DNS Server #s in Networking???

Alexander,
     If you Actiontel is setup to act as a DHCP server ,and your ubuntu system is configured to act as a DHCP client, you should be recieving your DNS settings from the Actiontel. Could you post the following information to help in resolving your issues please?

1) Is your PC configured for a static IP address, or are you using DHCP?
2) Is the Actiontel acting as a DHCP server?
3) Is the Actiontel configured as a DNS forwarder (If this is the case, you should actually be using the Actiontel as your DNS server)
4) How did you originally configure DNS on the Ubuntu system? (examples: via DHCP, manually, unknown).

    Regards,
          --Matt

Hello Matt:

Thank you for responding to my DNS Server problem. I think I should
start by telling you about my original problem. I installed a second
hard drive in my computer for the purpose of trying Ubuntu/Linux. After
I installed the Ubuntu operating system, I updated 154 updates. My
first use of Ubuntu was to go surfing on the Web but the Web Pages would
not open. Eventually I found out that I needed to enter the TDS DNS
numbers into my Network program which I did. It worked and I can now
open Web Pages. Unfortunately, the next day the Web Pages wouldn't open
so I checked the DNS numbers and they were not there. I re-entered them
and I was able to open the Web Pages again. This has been an ongoing
thing until this morning. To my surprise, when I went on line this
morning, the numbers were still there. Go figure! That did happen one
other time so I really don't know what is going on.

Now to answer your questions. 1. My computer is conformed for DHCP not
IP. 2. I do not know if my Actiontec is acting as a DHCP server, I can
only tell you that I entered the numbers under the direction of TDS Tech
Help and they said that they entered the appropriate numbers into the
Actiontec Modem. 3. I have no answer to this question. 4.
Originally, I didn't configure DNS because I didn't know that I needed
to do it. I have been using Windows since 1995, and I haven't had to do
any configuring of anything. This is all new to me.

I don't know if I am going to stick with this Ubuntu because there are
many other issues that are basically driving me nuts.

Thanks again...Alex

Alex,
           Thanks, the information will help us get things resolved. It sounds like the Actiontel is your DHCP server, and for some reason, either your PC isn't accepting the DNS servers from the Actiontel, or they are set incorrectly.

Assuming this PC used to run Windows... Did you need to enter DNS servers into Windows to get things working?

Also, could you provide the following:

1) The contents of your /etc/network/interfaces file
2) The contents of your /etc/resolv.conf file
3) The results of running the following command: grep -i dhcp /var/log/syslog

    Regards,
           --Matt

Hello again and thanks for the quick response.

My original hard drive has Windows XP 2000 Home Edition and I still use
it. When I signed up with TDS High Speed, they sent out a technician to
install and set up the Actiontec Modem so I don't know what they entered
into the Windows Network. Later, I installed a second hard drive which
is the slave drive and Ubuntu is the operating system. The answer to
questions 1, 2, & 3 is, I have know idea what you are talking about.
With Windows, I haven't had to deal with these kind of problems so this
is all new to me. I use Firefox on both systems and now that I have a
second hard drive, Firefox opens very slowly on Windows the first time I
open it. Firefox normally pooped up immediately. There may be some
connection to the issue on Ubuntu and the now slow opening Firefox on
Windows which may be in the Actiontec modem. I hope I can use both
systems, but if I have to give one up, it will be Ubuntu because of all
of the other issues I have with it.

I really appreciate your help on this and I thank you.

Alex

Alex,
     No problem, I will restate the requests, and we'll see how it goes from there.

1) * From the Applications menu at the top of the screen, select "Accessories" and then "Text Editor".
    * Once the window has opened, select the "Open" button.
    * At the top of the new window that opens, where it says "Location", enter "/etc/network/interfaces".
    * Select all the text, and paste it into your reply.

2) * Using the process in step 1 above, repeat, but use "/etc/resolv.conf" for the location.
    * Once you are done, you can close the Text Editor(s)

3) * Now go to the Applications menu again, and select "Accessories" and then "Terminal"
    * In the new terminal window type "grep -i dhcp /var/log/syslog"
    * Copy and paste the results into your reply.

      Regards,
           --Matt

Matt:

As you requested:

*(1)*
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcp

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
*
(2)*
search http://www.google.com http://www.tds.net
nameserver 216.165.129.157
nameserver 216.170.153.146

*(3)* I need more instruction on this one because the Terminal window
that opens doesn't show a way to do your request. It only shows >
@mycomputer:~$ < . Am I supposed to delete this and type in what you
asked for?

Thanks...alex

Alex,
      For #3, you just type "grep -i dhcp /var/log/syslog" in the window. The thing that you are seeing there is just the prompt. You can safely ignore it.

    From the results you gave, things look as I would expect them to. Let's see how you make out with #3....

   --Matt

Matt:

I followed your instructions for #3. I typed in the letters in the
terminal window next to mycomputer but there is no way to enter it
except to click enter on the keyboard so I clicked enter and it just
duplicated mycomputer. I'm sorry but I have nothing to copy and paste
for #3.

When I click on Terminal, the window that pops up says mycomputer not
Terminal. So maybe this is where the problem is.

Thanks... Alex

Alex,
         Hmmm... try this ... Open the terminal window again, and type " ifconfig -a" and then hit enter. Copy the results into a reply here.

You could also try running terminal by doing this:

1) Press "ALT" and "F2" at the same time.
2) In the window that appears, type "gnome-terminal" in the box next to the gears, and then click the "Run" button.

Do the two terminals look the same?

       --Matt

Matt:

That worked, I hope this is what you are looking for...Alex

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:1849 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1856 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1232990 (1.1 MiB) TX bytes:245245 (239.4 KiB)
          Interrupt:217 Base address:0xc800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:340 (340.0 b) TX bytes:340 (340.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
          NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Matt:

I screwed up the copy and didn't copy all of it. Here it is again.

 ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:2B:33:BF:51
          inet addr:192.168.0.2 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::240:2bff:fe33:bf51/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:1995 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2011 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1285863 (1.2 MiB) TX bytes:258372 (252.3 KiB)
          Interrupt:217 Base address:0xc800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:340 (340.0 b) TX bytes:340 (340.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
          NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Alex,
    OK... just to clarify, opening the Terminal window via the ALT+F2 method worked, but the other way didn't? Or, did they both work the same way, but the "ifconfig" command produced output where the "grep -i dhcp /var/log/syslog" did not?

   --Matt

I'm sorry that I wasn't very clear on that Matt. The alt+F2 opened the
mycomputer window, the same as opening Terminal. Typing in the ifconfig
-a in the mycomputer window produced the results that I sent you.
Remember, the mycomputer Window opens when I click on the Terminal Icon.

Alex

Alex,
    At this point, my guess is that there is something wrong with the DHCP client in Ubuntu. We need to take a look at a file that gets created when Ubuntu gets its address from dhcp. Here's how to get the information:

1) Go to "Applications", and then "Accessories", floowed by "Text Editor".
2) In the Text Editor window, Click "Open"
3) In the location box, enter "/var/lib/dhcp3"
4) You should now see at least one file with a name that starts out "dhclient", and ends in "leases". It is probably "dhclient.eth0.leases", but it could be different, and that is OK.
5) Open the file, and paste the contents into here for me.

This contains all the information that Ubuntu was able to take from the DHCP server when it got the IP address. We can then check this to see if maybe there is some sort of error in there that can be resolved.

If this doesn't lead anywhere, there is another route we can take, that will definitely work... just don't use DHCP. But I would rather actually fix the problem, if possible.

Hi Matt:

I signed off yesterday before your last email so I hope you are still
with me. I followed your instructions to type /var/lib/dhcp3 in the
location box and it popped up cannot open. I tried again and the same
thing happened....Alex

Alex,

   That's interesting, and may be part of the problem. Let's confirm with another approach.

Can you please go through the following steps:

1) From the "Places" menu at the top of the screen, select "Computer" and then "Filesystem"

2) In "Filesystem", select the "var" folder, and then "lib" folder.

Do you see a directory named "dhcp3" in the lib folder?

This folder is supposed to be where all the DHCP lease information gets stored. If it doesn't exist, it would probably cause problems.

       Regards,
           --Matt

Hello again:

Yes, the dhcp3 file exists in the lib folder and the dhcp3 folder has 6
files in it and the names start with dhclient and end with leases. I
guess we are back to square 1....Alex

Alex,
      Not quite as far back as square one :) Could you repeat the above steps again, and when you make it into the dhcp3 folder, right click on the file named "dhclient.eth0.leases" . It should show you a menu, and the top item should be "Open with Text Editor". Copy the contents of the file into here, and I will take a look.

          --Matt

Here you are Matt...Alex :-)

lease {
  interface "eth0";
  fixed-address 192.168.0.2;
  option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
  option routers 192.168.0.1;
  option dhcp-lease-time 86400;
  option dhcp-message-type 5;
  option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.1,216.165.129.158;
  option dhcp-server-identifier 192.168.0.1;
  option domain-name "domain_not_set.invalid";
  renew 2 2007/9/25 08:13:37;
  rebind 2 2007/9/25 18:39:07;
  expire 2 2007/9/25 21:39:07;
}

Alex,
    That's interesting... the DNS servers are set to the router itself, and another, external IP. The external IP isn't the one you have been putting in yourself, either, it is 1 off (216.165.129.158 vs. 216.165.129.157).

   Let's try doing some lookups manually to see if one of the DNS servers is broken....

1) Open the Applications menu, and then select "Accessories" and then Terminal.
2) In the terminal window, type "nslookup www.google.com 192.168.0.1" and then hit the enter key.
3) Again, in the terminal window, type "nslookup www.google.com 216.165.129.158" and hit enter.
4) One more time in the terminal window, type "nslookup www.google.com 216.165.129.159", and hit enter.
5) Copy the results and paste them to me here.

  --Matt

Matt:
Here is what you asked for. Good luck!... Alex
2)
> nslookup www.google.com 192.168.0.1
> Server: 192.168.0.1
> Address: 192.168.0.1#53
>
> Non-authoritative answer:
> www.google.com canonical name = www.l.google.com.
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.103
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.104
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.147
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.99
> 3)
> nslookup www.google.com 216.165.129.158
> Server: 216.165.129.158
> Address: 216.165.129.158#53
>
> Non-authoritative answer:
> www.google.com canonical name = www.l.google.com.
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.99
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.103
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.104
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.147
> 4)
> nslookup www.google.com 216.165.129.159
> ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached...I tried again
> and no luck.
*You didn't ask for the next one but I did it anyway.
*
> nslookup www.google.com 216.170.153.146
> Server: 216.170.153.146
> Address: 216.170.153.146#53
>
> Non-authoritative answer:
> www.google.com canonical name = www.l.google.com.
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.99
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.103
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.104
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Address: 64.233.161.147
>
>

Hmmmm... OK... that lead nowhere.

How about this... could you provide me the contents of your /etc/resolv.conf from right after you boot.... BEFORE you manually fix it? That might indicate what is wrong...

   --Matt

OK. I am not sure what you are asking for but here is what I do after I
boot Ubuntu. I open up Networking and here is what I see: At the top
of the window it says Network settings. Just below that it says
Location, which is blank. Below that is "connections" General" DNS"
Hosts". When I open the DNS I see DNS Server: 192.168.0.1 and
216.165.129.158. Below that it says Search Domains: "
Domain_not_set.invalid " I then delete 192.168.0.1, change the last
digit in 216.165.129.158 to 7 and add 216.170.153.146. If I don't do it
this way I can't open Web Pages or Google.

General shows Host name as "mycomputer" and Domain Name is Blank. Hosts
show 8 IP addresses and 8 aliases. Do you need to know the IP addresses
and aliases es? Connections is set to Ethernet not Modem.

Alex

Alex,
  Here is what I would like you to do so I can see the initial DNS settings:

1) Reboot your PC
2) Log in, but don't fix DNS
3) Open a terminal window, and type "cp /etc/resolv.com /tmp/resolv.conf" and hit enter.
4) Go through the steps you listed to fix dns
5) go back to the terminal, and type " cat /tmp/resolv.conf", and copy the output to me here.

   --Matt

Hey Matt, I am going to put off your request until tomorrow. When I
turn on my computer tomorrow I will get the information you requested.

I'm surprised that you are hanging there but I really appreciate it..

Thanks...Alex

Hi Matt:

Here is the result of
3)
> cp /etc/resolv.com /tmp/resolv.conf
> cp: cannot stat `/etc/resolv.com': No such file or directory
After I changed the DNS #s
5)
> cat /tmp/resolv.conf
> cat: /tmp/resolv.conf: No such file or directory

Alex,
         Ack! Typo on my part. That file should be named resolv.conf, in all cases. I accidentally had it as "resolv.com" in one spot. Could you please try again without my typo?

     Thanks,
                --Matt

Matt:

I made the change and when I click enter it shows my screen
name@mycomputer. Thats it, so there is no need to go to step 5...Alex

Alex,
    The expected result of that command is to just return you to a prompt. The command is copying a file to a new location, so you would only expect output if there was an error. No harm done, though. If you do step 5 now, the file should still be there and have the right contents.

          Thanks,
                  --Matt

OK, here is (5)

 cat /tmp/resolv.conf
search domain_not_set.invalid
nameserver 192.168.0.1
nameserver 216.165.129.158

Alex,
           I am starting to wonder if this is actually some other error, rather than a DNS issue. Next time you reboot, could you do the following, please?

1) Open a terminal, and run this command: ping 192.168.0.1 <enter>
2) In the same terminal enter this command: ping 216.165.129.158 <enter>
3) Do what you normally do to fix things.
4) Copy the output from the terminal window to a reply here.

If the output looks like things are working, we'll try moving you to a static IP and see if that helps.

       --Matt

Matt:

I don't know what you expect to get from ping 192.168.0.1 and ping
216.165.129.158 but they don't stop sending data. It is too much to
copy and paste. It keeps on going and going like the Energizer Bunny.

Alex...

Does it look like this, with the second line over and over?

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.042 ms

Yes, it looks like that but it increases the time as it goes, and
everything else stays the same. It keeps on going and going.

There is something you haven't mentioned and I have wondered about it
from the get go. VIRUS! It sure acts like a Virus of some sort and I
think it could be a virus because of the other problems I am having
with Ubuntu.

I am signing off for today so if you respond to this, I will get it
tomorrow.

Thanks...Alex

Alex, the chances of it being a virus are somewhere between slim and none :) Ubuntu doesn't provide any network services for a virus to attack (most virii these days are actually worms, which look for systems to attack over networks).

I suspect there is something hosed up with the way that the DHCP server on your actiontel and the DHCP client on your PC are talking to one another. It's not common, but it is bound to happen to someone... and in this case it looks like the lucky winner is you! ;)

Here's my suggestion:

1) Go to Syystem -> Administration -> Network
2) Select "Wired Connection" from the list, and then click the properties button.
3) For configuration, select "Static IP Address"
4) For IP Address, enter "192.168.0.2"
5) For Subnet Mask, enter "255.255.255.0:
6) For Gateway Address, enter "192.168.0.1"
7 Click "OK"
8) Click the "DNS" tab at the top of the window
9) Add your two DNS servers, and remove anything else that is present.
10) Click the "General" tab at the top of the window
11) Enter a name for your computer, or leave what is already there if you like it.
12) Click close
13) Reboot... can you surf now?

Let me know how you make out...

          --Matt

Matt:

I changed the DHCP to the Static IP as you requested and it worked,
however, I had to change it back to the DHCP setting because it screwed
up my screen resolution which made everything on my screen gigantic. I
opened the resolution but I couldn't reset it back to the original.

I have to tell you Matt. I am giving up on this Ubuntu because
everything is so screwed up and I don't think you can fix it to my
satisfaction. Anyway, I really appreciate you for trying but I give up
because I have Windows which works great without all of the problems.
Oh Well!

Thanks, Alex... :-(

HI Alexander,

My guess is that the problem you are experiencing is an incompatibility of the modem you are using.
Check the reply at the question
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/13841

There are a few options to fix the problem. Starting from the easier to the most difficult,
1) In Firefox, visit http://192.168.0.1/
That is the configuration page of your modem. You need to find an option called "DNS Proxy", and disable it. This "DNS proxy" on the modem is problematic and causes all the trouble.
2) If you cannot disable the DNS proxy on the modem, you need to specify specific DNS servers as your tried in the start, such as those from your ISP. You can also use the DNS servers of the OpenDNS.com (http://www.opendns.com) project which are much cooler.
For instructions on how to make permanent the change to use those other DNS servers, see
https://www.opendns.com/start?device=ubuntu
3) If none of the above do not help, you need to disable IPv6 in Ubuntu. It's a bit techy, it's best to search in ubuntuforums.org for more on this.

Hope this helps!

I give up!