WHS2011 – Unable to ping Server Name, but CAN ping IP

[Mike Garcen]

So having a weird problem that I have had in the past and don’t remember how i fixed it. I just finished setting up my WHS2011 and while i can ping it fine by it’s IP address, when I try to ping it by it’s friendly name “SERVER” it doesn’t work.

The server being used is an HP MediaSmart EX495, so if i lose IP access, i would literally have to format and start from scratch.

But that being said, I’ve tried all sorts of things. I’m using a Linksys WRT54g with Tomato 1.28 firmware.

Any thoughts or ideas?

btw, I *think* this is the reason I can’t install the Windows Home Server connector software on one of my systems, but can’t be sure.

[swoon]

Can it even ping itself using the name?

[Mike Garcen]

yes, it can ping itself via it’s server name, but it’s strange, it shows the MAC address and not the IP:

 

Pinging SERVERNAME [fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX: time<1ms

Ping statistics for fe80::XXX:f7XX:6fXX:1XX%XX:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

[swoon]

Actually, that looks like an IPv6 address. Maybe you can start with the basics. perform arp -d on the server/client machines. Ping from the client using SERVER as the address and check to see if ARP worked (arp -a).

[Mike Garcen]

ok, so i ran arp -d on both server and client. still same thing.

when i did arp -a, i see the following:

Interface: 192.168.1.101 — 0xa
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.1.1           00-0f-66-2c-a1-5e     dynamic
  192.168.1.131         00-18-dd-01-b7-bc     dynamic
  192.168.1.139         00-26-2d-00-65-59     dynamic
  224.0.0.252           01-00-5e-00-00-fc     static
  239.255.255.250       01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa     static

[swoon]

When you did arp -d on the server did you enter “arp -d <client IP>” and then on the client “arp -d <server IP>”. After that, ping from client and perform arp -a on server and client.

[Mike Garcen]

ok, so i see this on the server:

Interface: 192.168.1.139 — 0xb
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.1.1           00-0f-66-2c-a1-5e     dynamic
  192.168.1.115         00-0e-3b-23-0b-31     dynamic
  192.168.1.131         00-18-dd-01-b7-bc     dynamic
  192.168.1.255         ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static
  224.0.0.2             01-00-5e-00-00-02     static
  224.0.0.252           01-00-5e-00-00-fc     static
  224.0.0.253           01-00-5e-00-00-fd     static
  239.255.255.250       01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa     static
  255.255.255.255       ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static

And this on the client:

Interface: 192.168.1.101 — 0xa
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.1.1           00-0f-66-2c-a1-5e     dynamic
  192.168.1.115         00-0e-3b-23-0b-31     dynamic
  192.168.1.117         f0-b4-79-1e-0b-89     dynamic
  192.168.1.131         00-18-dd-01-b7-bc     dynamic
  192.168.1.255         ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static
  224.0.0.251           01-00-5e-00-00-fb     static
  224.0.0.252           01-00-5e-00-00-fc     static
  239.255.255.250       01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa     static

 

So…what’s it mean? 🙂 Did it work? i tried pinging and no change

[swoon]

The ARP table keeps track of the physical (MAC) addresses that are associated with IP addresses. Looking at your information, I can see that there is no entry for 192.168.1.139 in the client’s table and no entry for 192.168.1.101 in the server’s table. This means that what is most likely happening is the client is unable to resolve the “SERVER” name into an IP address.

Next thing, perform an “ipconfig /all” on each machine and see what it says. Also, just a random idea, try disabling IPv6 on WHS under the Network properties and see what happens.

[Mike Garcen]

sonofa…aaron by gosh u got it. i disabled IPv6 and voila, server can ping client, and client can ping server (and it shows IP address)!!

So…stupid question…do i lose anything by not having IPv6?

Thanks aaron

[swoon]

You probably have no reason to use IPv6 right now. It is there for the one day you might.

[Techbutton]

[quote=swoon]

You probably have no reason to use IPv6 right now. It is there for the one day you might.

[/quote]

I have noticed some of those older routers with the modified OS on them have given me issues with IPv6.

[Mike Garcen]

I think we might have to convert this to a tip (but hopefully one of you with better understanding of it), because ever since i turned off IPv6 on my Home Server, I never have problems RDPing into it, even with m y Mac. On my old WHS, i would constantly have to login via the IP because for whatever reason it forgot the friendly name.

[swoon]

Mike,

Can you run a test to determine if the router is the cause of your issue? Just plug your PC and WHS into a dumb switch or direct connect (with crossover if needed). Turn IPv6 back on and see what happens. 

[mikinho]

[quote=swoon]

Mike,

Can you run a test to determine if the router is the cause of your issue? Just plug your PC and WHS into a dumb switch or direct connect (with crossover if needed). Turn IPv6 back on and see what happens. 

[/quote]

Not important to this conversation but cross-over isn’t needed.  1000BASE-T standard (aka IEEE 802.3ab) requires Auto-MDIX so all Gigabit Ethernet network cards will auto detect and use the cable accordingly.

 

[Author]

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