Subject: Re: ping: sendto: host is down
To: ali (Anders Lindgren) <dat94ali@ludat.lth.se>
From: David Brownlee <abs@netbsd.org>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 10/11/2000 09:24:18
On Wed, 11 Oct 2000, ali (Anders Lindgren) wrote:

> The problem with my amiga was that I had typed in the wrong
> IP-address to my DNS. Apparently, NetBSD network utilities
> (ping, traceroute...) will attempt to contact the DNS even
> if supplied with an IP-address[0]. When I fixed the bad DNS
> address everything automagically started working just fine!
> 
	Both ping and traceroute document the -n option:

     -n      Numeric output only.  No attempt will be made to look up symbolic
             names for host addresses.

> I now have a neatly working little intranet, sharing my
> single real-world IP through the NATing i386 box, and
> I'm happier than ever with this fantastic OS. :-)
> 
	Excellent to hear :)

> [0] Maybe this should be documented? Pinging an IP-address
>     will seem to fail if the DNS is unreachable, which is
>     very confusing (IMHO).

	What would you suggest - a CAVEATS section at the end of the
	ping man page?

                David/absolute
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