[SOLVED] DNS problem: localhost not found

[ecobrazim]

Hi all,

I am so close to getting zimbra working. Just one more obstacle!

I have zimbra natted and the DNS on the firewall doing the natting.

My problem is that zimbra seems to only look at DNS content and never the hosts file which leads to:

(Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=localhost type=A: Host not found)

sure enough:

$ host localhost
localhost.precognet.com does not exist (Authoritative answer)

What can I do to get round this problem... other than installing a DNS server on zimbra? Can zimbra not check the DNS first and then the host file?

Many thanks for your help!
-eco

[soxfan]

You may be able to get Zimbra going this way, but personally I think you are fighting a losing battle trying to make Zimbra work without properly configuring DNS. I'd recommend looking at the wiki pages for DNS and Split DNS (which you may need in your case). Also search the forums; there's tons of info on setting up DNS. It's really not that difficult and there are a lot of people willing to help if you run into issues.

[ecobrazim]

Kind of expected that... I'll install a DNS on zimbra then but doesn't it seem a tad overkill for a localhost query.

Still, if it's the way to go, that's what I'll do

Thanks for your reply.
-eco

[ArcaneMagus]

Try making sure that your /etc/host.conf file has a line like:

order hosts,bind

As this tells your system in which order to use resolving services (In this case it uses the hosts file and then bind)

Your /etc/hosts file should also look similar to:

127.0.0.1       localhost  localhost.localdomain
internal IP server.domain.tld server

Edit:
Looks like you should also check /etc/nsswitch.conf which should have a line like:

hosts:          files dns