ping -a not resolving hostname for one host on Windows 7 client

Question

ping -a 192.168.99.3 does not resolve hostname for vcl.nailit.lab, but does for other hosts on network like pfsense.nailit.lab.

nslookup vcl.nailit.lab and ping vcl.nailit.lab work correctly. See output:

C:\Users\Administrator.NAILIT>ping -a 192.168.99.3

Pinging 192.168.99.3 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.99.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.99.3:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Users\Administrator.NAILIT>ping vcl.nailit.lab

Pinging vcl.nailit.lab [192.168.99.3] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.99.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.99.3:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms


C:\Users\Administrator.NAILIT>nslookup vcl.nailit.lab
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.99.13

Name:    vcl.nailit.lab
Address:  192.168.99.3

C:\Users\Administrator.NAILIT>ping -a 192.168.99.1

Pinging pfsense.nailit.lab [192.168.99.1] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.99.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.99.1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms**

DNS records seem ok - identical for pfsense and vcl. DNS is on MS Server 2012

How exactly does ping -a resolve the host name? Why is everything except 'ping -a 192.168.99.3' work correctly?

Why is this important? Name resolution obviously works as evidenced by your nslookup and ping by name test. Are you simply curious as to the mechanism of ping -a and why it isn't resolving the name? — joeqwerty, Mar 20 '15 at 16:06

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 20 '15 at 16:38

How exactly does ping -a resolve the host name?

This is called reverse DNS. Forward DNS resolves names into IP addresses. Reverse DNS resolves IP addresses into names. When you type ping -a 1.2.3.4 into your computer, it issues the DNS query PTR 4.3.2.1.in-addr.arpa. PTR stands for pointer record.

Why is everything except 'ping -a 192.168.99.3' work correctly?

My instinct tells me that you are missing a PTR record for that IP address. On your DNS server, you should see what is called a Reverse Lookup Zone like 168.192.in-addr.arpa. In there should lie the PTR records for all devices on that network. Windows devices usually attempt to register their own forward and reverse DNS records, but they cannot do so if the entire reverse lookup zone is missing.

ping -a not resolving hostname for one host on Windows 7 client

1 Answers1