On Mon, 2012-10-01 at 16:01 -0700, jackson byers wrote: > what do you mean by stale DNS? how to tell e.g. Using DNS servers you were told to (or the equipment was automatically configured to use), which are no longer valid. For instance, years ago, my ISP changed their DNS server addresses, and anybody who used the old ones wouldn't have had a working network. Sometime you have ISPs which tell you to use certain DNS server addresses on their website help pages, but their system automatically tells your computer to use some other addresses as it connects up. You're left wondering which ones you should use, and sometimes it is not the ones that they've left their system to automatically tell your system about. And, in some cases, perhaps many cases, some ISPs just have dreadful DNS servers, and you're better off using something else. Mine have been in the past, so I run my own DNS servers. Some people use one of Google's DNS servers at 8.8.8.8. NB: Be aware that you may need to use your own ISPs DNS servers if you have a non-public IP address, and some of their servers that you need to use have a non-public IP address, too (such as if you had to do email through their mail servers). > ping 8.8.8.8 fails... > 56(84) bytes of data > from 192.168.2.8.....destination host unreachable Ping only tests that something responds to pings, and it doesn't have to. If you want to test whether you can get DNS records from 8.8.8.8 as a DNS server, then do a DNS request of it. You can change your resolv.conf, or just use a tool that lets you ask specific servers on demand. e.g. dig example.com @8.8.8.8 > resolv.conf looks normal to me, been using it for a long time > > generated by network manager > search pacbell.net > nameserver 206.13.31.12 > nameserver 68.94.156.1 And you could test them in the same way. dig example.com @206.13.31.12 dig example.com @68.94.156.1 Both of them gave prompt answers, to me, and I'm not even on their network. > the only new info: > the imac now is running internet access ethernet , prev was on airport wless'' > so, as of now, the imac seems to have survived the switch to att-uverse > which suggests f16 should be able to do also > but I have no clue If you're running different computers and/or OSs on a network that directly connects you to them, then there may need to be a reset time between changes. If you have a router between you and them, then that shouldn't be a problem. The router would be what they see, all the time, and what you connect behind it isn't any of their affair. > att today gave a runaround: > one tech said their normal support cant help at all w linux, Sometimes it's best to lie to tech support. Say you are using Windows when you're not, that you just need the information to manually configure it. But, again, if you connect to your ISP through a modem/router, rather than plug a computer direct into their equipment, it should be support for configuring the router, rather than a computer. Looking back at your original posting: > Imac does have internet, after following > att rep on phone, > to somehow ( I am forgetting the steps, probably) > --click on something like wlesspanel ? > --click on 2wire397 > > --enter a 10digit key found on back of new modem If that 10 digit key is something looking like this, "00:1A:92:D8:F2:79" (actually more than 10 digits), that's the MAC of the ethernet port, and they're asking you to set your current ethernet port to have the same MAC address of another device's. That isn't going to work if you try to put several devices on the same network with the same MAC. You should probably describe your network in greater detail, particularly what's between your ISP and your computers (modem/router, ethernet hole in the wall...). Some ISPs supply you with one public IP, and you'd need a router doing NAT between you and them to share the IP between multiple devices. Some ISPs give you multiple public IPs, and you can simply have a switch/hub between you and them. The more info, the less guessing games by us, and less advice that's going to lead you down the wrong path. -- [tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org