I am using iptables and i was able to setup the chains to accept pings (icmp), i set the same rule for the output as the input "-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT" "-A OUTPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT" but am still not able to resolve names on the box. I can ping everything by ip address but not name. when i shut down the iptables service i can ping everything by name so this leads me to believe that it's a iptables config issuse. what needs to be opened for pings to resovle?

Rick

Sounds like the problem is with DNS hostname lookups rather than with the ping traffic itself. Try allowing DNS traffic in and out to your ISPs DNS servers.

Make sure u have the folowing rulez:

#Enable Nameresolving
$IPTABLES -A OUTPUT -o eth0 -p udp --destination-port 53 -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p udp --source-port 53 -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

#Enable icmp this also fix that people or hackers cannot ping u from the outside world./inside.
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A OUTPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-reply -j ACCEPT

This wil fix the prob.
After u have checked your resolv.conf file

have fun

EyeWiTTneSS