cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
1774
Views
0
Helpful
10
Replies

Cisco 2911: Local machine names wont work

Michiel Beenen
Level 3
Level 3

Hello there all,

I have a 2911 router inside our network with both DHCP and DNS enabled.

Everything works fine except since we use this router we are not being able to go to the network neighbourhood in Windows and look up machines by name (or typing \\diskstation for example). Connecting by IP works fine but not by local machine names.

Any idea what could cause this and how to solve it?

Thank you,

Michiel

10 Replies 10

Peter Paluch
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi Michiel,

What Windows versions are you using in your LAN? I am not sure if the \\name style of connecting to Windows workstations works without your own DNS in which these names are assigned IP addresses.

Older Windows used broadcast-based Netbios Name Service to resolve names to IP addresses dynamically, or used the WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service) servers as a DNS replacement for browsing purposes. However, I would need to check if WinXP and higher still can be made to use the broadcast style of name lookups. Still, the best way of doing this would probably use your 2911 as a local DNS server and configure it with the list of your Windows workstations and their appropriate IP addresses (if they are static).

Best regards,

Peter

Windows 7 on all machines And our popcornhour devices also dont see it, only when directly typing in the IP.

The 2911 is configured as local DNS (all devices have the local ip of the router assigned as DNS).

Ofc workstations are not staticly set but get a dynamic ip from the router itself.

Though, the diskstation for example is out of the range it is on .5 (we put the dynamic range between .10 to .100)

Could that have something to do with it?

Hello Michiel,

Having the stations simply use a DNS server without having their names recorded in the DNS will not help. And sadly, because your stations use dynamic IP addresses, it is not possible to do static configuration of this DNS.

As I browsed over various articles, Windows 7 should be using the so-called LLMNR protocol to resolve names into IP addresses. The packets of this protocol are sent to the destination IP address of 224.0.0.252 and to the UDP destination port 5355. Please check if this UDP port is open in your Windows firewall. Also it would be helpful if you could install the Wireshark software on a PC and capture the network traffic while you try to access a server using its \\name URI. I am very interested in seeing if your Windows send out any DNS, LLMNR or NetBIOS Name Service queries as a result.

Best regards,

Peter

Mohamed Sobair
Level 7
Level 7

Hello Michael,

It would be Difficult to resolve names to IP without a local DNS server. However, with your current setup you have one option is to modify the local DNS host file in The Windows Machine.

Just lookup it here:

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

You then need to manually enter the Server names followed by the IP addresses , once done and saved , you can access windows hosts by their names, keep in mind that the Local DNS host file in Windows has always preference of other Name Servers.

Regards,

Mohamed

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPad App

Hello Mohamed,

Umm... Michiel has indicated already that his stations are assigned dynamic IP addresses via DHCP. If they were addressed statically, I would have shown him how to configure his 2900 router with static DNS A RRs.

We have to get the LLMNR running here.

Best regards,

Peter

Hello Peter,

The Windows 7 indeed uses LLMNR protocol , but this protocol doesn't resolve Name to IP without local DNS Server, this DNS Server could be a router or a local DNS , if he doesn't have one then he can't resolve names to IP , therefore , it would be the best option to have his Servers Statically assigned and normal users can get their IPs from the DHCP server. Another way is to have the host file DNS has all required entries. The only option with this protocol is to run the clients in a home group setup.

Is he running the computers in a home WorkGroup setup? If so, then the case would be different.

Regards,

Mohamed

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPad App

Hello Mohamed,

Well, Michiel indicated that his Windows network neighborhood works only using the \\IP and not using the \\name style. I take it as an indication that Michiel runs his Windows machines in a single IP network. For this, the LLMNR should be fine.

I am of course not talking about using DNS for normal internet connectivity.

Best regards,

Peter

Michiel Beenen
Level 3
Level 3

It is a single IP network indeed all in the same range. Some pc's do show up, some dont.

And again, we have the local DNS activated on the router (which forwards calls to opendns when needed).

Hi Michiel,

My last recommendations hold - verify if there is any firewall being installed on your PCs, either Windows built-in or 3rd party, and make sure if the LLMNR protocol (destination IP 224.0.252, UDP destination port 5355) is permitted by the firewall.

Also try to capture the network traffic using Wireshark and see if LLMNR requests are being sent when you access the \\name URI.

Best regards,

Peter

Michiel Beenen
Level 3
Level 3

Hello all and thanks for all the replies,

There is no firewalls enabled on any of the pc's so that's definitely not it.

Since it is specifically the diskstation from Synology im having this issue with I think im going over to there forums to complain about this I can see all other clients fine on the network except the synology NAS.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Innovations in Cisco Full Stack Observability - A new webinar from Cisco