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Asked: 2011-01-25 02:02:17 +0800 CST

Why can I ping via IP address but not hostname?

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I have a media/file server running Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, connected via cable directly to a DSL router, which also acts as a network switch.

The router uses DHCP to dynamically assign IP addresses. I'd like to keep it as such, if possible. I have friends come in and it's easier for them to connect.

From my desktop (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) I connect via wireless to the router. I can ping the media server and ssh into it using it's IP, but it fails when I use the hostname.

When I ping and ssh wirelessly from my Netbook (Crunchbang Linux), it strangely enough works using the media server's hostname.

That said, I believe it may not be a router configuration issue, but something on my desktop I have to configure.

I tried turning off the firewall, on both sides (sudo ufw enable/disable).

What else can I check or try? Thanks :-)

networking

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Try sudo apt-get install winbind

    You probably want to add 'wins' where it says "hosts:" in /etc/nsswitch.conf

    • 8

  2. You can also sudo apt install samba

    This has an auxillary result of making the hostname available across the LAN.

    Instructions on ubuntu.com

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  3. If you can set up the machines to receive the same IP address every time, for example by using the MAC address in the router, or if you can set up static addressing on each machine, then you can create a hosts file that will enable the functionality.

    # sample /etc/hosts
#
127.0.0.1   localhost.localdomain   localhost
::1     localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

192.168.1.1 router.example.com  router
192.168.1.201   machine1.example.com    machine1
192.168.1.202   machine2.example.com    machine2
192.168.1.203   machine3.example.com    machine3
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  4. Using hostnames requires the name service resolution to be properly setup, since you are using DHCP that should be automatically managed by your router. Check /etc/resolv.conf (it contains the DNS configuration).

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