DNS issue

On one of my computers I have set up networking to have a static IP address
with the following set as DNS in Network configuration/In ternet/Host names:

Primary name server: 78.151.236.3
Secondary name server: 62.24.134.6
Tertiary name server: 8.8.8.8

this gave me problems this morning, see below.

I therefore swopped the primary and tertiary name servers so that 8.8.8.8
was first and it all started working again. Is the tertiary name server
ignored?

After the alteration the relevant line in Boot:Choices.Internet.StartUp
became:

If “<Inet$Resolvers>” = "" Then Set Inet$Resolvers 8.8.8.8 62.24.134.6 78.151.236.3

The problems were that !Store and Netsurf just timed out. My NAS was working OK so it seemed to be
a DNS problem, pinging 78.151.236.3 and 62.24.134.6 failed but 8.8.8.8 was OK.

so it seemed to be a DNS problem, pinging 78.151.236.3 and 62.24.134.6 failed but 8.8.8.8 was OK.

A TalkTalk DNS problem?

I would have expected that if the first two servers failed then the lookup should have moved on to the third.

On one of my computers I have set up networking to have a static IP address

I’m curious to know whether the setup works when you let DHCP do it’s job.

I therefore swopped the primary and tertiary name servers so that 8.8.8.8
was first and it all started working again. Is the tertiary name server
ignored?

It could just be that the primary and secondary are taking so long to respond that various timeouts kick in. Try a PC and use nslookup to target specific servers for your lookup

1. NSLOOKUP
2. SERVER 8.8.8.8
   www.google.co.uk

server 78.151.236.3
www.google.co.uk

etc.

TalkTalk could have shifted DNS server IP’s

FYI: Some DNS servers respond only to DNS queries and nothing else. There aren’t many customer-facing servers set up like that, but they do exist. Getting no response to a ping is only useful information if you knew that you could previously ping the server.

Your best bet is to use a DNS tool such as dig (or nslookup as suggested by Steve).

I’m curious to know whether the setup works when you let DHCP do its job.

Many thanks for the help.

No. My other ARMX6 is set up to do DHCP and that failed as well (but it is now working). |It is a pity there is no way to see what it is doing and no useful error messages.

Both servers are down (no ping reply) at the moment. My ISP is now Orpheus so perhaps it is my fault for not updating from TalkTalk servers to the 212.104.130.9 and 212.104.130.65 servers they use.

My Windows machine was OK though. It doesn’t even seem to know it is Windows 7!

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Chris>nslookup
Default Server:  resolver2.th.eclipse.net.uk
Address:  212.104.130.65

> server 8.8.8.8
Default Server:  dns.google
Address:  8.8.8.8

> server 78.151.236.3
Default Server:  host-78-151-236-3.as13285.net
Address:  78.151.236.3

> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk">www.google.co.uk</a>
Server:  host-78-151-236-3.as13285.net
Address:  78.151.236.3

DNS request timed out.
    timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
    timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
    timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
    timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to host-78-151-236-3.as13285.net timed-out
> server 62.24.134.6
DNS request timed out.
    timeout was 2 seconds.
Default Server:  [62.24.134.6]
Address:  62.24.134.6

I tend to use the router as the first DNS server (as that will have the current preferred DNS from the ISP and also resolve addresses on the internal network, especially if it is also the DHCP server), followed by an override DNS like 8.8.8.8 or one of the OpenDNS servers. Hardwiring each computer to use a fixed external DNS server selection means that issues have to be sorted out manually for as many computers as you have on the network.

As I understand it, if the primary DNS sever is unreachable, then the secondary is tried. If the primary replies “I don’t know” then that’s it, no further attempts are made.

I think Google spy on us too much anyway without using their DNS servers (8.8.8.8 etc) to tell them what other websites we look at.

Back to the original problem, I agree with Grahame that the ISP router is a good choice for the primary DNS Server.