OmniWeb browsing issues

NeXT Computer, Inc. -> NEXTSTEP / OPENSTEP Software

Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 23, 2008, 05:42:59 PM
I managed to find a copy of OmniWeb but I keep on getting an error telling me that the remote host (whatever website I was going to) could not be found. I checked my network setting and they looked okay and I am connected to my network so what gives?
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: mgtremaine on September 23, 2008, 05:46:27 PM
Does it resolve DNS? Networking is one thing DNS is another check your /etc/resolv.conf

-Mike
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 23, 2008, 08:11:19 PM
Quote from: "mgtremaine"Does it resolve DNS? Networking is one thing DNS is another check your /etc/resolv.conf

-Mike

Are you positive it's in /etc/?
I can't find it.
Title: NetInfo/lookupd
Post by: cubist on September 23, 2008, 09:09:15 PM
Quote from: "pentium"
Are you positive it's in /etc/?
I can't find it.
Time to hit Librarian and learn about the system.  DNS resolver and other tools are different.  'lookupd' daemon using NetInfo is part of the equation so you need to config your network correctly and completely so that the DNS servers are specified in NI.  Also use the command line apps to test it:  nslookup, ping, telnet.  As for resolv.conf, you can generate and import one but it isn't used by the system itself.
Title: Re: NetInfo/lookupd
Post by: mgtremaine on September 23, 2008, 09:25:05 PM
Quote from: "pentium"
Are you positive it's in /etc/?
I can't find it.

Just make it like Cubist said. A simple echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2" >> /etc/resolv.conf and it will work.

Quote from: "cubist"
Time to hit Librarian and learn about the system.  DNS resolver and other tools are different.  'lookupd' daemon using NetInfo is part of the equation so you need to config your network correctly and completely so that the DNS servers are specified in NI.  Also use the command line apps to test it:  nslookup, ping, telnet.  As for resolv.conf, you can generate and import one but it isn't used by the system itself.

Actually you made me go check because I have always done it this way [since I know squat about nextstep but my Unix is good], if you read the man page on lookupd it says is will use /etc/resolv.conf if it exists. So I as Pentium needs to get use to Unix I think he should just do that. :)

-Mike
Title: Re: NetInfo/lookupd
Post by: pentium on September 23, 2008, 10:31:46 PM
Quote from: "mgtremaine"
Quote from: "pentium"
Are you positive it's in /etc/?
I can't find it.

Just make it like Cubist said. A simple echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2" >> /etc/resolv.conf and it will work.

You lost me at the echo part.
Title: Re: NetInfo/lookupd
Post by: mgtremaine on September 24, 2008, 09:13:48 AM
Quote from: "pentium"
You lost me at the echo part.

You are not even trying  :D


[mgt@dwarfstar ~]$ echo "hello pentium"
hello pentium


See echo is like a "print statment" in BASIC if you will. It echoes back whatever you tell it. So echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2" does


[mgt@dwarfstar ~]$ echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2"
nameserver 4.2.2.2


And adding >> /etc/resolv.conf redirects the output to append to the file /etc/resolv.conf so... typing what I said as ROOT like so


echo "nameserver 4.2.2.2" >> /etc/resolv.conf


Will create the file you need and put a nameserver in it. Feel free to change 4.2.2.2 to whatever you use, this might be something your ISP gave you or the IP of your router...

Here is the best advice I have,  learn to use "man" to read the manual pages. They are always there and really will help you.

-Mike
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 24, 2008, 03:01:08 PM
Okay, I did as you stated and then rebooted the system and tried OmniWeb again.

Well I know I entered the correct DNS but It's still telling me it can't locate the remote host.
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: mgtremaine on September 25, 2008, 09:24:13 AM
Well it's possible I have no idea what I'm talking about and your OS is hosed.  :D

If it was me and I was sitting at your computer I would first try to prove that networking and DNS is fine.

So.. I'd open a terminal and try to ping say yahoo, that would mean typing

"ping yahoo.com" or "/etc/ping yahoo.com" if you path does not have ping [I think it's in /etc/ I'm too lazy to boot up right now.]

If you can ping a yahoo.com then your network is working and so is your dns which means something is foobar with omniweb. If you can not ping yahoo.com then something is wrong with either your network or DNS try ping'ing something by IP address that is out on internet like

/etc/ping 4.2.2.2

If that works then DNS is still foobar. Double check your /etc/resolv.conf and or do as Cubist suggested and read up on "lookupd"

-Mike

PS - Do not bother rebooting!!! Unix does not require a reboot for anything short of a Kernel patch. Microsoft has trained everyone that you need to reboot whenever you touch anything and that is not the case. When it comes to networking at worst you need to up and down the interfaces with your can read up about using "ifconfig" under Linux they include aliases like ifup and ifdown to help you.

PPS - You need a good book on TCP/IP and basic networking keep your eyes open for used O'Reilly books like TCP/IP Network Administration or Managing Internet Information Services even if they are old they will give you a good overview of IP Netmask Broadcast Network DNS /etc/resolv.conf and much more. In the long run with all the cool hardware you have picked up you are going to want to know this stuff. A good Linux or Solaris server instead of teh Windows 2000 box will make you internal network much more flexible and easy to play with all this old stuff. Windows NFS is total cr@p.

Good Luck!!!!  :)
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 25, 2008, 12:14:46 PM
Well I can't ping out.
I guess I'll have to scratch my head over this and figure out how resolv.conf actually works.
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: mgtremaine on September 26, 2008, 01:15:35 PM
So you can not ping out at all? Or you can only ping out by IP address?

If you can not ping at all but can ping other machines on your local network then your gateway route is probably wrong. You can check your setting via /etc/hostconfig or the Admin GUI that you used before. If you can only ping out via IP then yes DNS is foobar double check your /etc/resolv.conf make sure that the nameserver IP is  a valid IP address you can talk directly to nameserver via nslookup [this works on windows also]

nslookup yahoo.com 4.2.2.2

That will ask the nameserver at 4.2.2.2 to look up yahoo.com

-Mike

PS - Check the permissions on the /etc/resolv.conf file it should be 0644 [that is r+w, r, r owned by root]
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 27, 2008, 01:48:32 AM
I can't ping out, period.

I checked my gateway route and it seems correct (it's the same on my PC) and I'm assuming that resolv.conf is owned by root as it was generated while using the root account.
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: mgtremaine on September 27, 2008, 09:28:48 AM
Hmmm.. tricky. Don't worry about DNS until you can get it to ping out by IP address. I don't realyl know enough about your internal network to guess what needs to be done but I'm assuming that you have other machines that can reach the internet at the same time. That is you have some sort of switch or hub with more then one machine plugged in to it that can reach the router and send traffic out.

The thing to do is use "ifconfig -a" [ipconfig on windows] and "netstat -r"  to see the network setttings and the routes that the other machines are using and then compare what you have.

Make sure you did not assign an IP address to the Cube that is also being used by the DHCP server.

-Mike
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 30, 2008, 02:05:09 PM
Okay, first off it is best that the computer whose address you attempt to ping on the network is using a static address and not a dynamic one.
Anyways, I'm now fully able to ping any computer I have on my network but I still can't ping outside of out network.
If it helps, I plan to replace the routers in our home tonight (Replacing a crappy Telus router with a nice Linksys one).
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pitz on September 30, 2008, 06:37:45 PM
Quote from: "pentium"Okay, first off it is best that the computer whose address you attempt to ping on the network is using a static address and not a dynamic one.
Anyways, I'm now fully able to ping any computer I have on my network but I still can't ping outside of out network.
If it helps, I plan to replace the routers in our home tonight (Replacing a crappy Telus router with a nice Linksys one).

Can you ping the IP address (within your local network) of the router?  The router would have a local network IP (typically 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) and a WAN IP (typically from DHCP from your Internet provider).  If you can ping the local network IP of the router, you also should have a default route entry (0.0.0.0) in your NeXT, pointing to the router.  Check the manpages for "route".
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on September 30, 2008, 08:59:34 PM
I pinged the address of my router (192.168.1.1) and got nothing.
I'm just preparing to switch over to the new router now and I have to flash its firmware as well. It's still in the box but a few years old.
Title: OmniWeb browsing issues
Post by: pentium on December 19, 2008, 12:22:32 AM
Okay, lets start over.
I have dumped my network configuration and started over and I am back to a point where I can ftp and ping any system on my network but when it comes to OmniWeb, trying to access any website outside of my network (specifically off my server) results in a connection time out. I fixed an issue earlier where the IP between my cube and my sisters new laptop were conflicting and I don't know what to do next to try and connect to the outside world.

EDIT: I checked resolv.conf and noticed that it currently has only one line. nameserver 192.168.1.254 That particular address goes directly to the configuration panel on my router so that can't be right, can it?
EDIT: Looks like it might be. I try some other address and OmniWeb is less happy at trying to access an external site. with 254 it at least tries until it times out.

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