Networking Trouble: Debian + Home Router
 

Hi guys and gals,
I'm quite new to this but eager to learn and get to grips with linux networking.
I've just spent the last 3 hours attempting to get my debian server online so I can install some packages I'm interested in. I have been reading post after post and attempting some of the suggestions I found there like using a static IP, gateway etc and editing the resolv.conf file but so far I still haven't managed to work it out. I would be very grateful if one of you could lend me some assistance.

I've setup the server to use DHCP (assigned by the router) and it seems to be working. It gets ...

IP Address: 192.168.2.114
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Bcast: 192.168.2.255

route entries are...
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 192.168.2..1 UG 0 0 0 eht0

pinging google.com at this point I get unknown host so I edited the /etc/resolv.conf file to add my ISPs DNS address's

nameserver 62.231.32.10
nameserver 62.231.32.11

with the same result
so changed it back to

nameserver 192.168.2.1


I can ping both private LAN addresses and Public address succesfully but DNS resolving doesn't seem to be happening.

Any ideas, suggestions?
Thank you :)

Could you post the contents of your /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resov.conf

Hi Klearview,
Thanks for your quick reply and sorry for my delay getting back to you. I was having fun mounting, format and reading a usb stick from windows so I could post the contains of the files you requested. Anyway here it is. Thanks for your help.

+---- resolv.conf ----+
nameserver 192.168.2.1

+---- interfaces ----+

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
#iface eth0 inet static
#address 192.168.2.11
#netmask 255.255.255.0
#gateway 192.168.2.1

1) Let's make sure your router is set up correctly - normally even cheap "domestic" routers allow you to test dns look-ups, traceroute and ping. Is everything as expected there? Try to eliminate router as a potential cause - is it a functioning name server and can it perform dns look-ups?

2) We can try and rely on your router less. I'd suggest trying static ip again. Either shut down dhcp server on your router or assign a reserved i.p. address to the server.

For the server something like this (from my own - working set-up):

In /etc/network/interfaces:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.2.11
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.2.0
broadcast 192.168.2.255
gateway 192.168.2.1

In /etc/resolv.conf:

nameserver 213.191.92.84
nameserver 145.253.2.75
nameserver 193.174.32.18

And finally:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

Thanks Klearview,

I've discovered that the server was running it's own DNS server. That was setup as part of the original config. The server was setup to host a web interface to a database used by a local community based transport service. I had hoped to install samba so the group could use this server as an file server extending the functionality of their network and saving money. As they sat in Ireland 'The recession is booming'!
Anyway I am in contact with the Guru who set this up and he will be paying a site visit in 2 weeks and said he help to configure the box. So I think I park this for a while and wait until the guy who knows what he's doing to show up.
Pity though, I am eager to work with Linux.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Pat