OpenVPN Client can't ping host by name
 

hi,

I'm using openVPN addon for IPCop as my VPN Solution. from my xp pro pc, I can connect to the OpenVPN server. and I can ping any computer on the VPN server Lan by IP but not by computer name.


What other configuration should I make to be able to ping lan pc by computer name?


THanks,

well you'll need dns and all that to ping by hostname. sounds like you aren't being given DNS details from the DHCP

you could also edit the hosts file on the client machine .. but that is a maintainnace headache..
That is why DNS was invented after all, so you didn't have to edit hosts files on evry machine :)

so how to configure on the OpenVPN to provide dns info to the connecting client?

thanks,

mrpc_cambodia

How to push DHCP options (DNS) to openVPN Clients
http://openvpn.net/howto.html#dhcp

DNS How-to
Simple
http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/l...dns-static.htm
More detailed info
http://langfeldt.net/DNS-HOWTO/BIND-9/DNS-HOWTO-5.html

Your `/etc/resolv.conf` file defines where your computer should look to resolve hostnames into IP addresses. The basic problem is that `/etc/resolv.conf` doesn't get updated when you run `openvpn` by default.

Here's what you need to do to fix the problem.

1.) Append the following onto your `server.conf` file on your OpenVPN server machine (typically located at `/etc/openvpn/server.conf`) to have the server to the client where to look to convert hostnames to IP addresses.

push "dhcp-option DNS 192.168.1.1"
push "dhcp-option DOMAIN mylocaldomain.lan"


2.) Install `resolvconf` on your client machine and link the standard `resolv.conf` to `resolvconf`'s version with the following commands to have a function capable of modifying `resolv.conf`

sudo apt install resolvconf
sudo mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.orig
sudo ln -s /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf


3.) Append the following to the bottom of your `client.ovpn` file to run `resolvconf` whenver the OpenVPN server is connected to or disconnected from.

up /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf
down /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf


4.) Whenever you run `openvpn` you'll have to do so with the `-script-security 2` flag to allow `openvpn` to run `resolvconf`. Here is an example call

sudo openvpn --script-security 2 --config /path/to/client.ovpn


You can read a more detailed version of the above instructions with some example code of my (working) OpenVPN server here: https://steamforge.net/wiki/index.ph..._%26_hostnames