Workstation unable to recognize ComputerName

[Guest_imported]

When trying to access a remote server within a WAN using its ComputerName it is sometimes necessary to define it by updating the LMHOST file.

e.g.
127.23.20.5 COMPUTERNAME

Once this has been defined, you can actually refer to the server just by calling its computer name :
e.g.
c:\>Ping COMPUTERNAME
Pinging COMPUTERNAME [127.23.20.5] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.23.20.5: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=127
Reply from 127.23.20.5: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=127
Reply from 127.23.20.5: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=127
Reply from 127.23.20.5: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=127

But how do you do this by using its DNS name instead of its IP Address?? We are trying to avoid using the IP address because in a contingency situation, we can not afford going into each individual PC to update their LMHOST file. If we can change the contingency server's DNS with the one used by the actual production server, then we don't have to worry about all the client PCs.

I appreciate any advise...

 

[dm7941]

1. you could run a WINS server
2. you could run a DHCP server and configure the clients to use DHCP for wins resolution
3. you could also run a true DNS server, but that one I can't help you much with. Every one I have set up has been connected to the internet and I used the &quot;defaults&quot; [blushes]


David Moore
dm7941@sbc.com

 

[Guest_imported]

thank you so much for the reply.

to begin with, we already have WINS server configured in our network that allows me to refer to some of our local servers just by using their ComputerNames... but when i try to access a remote server in one of our branch's datacenters, it tells me that the ComputerName is a bad IP address.

next thing i did was to get the IP address of the primary WINS server as configured from the remote server that i was trying to access and made it as my workstation's secondary WINS server... and yes! its working!!! i can now refer to it just by calling its ComputerName...