How does Windows Vista do name resolution

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Bird222

[H]ard|Gawd
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Can someone explain exactly how Vista does name resolution for sites? I.e what does it check 1st, 2nd, etc. Is there a way to make it look to the DNS server only?

TIA
 
Bird222 said:
Can someone explain exactly how Vista does name resolution for sites? I.e what does it check 1st, 2nd, etc. Is there a way to make it look to the DNS server only?

TIA
Click to expand...

Not sure what you are getting at. All name resolution is done by DNS now. The computer will go to the first DNS server and if it contact that DNS server it go to the second one. If you dont have a secondary DNS server set, it will time out.

I
 
Hosts File
DNS Cache
First DNS Server
Second DNS Server
WINS Server
Broadcast
LMHosts
 
Oline61 said:
Hosts File
DNS Cache
First DNS Server
Second DNS Server
WINS Server
Broadcast
LMHosts
Click to expand...

Thanks. Is there away to make Vista skip the host file and 'DNS Cache'? Here's the problem I am trying to access my dsl modem through my router, but I can't. This works fine in Linux, but Window won't allow it. I can't reach it with any of these methods:

IP address (192.168.2.254)
launchmodem
launchmodem.com
www.launchmodem.com

I can ping 'launchmodem.com' and 'www.launchmodem.com' but not 'launchmodem'. The nslookup for all three seems to look ok. They all say

server: DD-WRT
Address: 192.168.1.1

name: launchmodem (or launchmodem.com or www.launchmodem.com)
Address: 192.168.2.254

Like I said I can't reach the modem using IP address or the name in Firefox or IE.

Can someone advise?
 
Bird222 said:
Like I said I can't reach the modem using IP address or the name in Firefox or IE.
Click to expand...

If you can't reach it via IP address, then DNS won't help you anyway. All DNS does is sends you to the IP address.

I'm betting you have a wrong IP address.

Do an ipconfig /all and see what your default gateway is set to, that might be your router's IP address.
You could also try a tracert www.hardforum.com or something and see what the first hop is to get out of your network.
 
If you already have an IP address then name resolution is not taking place.

Try 192.168.100.1
Thats the usual IP address for a modem.
 
Let me further explain. The ip address is correct. The reason why the ip address doesn't work is when the modem is reached with the ip address before it loads the home page it tries to redirect to 'launchmodem.com' which then fails. If it wouldn't do that, then the ip address would work fine.
 
Bird222 said:
Let me further explain. The ip address is correct. The reason why the ip address doesn't work is when the modem is reached with the ip address before it loads the home page it tries to redirect to 'launchmodem.com' which then fails. If it wouldn't do that, then the ip address would work fine.
Click to expand...

Create a HOSTS file entry for launchmodem.com then and point it to the correct IP address.
 
OP, it's common to have that happen with PPPoE, although I've never tried accessing a DSL "modem" outside of the NAT router while using *nix on my laptop..I thought it just flat out was not possible, as I had always read it was not possible to hit the modems IP outside of a NAT router when the NAT router is doing the PPPoE. This was going back before Vista...back to the Win2K 'n early XP days.
 
I'm finding it odd that it redirects to launchmodem.com .... They must have programmed their router's config page to redirect on load.
 
Grentz said:
and Zyxel/DLink/Linksys are usually 192.168.1.1
Click to expand...

Not a single 2Wire unit I've worked on....
Their very own websites support section..
http://support.2wire.com/?page=view&article=98

Software version 3.5.x and earlier back in the early days of DSL
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway: 172.16.0.1

Software version 3.7.x and higher which covers newer setups over the past 4 years
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.254
 
I took 2 Wire off the list...all the ones around here are but its because they have custom Embarq firmwares on them.

Qwest is usually 192.168.0.1 with their 2Wire units, at least the ones I have worked on.
 
TechieSooner said:
Create a HOSTS file entry for launchmodem.com then and point it to the correct IP address.
Click to expand...

Yes. this will work but I was trying to have it done at the router level so any client could reach it without changing all the HOSTS files. What I don't understand is what in Vista is stopping this from working???
 
Bird222 said:
Yes. this will work but I was trying to have it done at the router level so any client could reach it without changing all the HOSTS files. What I don't understand is what in Vista is stopping this from working???
Click to expand...

Nothing in Vista is stopping it from working. For some reason the modem is redirecting you to launchmodem.com which doesn't resolve.
 
Bird222 said:
Yes. this will work but I was trying to have it done at the router level so any client could reach it without changing all the HOSTS files. What I don't understand is what in Vista is stopping this from working???
Click to expand...
It's my assumption that your router and modem is all-in-one. Thus, you have to get to it first before you change any DNS settings, hence why you may have to use the HOSTS file.

Oline61 said:
Nothing in Vista is stopping it from working. For some reason the modem is redirecting you to launchmodem.com which doesn't resolve.
Click to expand...
Exactly. OP said it finds the page when using via IP address, but then redirects to launchmodem.com. That's a redirector inside the webpage itself doing that.
By setting a DNS entry in your HOSTS for launchmodem.com, you can force it to always go to that IP address, thus fixing the problem until you can login to the router and fix the DNS the "proper" way.
 
TechieSooner said:
It's my assumption that your router and modem is all-in-one. Thus, you have to get to it first before you change any DNS settings, hence why you may have to use the HOSTS file.


Exactly. OP said it finds the page when using via IP address, but then redirects to launchmodem.com. That's a redirector inside the webpage itself doing that.
By setting a DNS entry in your HOSTS for launchmodem.com, you can force it to always go to that IP address, thus fixing the problem until you can login to the router and fix the DNS the "proper" way.
Click to expand...

I have a separate router and modem. My router is running DD-WRT. Like I said this works fine in Linux so there is something different about Vista.
 
Bird222 said:
I have a separate router and modem. My router is running DD-WRT. Like I said this works fine in Linux so there is something different about Vista.
Click to expand...

That makes zero sense whatsoever. Linux uses the TCP/IP Protocol stack and Vista uses the TCP/IP protocol stack.
 
TechieSooner said:
That makes zero sense whatsoever. Linux uses the TCP/IP Protocol stack and Vista uses the TCP/IP protocol stack.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. But it's true. Ok, I just tried again. In Vista, I can reach the modem with 'launchmodem.com' only. Not the modem's IP, nor 'launchmodem', nor www.launchmodem.com'. In linux (Ubuntu specifically) I can reach the modem using all methods.
 
Launchmodem.com is a domain name registered by AT&T...
Registrant:
AT&T Services, Inc.
Domain Administrator
240 N Meridian St. Room 280
Indianapolis, IN 46204
US
Email: [email protected]

Registrar Name....: CORPORATE DOMAINS, INC.
Registrar Whois...: whois.corporatedomains.com
Registrar Homepage: www.cscprotectsbrands.com

Domain Name: launchmodem.com

Created on..............: Thu, Feb 19, 2009
Expires on..............: Thu, May 13, 2010
Record last updated on..: Thu, Feb 26, 2009

Administrative Contact:
AT&T Services, Inc.
Domain Administrator
240 N Meridian St. Room 280
Indianapolis, IN 46204
US
Phone: +1.3172652859
Email: [email protected]

Technical Contact:
AT&T Services, Inc.
DNS Support
801 Chestnut St.
St. Louis, MO 63101
US
Phone: +1.3172651482
Email: [email protected]

DNS Servers:

ns10a.attdns.net
ns10b.attdns.net

My guess is that AT&T have some code within their DNS, or possible the modem itself to redirect that URL to the modem... From what I can find, this seems to work with Westel modems? Obviously, there's 1001 different ways to then break the launchmodem.com domain and cause it not to resolve to "your" modem...
 
Yes, this is a westell modem. I am pretty sure the modem is running a DNS server that allows you to put 'launchmodem' in your browser and get to the modem. What I am trying to figure out is going through the router to get to the modem doesn't seem to work properly under windows but it does under linux?
 
I would think that they both would be using what the router gets from the ISP. I guess I don't know that for sure though. I have modified DNSMasq in the router to point any requests for 'launchmodem', 'launchmodem.com', and 'www.launchmodem.com' to point to the modem's IP address.
 
Ok I installed Wireshark on Vista (I will try to get it on Ubuntu later). I am not sure if I am reading these packets right but it looks like 'launchmodem' never goes to the DNS server. It goes to LLMNR (Link Local Multicast Name Resolution which is a Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008 protocal), then it goes to NBNS( NetBios). '192.168.2.254' and 'www.launchmodem.com' both make it to the modem but then get redirected to http://launchmodem/?rdr=http://192.168.2.254/ or http://launchmodem/?rdr=http://www.launchmodem.com/ respectively. Then it goes into a 'GET' command loop (with 'Redirect' also) from my computer like this http://launchmodem/?rdr=http://www....odem.com%252F%253Frdr%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F% (this has been truncated) until the browser finally comes back with this message '500 Internal Server Error'. Does anyone speak HTTP that can tell me what 'http://launchmodem/?rdr=http%3A%2F%2F192.168.2.254%2F' exactly means?
 
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