Host name not identified with the domain suffix in LAN

Hallo to everybody
I posted this msg in the DNS forum, but i have been told that it's OT, so i'm posting it here. I absolutely don't want to make crossposting.

I have a LAN with Windows 2000 Server and a domain created with Active Directory. Clients are (the most) Win2000 Pro.
The computer's name and the network ID appears to be configured the same way on all the clients, but some computers are recognised (for example in db connections) as "COMPNAME.domain.ext", others are recognized as "COMPNAME" without any domain suffix.

If i check the system properties of my clients they apperars to be configured the same way:

Complete computer name: COMPNAME.domain.ext
Domain: domain.ext
(Properties) Computer name: COMPNAME

But if check my network with a specific tool (i used Look@LAN) i find that 1st group of clients (the ones correctly identified) show "COMPNAME.domain.ext" as "Primary name" and the 2nd group (the wrong identified) show "COMPNAME".

How do i change the "Primary name" of theese clients ?
I don'k know how it has been set and i cannot see any entry in the system properties dialogs of Windows for making a change.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Actually, I think there is a 50/50 chance this does relate to DNS, just not Internet DNS.

This actually sounds like a WINS problem. Are you running WINS too? This is what you need to check, compare, and fix:

Go to a machine that resolves correctly, and look at:

1. Start->Network Connections (maybe Start->Control Panel->Network Connections)
2. Right click on the Local Area Network connection and choose properties.
3. Double click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
4. Click the Advanced... button
5. Go to DNS tab and make sure "Register this connection's addresses in DNS" is checked.
6. Go to the WINS tab and see what it says (I don't recommend you make any changes)

Now go to a machine that isn't working correctly and compare the two. More than likely the checkbox for "Register this connection's addresses in DNS" isn't checked, but the WINS is configured the same in both cases.

If that doesn't help get things fixed I'll need more information (like "all the clients that don't work on Windows 98", etc). But that should give you a whole new area of things to check.

Regards,
Alan

DNS Services: Nettica.com

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