Problems with DNS name server in Fedora 16

[G.Wolfe Woodbury]

On 11/13/11 00:29, Michael Hannon wrote:
> Greetings.  I just installed Fedora 16 (x86_64) on my home computer today.
> Not an altogether pleasant experience so far, I must say.
>
> I've got one issue in particular that's really puzzling me.  I use my
> linux
> box as a nameserver for a few other computers at our house, just to save
> myself the trouble of copying /etc/hosts files.
>
> I've got a very simple DNS configuration that worked well in Fedora 15.  I
> added the statement:
>
>     controls {};
>
> to the end of /etc/named.conf to disable what appears to be a new feature
> (rndc).  Otherwise, everything is the same as in Fedora 15, so far as I'm
> aware.
>
> Here's an example of the puzzling thing:
>
>     $ ping compute-server
>     ping: unknown host compute-server
>
>     $ ssh compute-server
>     ssh: Could not resolve hostname compute-server: Name or service
> not known
>
>     $ host compute-server
>     compute-server.my.lan has address 192.168.1.72
>     $
>
> (I've made my Fedora box authoritative for the domain "my.lan". I get
> the same
> results if I use the FQDN in the above examples.)
>
> I.e., the "host" utility CAN resolve the name, as can the "dig"
> utility (not
> shown in the examples), but other utilities, such as "ping" and "ssh"
> cannot
> resolve the name.
>
> Perhaps even stranger, if I go to one of the other machines in our house,
> e.g.:
>
>     ssh 192.168.1.72
>
> the utilities such as "ping" and "ssh" on the remote system DO resolve our
> local names successfully, even though the remote system is using my
> Fedora box
> as the nameserver!
>
> If you can help, please do so.
Check the contents of /etc/resolv.conf on the main system.  It probably
isn't referencing itself
but whatever nameserver your ISP provides.  As an example, it should
probably look like:

    search my.lan
    nameserver 192.168.1.72
    nameserver <isp.dns.server>

Resolv.conf gets rewritten every time the net initializes, so you may
want to:
    chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf

to make it immutable. (Remember to chattr -i  if you nned to edit it later.)