reverse nslookup fails for single machine

Question

I have a computer on a windows Active Directory network for which reverse dns lookup fails. It doesn't matter which machine runs the lookup. The problem computer is a debian vm on a windows server 2003 host.

>nslookup wiki.dept
Server:  primary.internal.domain.org
Address:  192.111.222.44

Name:    wiki.dept.internal.domain.org
Address:  192.111.111.185


>nslookup 192.111.111.185
Server:  primary.internal.domain.org
Address:  192.111.222.44

*** primary.internal.domain.org can't find 192.111.111.185: Non-existent domain

Contents of /etc/resolv.conf on the debian guest:

nameserver 192.111.111.244
nameserver 192.111.222.44
search internal.domain.org

What is wrong? how do I get ip-to-name resolution to work for this machine? Thank you.

Try `nslookup 185.111.111.192.in-addr.arpa`. If that works, well, your nslookup isn't very smart :) — Bill Weiss, Feb 23 '10 at 20:20

Warner · Answer 1 · 2010-02-25T18:45:39.447

3

Do you have a reverse (PTR) zone created? Is 192.168.111.222.44 a Windows DNS?

You will need to specify the reverse record for 192.111.111.185 in some way.

Edit 1

Windows registers DNS. You could join your Linux workstation to the domain using SAMBA and register DNS, but that involves varying degrees of complication. The command, from what I understand to register DNS with SAMBA is:

net ads dns register

Being as that you are not the administrator and the depth of the question you're asking, I'd suggest continuing this dialog with the administrator.

Depending upon what you are looking to accomplish, there may be simpler client-side workarounds.

edited Feb 25 '10 at 18:45

answered Feb 23 '10 at 19:20

Warner

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I don't know if there is a PTR. When I add windows machine to the domain reverse lookup works, does that indicate the presence of one? I don't have admin access to the domain, and yes .222.44 is a Windows DNS. – matt wilkie Feb 25 '10 at 17:52

matt wilkie · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-29T00:56:30.667

I now have reverse lookup working, but am not entirely sure which bit-flip was the trick. The general process: ask an admin to remove the linux machine from the domain and then install [likewise-open. I believe, but am not positive, that it would have been sufficient to run the likewise-open tool lw-update-dns without removing and rejoining the machine to the domain.

Update: Likewise-open was acquired by another company and the repo links have all changed. See the Ubuntu community wiki page LikewiseOpen.

reverse nslookup fails for single machine

2 Answers2