Re: Name resolution on Debian/Windows network

[Jeffrey Barish <jeffbarish@starband.net>]

Haim Ashkenazi wrote:

> Jeffrey Barish wrote:
> 
>> I have 3 computers on my home network.  The Windows machines are
>> connected to each other using ICS.  I can ping one Windows machine
>> from another Windows machine simply by naming the destination:
>> 
>> ping windowsB
>> 
>> from machine windowsA will elicit a response.  I can also ping my
>> Linux machine from a Windows machine by name:
>> 
>> ping linuxA
>> 
>> from machine windowsA will elicit a response.  However, I cannot ping
>> one of the Windows machines by name from the Linux machine, only by
>> IP
>> number.  I get the message 'unknown host windowsA.'  I am using DHCP
>> to assign IP numbers on the network, so it is important that I be
>> able to
>> reach machines by name as the IP numbers change.  I'm not even sure
>> where to start looking to resolve this problem, so any guidance would
>> be appreciated.
> if your dhcp server is the linux, you can use a package like dhcp-dns
> or something similar (depending on what dns server you're using).
> 
> Bye
> --
> Haim

Alas, the DHCP server is one of the Windows machines.  Funny thing is,
I'm not even sure which one -- how would one know?  I suspect that it's
the Windows NT machine (the other is Windows 98).  Clearly, some
software somewhere in Windows-land is resolving the names for the
Windows machines.  Why doesn't it do the same for the Linux machine? 
What is the software that does it?  How can I figure out where it
resides?

Perhaps I should make the linux machine the DHCP server.  However, I
hate fiddling with network settings in Windows-land as that portion of
the network is working fine.

-- 
Jeffrey Barish