Assigning names to machines local XP network.

[msch-prv]

I plan on expanding a small peer to peer computer network (Windows XP)
of 2 computers (Acer, HP). The computers are connected to a wireless
gateway and are able to talk to each other w/o problems.

To accomodate some applications (eg MySQL ODBC) that require a name /IP
address ; I modified the HOSTS file on both computers as follows:

127.0.0.1 localhost
#Acer:
192.168.1.33 acer.loc www.acer.loc
#HP:
192.168.1.34 hppav.loc www.hppav.loc

I can ping each machine from the other side via name and IP address.
Additionnally, net use seems to work. From Acer I can use 'net use *
\\192.168.1.34\www' to address the shared directory www of the HP
machine.

However, if I attempt to specifv a machine by name (eg. acer.loc) or
address in the MySQL ODBC setup menu, I get an error. The connection
error disappears when I replace 'acer.loc' with 'localhost'.

I presume the DNS configuration options are messed up (automatic
address). I would appreciate getting any hints on how to properly
configure the DNS for a wireless LAN. Many thanks in advance.

Marc

 

[Guest]

You shouldn't need a hosts file, just make sure the computers are given
appropriate names. My usual policy is to name them with a shortcode
indicating their location and IP address, for example SALES134

Main thing if your network is expanding is not to get into a situation where
any single change would require all computers to have their settings changed.
Hosts files are a prime example of such.

ALso, in a small network you don't need a domain section in the name. If the
domain section is there, it should be valid. Otherwise just use a hostname.

 

[msch-prv]

Ian,

Thanks for the feedback. Am I correct in understanding that there is no
need to configure the HOSTS file for a small LAN? How would I tell the
system to ping for a machine name (eg. ping machineXX)? Would you
simply enter 'ping SALES134' assuming that SALES134 is the computer
name? Could you perhaps clarify the command syntax to use in the DOS
cmd editor? Thanks.

Mark

 

[Chuck]

Ian,

Thanks for the feedback. Am I correct in understanding that there is no
need to configure the HOSTS file for a small LAN? How would I tell the
system to ping for a machine name (eg. ping machineXX)? Would you
simply enter 'ping SALES134' assuming that SALES134 is the computer
name? Could you perhaps clarify the command syntax to use in the DOS
cmd editor? Thanks.

Mark

Mark,

In most small LANs, Broadcast name resolution, or a variant of Broadcast, works
fine. This will use NetBT, so make sure that's enabled. And having done that,
"ping SALES134" should work. Read my article, please.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/address-resolution-on-lan.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/address-resolution-on-lan.html

 

[msch-prv]

Chuck,

Thanks for the comments. I read your articles (instructive site!) and
looked at MS article on the peer to peer issue (KB 903267). I did not
find those keys in the registry.

However to repeat my case: I can ping all computers by name and IP
address, but when I run 'ipconfig /all' the only thing I see are the
properites of the client on which the command is issued. In the TCP/IP
advanced menu, I just checked automatic adressing. Could this be the
reason why the computer names of the LAN are not listed? (Note that all
names and addresses are included in the HOSTS file.) My impression is
that pinging causes the HOSTS file to be read while ipconfig does not.

My goal is to be able to call up a server by name from a network
client.

Thanks for enlightening me.

Mark

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

Thanks for the comments. I read your articles (instructive site!) and
looked at MS article on the peer to peer issue (KB 903267). I did not
find those keys in the registry.

However to repeat my case: I can ping all computers by name and IP
address, but when I run 'ipconfig /all' the only thing I see are the
properites of the client on which the command is issued. In the TCP/IP
advanced menu, I just checked automatic adressing. Could this be the
reason why the computer names of the LAN are not listed? (Note that all
names and addresses are included in the HOSTS file.) My impression is
that pinging causes the HOSTS file to be read while ipconfig does not.

My goal is to be able to call up a server by name from a network
client.

Thanks for enlightening me.

Mark

Mark,

Please read my article about IPConfig. IPConfig displays IP properties of the
individual computer. It sounds like you are seeing a valid IPConfig log. Why
not post it (unmunged) for interpretation?
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/reading-ipconfig-and-diagnosing.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/reading-ipconfig-and-diagnosing.html

What is your actual problem?

 

[msch-prv]

Chuck,

Thanks for your feedback. I included listings of 'ipconfig /all' for
both machines. (The listings are in French. Hopefully you can make some
sense out of it; unfortunately, PC's in Switzerland are not shipped
with an English OS.)

Notes:
By comparing the ouput with the sample of your article, I noticed that
the node types are different: In my case, it appears either as 'unknown
(inconnu)' on the Acer and as 'hybride'(hybrid) on the HPPav. Also, the
DNS Suffix Search List has two different names (giuacer.loc and
giuhppav.loc) contrary to your example (pchuck.net)

Problem/Objective:
The goal is to allow network clients to share a central MySQL db.
(Currently, each client has a copy of the db and can access it locally
w/o problems.) To enable central db accessing, MySQL's MyODBC connector
must be configured by specifying a host name. The MyOBDC connector
works fine when I enter the local name ot the machine (ie for Acer:
localhost, giuacer.loc, or 192.168.1.33). However, it fails when I type
in the name/IP address of the other server (ie 'giuhppav.loc'. etc. on
the acer PC). So, my guess is that clients do not recognize the name of
the PC's connected on the network. (peer-to-peer networking).

Again, thanks for your comments. Your site has been bookmarked!

Mark

1. Listing Acer
Configuration IP de Windows
Nom de l'hôte . . . . . . . . . . : Acer2350
Suffixe DNS principal . . . . . . :
Type de nœud . . . . . . . . . . : Inconnu
Routage IP activé . . . . . . . . : Non
Proxy WINS activé . . . . . . . . : Non
Liste de recherche du suffixe DNS : giuacer.loc

Carte Ethernet Connexion au réseau local:
Statut du média . . . . . . . . . : Média déconnecté
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast
Ethernet NIC
Adresse physique . . . . . . . . .: 00-0F-B0-7C-F0-92

Carte Ethernet Wireless LAN:
Suffixe DNS propre à la connexion :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : AMIT 802.11 g Wireless LAN PC Card
Adresse physique . . . . . . . . .: 00-50-18-32-3B-88
DHCP activé. . . . . . . . . . . : Oui
Configuration automatique activée . . . . : Oui
Adresse IP. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.33
Masque de sous-réseau . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Passerelle par défaut . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Serveur DHCP. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Serveurs DNS . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Bail obtenu . . . . . . . . . . . : lundi, 1. mai 2006 07:35:41
Bail expirant . . . . . . . . . . : jeudi, 4. mai 2006 07:35:41

2. Listing HPPav:

Configuration IP de Windows
Nom de l'hôte . . . . . . . . . . : HP-Pavilion3310
Suffixe DNS principal . . . . . . :
Type de nœud . . . . . . . . . . : Hybride
Routage IP activé . . . . . . . . : Non
Proxy WINS activé . . . . . . . . : Non
Liste de recherche du suffixe DNS : giuhppav.loc

Carte Ethernet Connexion au réseau local:
Statut du média . . . . . . . . . : Média déconnecté
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast
Ethernet NIC
Adresse physique . . . . . . . . .: 00-13-D3-D6-7A-3B

Carte Ethernet Connexion réseau sans fil:
Suffixe DNS propre à la connexion :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link AirPlus DWL-520+ Wireless
PCI Adapter
Adresse physique . . . . . . . . .: 00-13-46-13-75-86
DHCP activé. . . . . . . . . . . : Oui
Configuration automatique activée . . . . : Oui
Adresse IP. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.34
Masque de sous-réseau . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Passerelle par défaut . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Serveur DHCP. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Serveurs DNS . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Bail obtenu . . . . . . . . . . . : lundi, 1. mai 2006 08:43:22
Bail expirant . . . . . . . . . . : jeudi, 4. mai 2006 08:43:22

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

Thanks for your feedback. I included listings of 'ipconfig /all' for
both machines. (The listings are in French. Hopefully you can make some
sense out of it; unfortunately, PC's in Switzerland are not shipped
with an English OS.)

Notes:
By comparing the ouput with the sample of your article, I noticed that
the node types are different: In my case, it appears either as 'unknown
(inconnu)' on the Acer and as 'hybride'(hybrid) on the HPPav. Also, the
DNS Suffix Search List has two different names (giuacer.loc and
giuhppav.loc) contrary to your example (pchuck.net)

Problem/Objective:
The goal is to allow network clients to share a central MySQL db.
(Currently, each client has a copy of the db and can access it locally
w/o problems.) To enable central db accessing, MySQL's MyODBC connector
must be configured by specifying a host name. The MyOBDC connector
works fine when I enter the local name ot the machine (ie for Acer:
localhost, giuacer.loc, or 192.168.1.33). However, it fails when I type
in the name/IP address of the other server (ie 'giuhppav.loc'. etc. on
the acer PC). So, my guess is that clients do not recognize the name of
the PC's connected on the network. (peer-to-peer networking).

Mark,

Node Types "Hybrid" and "Unknown" are perfectly acceptable for broadcast
resolution.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/address-resolution-on-lan.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/address-resolution-on-lan.html

But Node Type defines name resolution used for Windows Networking, ie file /
printer sharing. Maybe MySQL only uses DNS / Hosts, making your earlier
attempts valid after all.

Did you try "Acer2350.giuacer.loc" or "HP-Pavilion3310.giuhppav.loc"? The
"giuacer.loc" is a DNS suffix. Generally, the DNS suffix is common across all
computers in the domain, not unique to each one. In my example, "pchuck.net"
would probably be better off as "pchuck.local" or "pchuck.loc" since
"pchuck.net" is not yet a registered domain. But it's "pchuck.net", not
"pchuck1.net", making my computer "pchuck1.pchuck.net".

What make and model router do you have? Does it provide a true DNS server, or
does it simply relay DNS requests to an external (public) server? If the
latter, name resolutions using "Acer2350.giuacer.loc" shouldn't be expected to
work. DNS based name resolution requires a DNS server or Hosts file entry, and
the DNS server has to be local to your domain, not public.

Maybe this question would be better off researched in a mysql forum, say
"comp.databases.mysql"?
<http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.mysql>
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.mysql

 

[msch-prv]

Chuck,

Thanks for your insightful comments. The wireless LAN gateway is a
Zyxel Prestige 600 model (660HW-61). For your information, I have
included a dumping of the router's configuration.

I rewrote the HOSTS defintions as follows:
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.33 acer2355.loc
192.168.1.34 hppav3310.loc

Apparently, DNS seems to be working since URL addresses are forwarded
to the proper machine on the network. For example, on the Acer machine,
I can call up an index.html file located on the HP by typing its URL
(eg. http://hppav3310.loc/apps/). The same holds true for the HP
client. So, there must be something wrong with MySQL ODBC. I'll post a
message to the NG's you mentioned.

Additional question: Could you point me to some tutorials that will
explain in simple terms the basics of configuring a small LAN network.
I am especially interested to understand the rationales behind Windows'
networking selections. I have been googling around for infos, but
sifting through the avalanche of results is unfortunately taking too
much time.

Again many thanks for helping me out.

Mark

Zyxel SOutput:

System Status

System Name:
ZyNOS F/W Version: V3.40(PE.9) | 05/13/2005
DSL FW Version:TI AR7 03.02.06.00
Standard:ADSL_G.dmt

WAN Information

IP Address:83.181.106.143
IP Subnet Mask:255.255.255.255
Default Gateway:MyISP
VPI/VCI:8/ 35

LAN Information

MAC Address:00:13:49:40:fc:76
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
IP Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP: Server
DHCP Start IP: 192.168.1.33
DHCP Pool Size: 32

WLAN Information

ESSID:Giubiasco
Channel: 6
WEP: 64-bit WEP

-----------------------------------
DHCP Table

Host Name IP Address MAC Address
Acer2350 192.168.1.33 00-50-18-32-3B-88
HP-Pavilion3310 192.168.1.34 00-13-46-13-75-86

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

Thanks for your insightful comments. The wireless LAN gateway is a
Zyxel Prestige 600 model (660HW-61). For your information, I have
included a dumping of the router's configuration.

I rewrote the HOSTS defintions as follows:
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.33 acer2355.loc
192.168.1.34 hppav3310.loc

Apparently, DNS seems to be working since URL addresses are forwarded
to the proper machine on the network. For example, on the Acer machine,
I can call up an index.html file located on the HP by typing its URL
(eg. http://hppav3310.loc/apps/). The same holds true for the HP
client. So, there must be something wrong with MySQL ODBC. I'll post a
message to the NG's you mentioned.

Additional question: Could you point me to some tutorials that will
explain in simple terms the basics of configuring a small LAN network.
I am especially interested to understand the rationales behind Windows'
networking selections. I have been googling around for infos, but
sifting through the avalanche of results is unfortunately taking too
much time.

Again many thanks for helping me out.

Mark

Mark,

My pleasure. I enjoy challenges like yours.

Ping hppav3310, as "ping hppav3310". Which of the following do you get back?
# Pinging hppav3310.hppav3310.loc [192.168.1.34] with 32 bytes of data:, or
# Pinging hppav3310 [192.168.1.34] with 32 bytes of data: ?
That's the definitive test whether you're using DNS or NetBT based name
resolution, respectively.

WRT tutorials, start with my initial article, which identifies some basic
issues. There are links to several other websites from there, for those who
like graphical instruction.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/08/networking-your-computers.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/08/networking-your-computers.html

I am here learning like you, I just learn by instructing. If there's a question
that my articles don't answer, ask it here. I'll probably roll the answer, that
I give to you, into one of my articles. Or I'll point you towards another
article, then revise the article that should contain the link.

What Windows' networking selections interest you? Lots of them interest me.
;-)

 

[msch-prv]

Chuck,

Thanks for sticking around. Running 'ping hppav3310' yields no response
(no host found) while 'ping hppav3310.loc' returns the usual 32 byte
msg.

I have been experimenting a little bit with my network settings
(disabling the firewall to check whether it does obstruct port access,
etc. ). I believe the problem is most probably related to MySQL's
configuration, since the Apache servers on each machine recognize the
HOSTS addresses (http://acer2355.loc and http://hpppav3350.loc) on
either client.

For instance, typing in Acer's cmd window (IP address 192.168.1.33)
mysql -h192.168.1.33 -u<user_id> -p<passwrd>
triggers the usual MySQL prompt, while
mysql -h192.168.1.34 -u<user_id> -p<passwrd>
yields the error msg: 'ERROR 1130: Host 'acer23555' is not allowed to
connect to this MySQL server'. I'll try to seek some advice from the
MySQL NG's.

Articles: I guess I am more inclined towards understanding the meaning
of the network settings than by abstract principles. For instance, I'd
be interested to understand the purpose of adding NetBIOS on top of
TCP/IP (why, when, pros/cons, etc.), using automated DNS vs manual
addresses, disabling ports on firewalls, meaning of Windows' advanced
TCP/IP menus (eg. DNS on the machine vs DNS on the gateway,. combining
DNS/WINS, ..) , etc. To summarize, I am looking for short notes that
explain the essentials of network setups and outline rationales for
the principles underlying these settings. Links to advanced resources
would be a definitive plus.

Again many thanks for taking the time to advise newbies like me,

Marc

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

Thanks for sticking around. Running 'ping hppav3310' yields no response
(no host found) while 'ping hppav3310.loc' returns the usual 32 byte
msg.

I have been experimenting a little bit with my network settings
(disabling the firewall to check whether it does obstruct port access,
etc. ). I believe the problem is most probably related to MySQL's
configuration, since the Apache servers on each machine recognize the
HOSTS addresses (http://acer2355.loc and http://hpppav3350.loc) on
either client.

For instance, typing in Acer's cmd window (IP address 192.168.1.33)
mysql -h192.168.1.33 -u<user_id> -p<passwrd>
triggers the usual MySQL prompt, while
mysql -h192.168.1.34 -u<user_id> -p<passwrd>
yields the error msg: 'ERROR 1130: Host 'acer23555' is not allowed to
connect to this MySQL server'. I'll try to seek some advice from the
MySQL NG's.

Articles: I guess I am more inclined towards understanding the meaning
of the network settings than by abstract principles. For instance, I'd
be interested to understand the purpose of adding NetBIOS on top of
TCP/IP (why, when, pros/cons, etc.), using automated DNS vs manual
addresses, disabling ports on firewalls, meaning of Windows' advanced
TCP/IP menus (eg. DNS on the machine vs DNS on the gateway,. combining
DNS/WINS, ..) , etc. To summarize, I am looking for short notes that
explain the essentials of network setups and outline rationales for
the principles underlying these settings. Links to advanced resources
would be a definitive plus.

Again many thanks for taking the time to advise newbies like me,

Marc

OK, Marc,

It sounds like you are using DNS name resolution.

I'm not sure what articles would summarise the questions that you've implied
here, or at least all of them. As an example, I discuss NetBT vs other
transports:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/07/windows-networking-and-alternate.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/07/windows-networking-and-alternate.html

To understand the need for NetBT, you have to start by understanding the OSI
Network model:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model

NetBT is simply another component in the network stack, in Windows Networking.
Answering simply "Why NetBT?" could take days.

If you'll ask specific questions, about what concerns you, I'll try and answer
with what I know. Maybe others will answer too. But we can't explain anything
without hearing the questions, and simply asking "Why" is not a good way to ask
a question. My article linked above will give you a start with NetBT. Try and
ask more questions after reading it.