DNS question

[slim]

Have a problem setting up scan to folder and email using computer name and SMTP server. I have to use the IP addresses in order for it to work. I have the correct DNS address entered into the copier. What is it in the DNS system that will not allow the copier to resolve the names.

[unisys12]

For scan to folder, DNS does not come into play here. Remember that the PC that you want to scan to has to have a Windows Log In for you to browse to the designated scan folder.

As for your scan to e-mail issue... I have actually had better luck setting up scan to e-mail on our MFP's by not using the DNS info and simply entering the SMTP server address has you have done. It may be "wrong wrong dirty and wrong" to do that, but... it's worked for me.

As for troubleshooting your DNS issues, I would simply suggest pinging the IP address of the mail server and see if the name that comes back matches. At the same time, do the same with the server name and see if the same IP address comes back. If you cannot seem to figure out what the problem is though, I would kill a lot of time over it and simply leave the IP address in the MFP.

As for how DNS works... I found this no Wikipedia that might help a little.

Users generally do not communicate directly with a DNS resolver. Instead DNS-resolution takes place transparently in client-applications such as web-browsers, mail-clients, and other Internet applications. When an application makes a request which requires a DNS lookup, such programs send a resolution request to the local DNS resolver in the local operating system, which in turn handles the communications required.
The DNS resolver will almost invariably have a cache (see above) containing recent lookups. If the cache can provide the answer to the request, the resolver will return the value in the cache to the program that made the request. If the cache does not contain the answer, the resolver will send the request to one or more designated DNS servers. In the case of most home users, the Internet service provider to which the machine connects will usually supply this DNS server: such a user will either have configured that server's address manually or allowed DHCP to set it; however, where systems administrators have configured systems to use their own DNS servers, their DNS resolvers point to separately maintained nameservers of the organization. In any event, the name server thus queried will follow the process outlined above, until it either successfully finds a result or does not. It then returns its results to the DNS resolver; assuming it has found a result, the resolver duly caches that result for future use, and hands the result back to the software which initiated the request.

Domain Name System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[slim]

Yes, I agree with you to about using the IP address. Just one of those pondering questions I keep meaning to ask every time I run into this problem. Thanks for the other Info.

[slim]

You said in the reply that DNS does not play a role when you scan to folder. What is resolving the computer name in the SMB path.

[Nathaniel]

You said in the reply that DNS does not play a role when you scan to folder. What is resolving the computer name in the SMB path.

When scanning via SMB, Netbios is used to resolve names to IPs.

NetBIOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[slim]

Is that what WINS is for.

[Nathaniel]

yes in medium environments. In small networks with no WINS the computers do NetBIOS elections based on their OS_level flag to determine what OS will keep the NetBIOS database. Windows workstation OSes have a lower level OS_level then a Server grade OS. So each time a computer is added to a network without WINS or Active Directory a election must be held with the Master Browser and the new PC to find out who has the larger OS_level. Keep adding more PCs and you will begin to see how chatty this protocol is. In Active Directory environments, DNS manages computers and their browsability.

Some more details:
WINS is a Windows Internet Naming Service that can maintain a list of NetBIOS computer names and their ip address mappingsfor large networks (20+ computers). WINS helps reduce NetBIOS chatter by having the windows PCs query the WINS server directly instead of broadcasting computer name queries on the network. These WINS servers can also traverse subnets if setup properly helping with computer shares and discovery. WINS is becoming decrpit however due to only being needed by earlier versions of Windows 9x/ME computers. DNS has taken over this responsibility in large networks because of DNS integration in Windows 200X's Active Directory.

More info: Windows Internet Name Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[KyoceraNSM]

Is your SMTP Local to the LAN or is it outside the of the LAN? Port 25 may not be opened for the IP address scope range that the machine is on.

You can always ping the hostname, to see if address resolution occurs.

[schooltech]

It sounds like you may be working with a very simple network. Is there a client/server setup? What is the setup of the network? DNS may not be handled locally from what it sounds like. When DNS is handled locally, it will usually work much better.

As KyoceraNSM stated, just ping the hostname. Is DNS pointing to their router? It may not be in the table to be able to resolve or something.