Re: [cobalt-users] problems with Qube3 (was Macintosh, AppleShare IP Users)

["Gary Melendez" <gmelendez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rodolfo J. Paiz" <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [cobalt-users] problems with Qube3 (was Macintosh, AppleShare
IP Users)

[SNIP]

> And we have a winner! You have found your problem, and it is as I
described
> in the previous message: there is no reverse DNS at all, and so sendmail's
> query is timing out and making you wait. But there is a simple fix:
>
> There is a file called /etc/host.conf; if you read it, it says something
like
>
> order hosts,bind
>
> That means your server will first check the contents of the /etc/hosts
file
> for name<->number conversions, and if no answer is found then it'll ask
> bind (the DNS server). So, you need to ensure that the IP's on your
> internal network have entries in either bind or /etc/hosts.
>
> Since /etc/hosts is simpler and gets checked first anyway, you should add
> them here. Simply add lines like the following to /etc/hosts:
>
> 209.119.96.2    <tab>   sextant.bluestar.net    <tab>   sextant
>
> The first is an IP address, the second is the full name (including domain)
> of the machine, and the third is a nickname (usually just the hostname).
Do
> this for all IP's...
>
> 192.168.0.1             ip-0-1.internal.net             ip-0-1
> 192.168.0.2             ip-0-2.internal.net             ip-0-2
> 192.168.0.3             ip-0-3.internal.net             ip-0-3
> 192.168.0.4             ip-0-4.internal.net             ip-0-4
> 192.168.0.5             ip-0-5.internal.net             ip-0-5
> 192.168.0.6             ip-0-6.internal.net             ip-0-6
>
> ad infinitum. If you are using this address space as a Class B, I
> *strongly* suggest you do this in Excel, where you can autonumber and
> create the 65,536 lines you need in about 30 seconds, then export to
> notepad, then upload to server, cut/paste into /etc/hosts. Otherwise,
> well... you're going to be here for a while.
>
> I'd give 10:1 odds that your mail goes through blindingly fast from now
on.
> Until something else goes wrong, that is; something always does.

OK. I got all that. But, as I replied to Gerald who was also kind enough to
point me in the right direction, and before I try to implement this, I have
one other question: If I enter static IP addresses for all the client
machines on the Qube, doesn't that prohibit me from using DHCP to assign
their IP addresses? Or, does the IP address not need to resolve to the
machine's actual network name? That is, does the IP just need to be listed
in the hosts table?

> Touching on a comment made recently (not sure whether by you or someone
> else), which said "I sure hope Cobalt issues fixes for this and other
> issues soon," I'd like to suggest that, although Cobalt does need to
> improve, it is usually (a) beneficial and/or (b) educational to
investigate
> the crap out of anything you find. You'll either fix it yourself or learn
a
> lot while doing it. And some things *aren't* their fault.

I agree, and I was not the originator of that comment. If I don't KNOW
enough to figure out where a problem is, I'm certainly not going to blame
someone for it.

However, I did make a comment about not having these sorts of problems with
the old Qube 2, but that was a purely subjective opinion - as in it SEEMS to
me that I didn't have these sorts of issues with the Qube 2. Which is why I
asked if others were seeing the same sort of thing.

>
> Hope this helps...
>

It certainly does and your help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Gary