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
publickey:  nisplus
~

By default the order for hosts is now files, dns, myhostname instead of hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname from the previous Fedora releases.

Obsolesce

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

I wasn't aware of that option.

Can you tell me why one solution is better than the other or why one is worse than the other?

Has long as dns is after files in the hosts: section in nsswitch.conf file, utilities like nslookup should work correctly.

Un-commenting the .local line in the other file seems to do the job just fine. Still not seeing any advantages to doing it the other way, or disadvantages to keep doing it how I am.

black3dynamite

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

@black3dynamite said in Fedora name resolution:

@obsolesce said in Fedora name resolution:

If it's a .local domain, edit the avahi-daemon.conf file:

Un-comment the following line, and add a . (dot) infront of local:

domain-name=.local

Then restart network or reboot.

Why not edit /etc/nsswitch.conf instead?
https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/question/90486/cannot-resolve-local-domain-name-on-fedora-23/?answer=90625#post-id-90625

Change...
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname

To...
hosts: files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] myhostname

I wasn't aware of that option.

Can you tell me why one solution is better than the other or why one is worse than the other?

Has long as dns is after files in the hosts: section in nsswitch.conf file, utilities like nslookup should work correctly.

Un-commenting the .local line in the other file seems to do the job just fine. Still not seeing any advantages to doing it the other way, or disadvantages to keep doing it how I am.

Only disadvantage or more of an inconvenience that I can see, is that you would have to keep changing the domain name because of each network uses a different domain like .local, .lan, or .home.

But I don't see anything wrong with un-commenting domain-name=local