Client DNS lookup order

  • Thread starter Thread starter Enrique Gonzales
  • Start date Start date
E

Enrique Gonzales

Does anyone know of a way to change the way XP/2000 does
DNS lookups similiar to the way you can change netbios
lookups by changing the node type (i.e. h-node, b-node)?
I would like the client to look at the hosts file first
then a DNS server lookup.

Thanks,

-Henry
 
In
Enrique Gonzales said:
Does anyone know of a way to change the way XP/2000 does
DNS lookups similiar to the way you can change netbios
lookups by changing the node type (i.e. h-node, b-node)?
I would like the client to look at the hosts file first
then a DNS server lookup.

Thanks,

-Henry
Click to expand...

Why would you want to use hosts files when DNS is much faster and reliable?
There is nothing you can do with a hosts file that cannot be done with DNS
and there is a lot more you can do with DNS than a hosts file.
 
OK, sorry I made a mistake. Here's the deal. The problem
is that the client does a HOSTS file loookup first then it
does a dns server lookup next. Here is the reasoning why
I want to change this.

Problem is that we have internal and external dns
servers. On our internal server we have a dns entry for
our email server with the private ip address so that the
users can connect using the email client software using a
domain name for the email server. On our external server
we do not have an entry for or email server due to
security reasons. To get around this, we can add an entry
in the hosts file for the email server. Now here in lies
the problem. When the laptop users comes back to the
office the user will attempt to connect to the email
server but when it does a name lookup for the email server
it will try connecting to the email server using the
external address due to the HOSTS file.

So basically if we change the lookup order to the DNS
server first this would resolve the problem because when
the user is outside it will fail the dns server lookup and
then fall back to the HOSTS file. At that point it will
connect using the external IP address. But when the user
is internal it will get the internal address for the email
server from the internal dns server.

I hope this clears things up.
 
In
Henry Gonzales said:
OK, sorry I made a mistake. Here's the deal. The problem
is that the client does a HOSTS file loookup first then it
does a dns server lookup next. Here is the reasoning why
I want to change this.

Problem is that we have internal and external dns
servers. On our internal server we have a dns entry for
our email server with the private ip address so that the
users can connect using the email client software using a
domain name for the email server. On our external server
we do not have an entry for or email server due to
security reasons. To get around this, we can add an entry
in the hosts file for the email server. Now here in lies
the problem. When the laptop users comes back to the
office the user will attempt to connect to the email
server but when it does a name lookup for the email server
it will try connecting to the email server using the
external address due to the HOSTS file.

So basically if we change the lookup order to the DNS
server first this would resolve the problem because when
the user is outside it will fail the dns server lookup and
then fall back to the HOSTS file. At that point it will
connect using the external IP address. But when the user
is internal it will get the internal address for the email
server from the internal dns server.

I hope this clears things up.
Click to expand...
I get your point I just don't know of any way to do it the way you want.
If the mail server does not have a public host how does it get its mail?
If there is a way to connect to the mail server from the outside by IP
address, not having a host to point to it is only giving you a false sense
of security.
It only makes it hard for laptop users. The spammers will still make a try
to you any way because they have programs that scan IPs for open ports and
servers.
 
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