On Thu, 16 Oct 2003, JS <oghistorian@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I did hear that I could use my
> router as a dns server which will redirect to the main
> server on my isp.  However, once I set it up to try it
> out, the pings to my router or other computers on the
> network hang right after I hit the enter button and
> will stay there for a couple of minutes before it
> starts listing if the pings were successful.  Why
> would that be?  It wasn't doing this before I
> configured it  for the router.  Also, I tried an
> outside site, and my netbsd box seems that it cannot
> connect with the router as a name server.  Do you
> might have another suggestions?

Name service is distinct from routing, and it's possible to test them
independently.  

"ping -n" tells ping not to bother getting the name of an address.  If
your DNS is indeed misconfigured (but your routes are OK), ping -n will
work.  If you can ping somewhere by number and not by name, that's a
sure-fire name service issue.  

The usual clue to name service issues, btw, is a 30-second delay in trying
to connect to something.  I think the resolver waits 30 seconds to hear
back from the DNS.  

Try ping -n to your DNS.  If you can't see it, chances are it can't see
you, either.  ;-)  

To test the DNS, use the old-fashioned nslookup(8).  

If you can ping your DNS and you know it's running, check that it has a
route to the Internet.  You can check its logs, too.  Make sure you
haven't blocked port 53, and that it's listening on the interface you're
querying.  A quick way to confirm all that is to "telnet DNS 53" (where
"DNS" is your DNS's name or address).  

If those things are all OK, but your DNS still won't resolve names for
you, then David's probably right, and you've misconfigured it.  

HTH.  

--jkl