GPIB ENET/100 hostname problem

[bicycle]

Here is the error from EthernetConfig (Mac OS X 10.4):

This device uses DHCP and is configured to use the hostname "nienet11eb84e". However, the DHCP server assigned it the hostname "nienet11eb84e". Your device must be configured with a valid hostname to function properly.

So I select "Change the device's hostname to match the DNS entry" and the error repeats. Happens with all of our ENET interfaces.

So what is it really complaining about? We are on a private subnet with Linux-based DNS/DHCP.

[Anna_M]

Hi bicycle,

That's an interesting problem.  Have you tried manually assigning the IP address to see what results that gives you?  You may also want to try out this knowledgebase article which also has a link at the bottom for Mac OS specific information.  Hope this helps!

[bicycle]

Static IP assignment works, but is frowned upon in our environment. All our other 70 or so computers and devices are happy with DHCP. The problem as I see it is that the error message is incomplete or misleading.

I have packet sniffing tools and I have programmed TCP/IP servers/clients in C. How do I get more complete information from NI software/hardware? Why does it care? What problem is it trying to prevent? Why doesn't NI hardware/software use DNS information in a standard way?

************
Here is some data on another ENET/100 which is currently set up to use DHCP. First the DNS information:
jennifer:~/Desktop/BDsoft/REV129 swalker$ dig nienet101160.egs.irs

; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> nienet101160.egs.irs
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 21126
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;nienet101160.egs.irs. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
nienet101160.egs.irs. 172800 IN A 10.0.0.42

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
egs.irs. 172800 IN NS irs52.egs.irs.
egs.irs. 172800 IN NS irs53.egs.irs.
egs.irs. 172800 IN NS yolk.egs.irs.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
yolk.egs.irs. 172800 IN A 10.0.0.10
irs52.egs.irs. 172800 IN A 10.0.0.2
irs53.egs.irs. 172800 IN A 10.0.0.3

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 10.0.0.3#53(10.0.0.3)
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 23 11:10:39 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 161

Now when I run EthernetConfig I see two almost identical UDP broadcasts from this ENET/100 which embeds the host part of hostname in the data area:

Packet Info
Flags: 0x00
Status: 0x00
Packet Length: 230
Timestamp: 11:11:42.754303 03/23/2007
Ethernet Header
Destination: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF Ethernet Broadcast
Source: 00:80:2F:10:11:60
Protocol Type: 0x0800 IP
IP Header - Internet Protocol Datagram
Version: 4
Header Length: 5 (20 bytes)
Type of Service: %00000000
000. .... Precedence: Routine
...0 .... Normal Delay
.... 0... Normal Throughput
.... .0.. Normal Reliability
.... ..0. ECT bit - transport protocol will ignore the CE bit
.... ...0 CE bit - no congestion

Total Length: 212
Identifier: 46624
Fragmentation Flags: %000
0.. Reserved
.0. May Fragment
..0 Last Fragment

Fragment Offset: 0 (0 bytes)
Time To Live: 64
Protocol: 17 UDP - User Datagram Protocol
Header Checksum: 0xB9CF
Source IP Address: 10.0.0.42
Dest. IP Address: 255.255.255.255 IP Broadcast
No IP Options
UDP - User Datagram Protocol
Source Port: 44515
Destination Port: 50097
Length: 192
Checksum: 0x0D8C
Application Layer
Data Area:
ED..N..0C9...... 45 44 08 01 4E 02 C9 30 43 39 01 08 95 A8 00 80
/..`........GPIB 2F 10 11 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 47 50 49 42
-ENET/100....... 2D 45 4E 45 54 2F 31 30 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
............nien 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 6E 69 65 6E
et101160........ 65 74 31 30 31 31 36 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00
.*.............. 00 2A FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 03 00 00
......NI 00 00 00 00 00 00 4E 49
FCS - Frame Check Sequence
FCS: 0x2F62CB0E

[Roland A.]

Hello bicycle:

Have you tried to ping the hostname using the Mac terminal? I attached a screenshot of how I did it in Windows OS.