Inside a Windows domain network, are there any configuration steps that need to be performed on an openSUSE 11.2 client machine to get it to register the openSUSE hostname with the Windows DNS server so that other machines can connect to them by name rather than IP address?
We use a Windows server for DNS and DHCP. It is also a Domain controller.
Let us hope that even a DNS server running on a MS system keeps to the DNS standards. When yes, the are no special things done by the client. service.
It depends of course on the configuration of the DNS server what features it supports, but the client can not do very much about this.
Well, it’s got me stumped right now - the Windows server’s DHCP hands out an IP to the client, but it doesn’t register the client’s hostname in its DNS tables. So we have to use hosts files on the other machines to “see” an openSUSE box.
Yep, “it just works”. 
Hi,
this may help:
On your windows server open the dhcp program. Open the properties of the server listed as your dhcp server. Then go to “dns” and check the last box (linux clients connect with samba, which acts like win nt 4.0 to a domain).
on the client I would suggest using the traditional netwerkconfig, there are problems with networkmanager sending the hostname (at least last time I’ve tried).
Interesting - that could be it, since most of your client machines are laptops and they use NetworkManager.
Hi,
first of all I would connect another PC via a hub (!). The hub should be connected to the Suse-PC which cannot be registered, the other PC and the switch which leads to the domain controller. After that launch on that PC wireshark (or any other sniffer you like) and analyze the traffic. So you can find out if it is a problem with Suse (doesn’t send the host name) or with the windows server (doesn’t accept the host name).
If the host name is not accepted by the windows server you have to check your server policies (wrong forum 
). If the client doesn’t send the host name and the network manager could be a problem I would give an alternative network manager a shot.
An interesting problem. Please post the solution. 
hth
Erik
I’ll see if we can get that staged. I guess I’ll have to search the attic for a hub 
If the client doesn’t send the host name and the network manager could be a problem I would give an alternative network manager a shot.
I did not know there were such things as “alternative network manager”… I am not tied to KNetworkmanager when on KDE?
Go to YaST and then Networksettings. On the first tab, you can choose between traditional and networkmanager. Change it to traditional. Then in the second tab, configure your networkcard with dhcp. On the third tab you can set your hostname and your dns servers.
It is possible that on the windows side you have to define a dedicated user account to make synchronizations between the dhcp and dns server (I’m not sure, it’s been a while).
And in your windows dhcp server program you can check if the linux client is sending it’s hostname. There will be an entry in the folder “address leases” with an ip and hopefully a correct hostname. If this is correct, then everything is ok on the linux side and you just have to figure out how to synchronize the dns and dhcp services on your windows server.
And while you’re in the network settings, disable the ipv6. You actually are only going to need that if you’re an isp or you have quadrillionmillion hosts on your lan. Only the wan port on your router has to support ipv6 (and maybe some servers directly connected to the internet, but you can also bypass that by masquerading and port forwarding -iptables and routing stuff- )
Hi,
sorry for not replying earlier. My inet connection was down. Three days extra holidays.
Well, it is not easy to find but they are still sold.
Hey, this is Linux not windows. You are only tied to your knowledge. Even the kernel you may patch knowing how to do this. Google told me e. g. this:
Colorful Curiosities: WICD: An Alternative Network Manager [Linux Only]
hth
Bye
Erik
This is due to a long-standing bug in networkmanager since openSUSE 11.0. It does not send the hostname to the DHCP server.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=404663
Etc…
It’s been over a year since I’ve explored Linux/Active Directory integration.
First, a thought on what has been discussed in this thread already. A workaround I would implement to avoid the bug mentioned would be after initially adding your Linux boxes to AD and network connectivity is established, to modify your DHCP TTL to indefinitely reserve the dynamically assigned addresses (which is likely preferable to manually creating normal DHCP Reservations which would also work). Note that if you don’t want to do this to every machine in your network normal DHCP reservations support defining scopes for different groups of machines and assigning addresses with different properties to each.
Secondly, there are a few products out there I would highly recommend that would enhance your AD to be able to manage your Linux boxes in varying degrees like Windows Boxes… AD isn’t just an authentication system, one of its core features is to be able to manage machines in your network centrally without having to touch each machine individually through the application of policies. Yes, you can still manage “old school” through script distribution only, but it’s vastly easier to use AD to either push or manage pre-configured policies as well as to push your scripts. And, of course you’d have a graphical way of viewing each machine or groups of machines’ internal configuration.
So, the first product I’d recommend is the Likewise Open Source (freeware) add-on. It’s not as full featured as its commercial product which is still very reasonably priced. There only a few other similar products which vary in capability so don’t automatically choose one over another without careful evaluation.
**Likewise Open Source **Software that Authenticates Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory](http://www.likewise.com/products/likewise_open/)
HTH,
Tony