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    (solved) 2.5 connecting via hostname not working across interfaces

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved DHCP and DNS
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    • Bob.DigB
      Bob.Dig LAYER 8
      last edited by Bob.Dig

      Not sure if this is the right place.
      I used to connect RDP via hostname, this has always worked for me with 2.4.5.
      Now with a fresh 2.5 it works only on the same interface.
      I could add the domain under general setup and that works, but I am curious why it is not working with hostname only between different interfaces anymore.

      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Bob.Dig
        last edited by

        broadcasting for a name isn't going to work across networks. Did you have some other avhai or pimd working for discovery?

        Did you change the domain - so your clients are no longer adding suffix to a search when you use just a host name.

        dns always has to be fully qualified to resolve..

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

        Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Bob.DigB
          Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @johnpoz
          last edited by

          @johnpoz No, just installed pfsense from the get go. Don't know why it worked before.

          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Bob.Dig
            last edited by

            What was your old version of pfsense? Long time ago dns would resolve just hostnames - but that bug was removed back 2.x something.. Multiple versions back..

            If you want to resolve by just putting in hostname, set your device to use search suffix for the domain your using..

            example..

            $ ping nas
            
            Pinging nas.local.lan [192.168.9.10] with 32 bytes of data:
            Reply from 192.168.9.10: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
            

            See how it comes back fully qualified while just using nas.. Because the OS is auto adding local.lan when it does the dns query..

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

            Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Bob.DigB
              Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz Always used the most recent version and my client is Windows without a domain. And I changed the domain in 2.4.5p1 to home.arpa already and that hostname only thing still has worked for my. So the only thing changed was a fresh install of pfSense version 2.5!
              If I remember correct you had to do a reboot on pfSense to get this working, after adding the static mappings in the DHCP server.

              GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • GertjanG
                Gertjan @Bob.Dig
                last edited by

                @bob-dig

                cat /etc/hosts

                Is the devices to which you RDP-connect listed ?

                I can (pfSense 2.5.0) use host names :

                ba63914b-a5ca-499b-9014-01e3cf750263-image.png

                No need to use the hostname.network.tld format, although that works to.

                Btw : the device I RDP to have static DJCP MAC leases.

                No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                Edit : and where are the logs ??

                Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • Bob.DigB
                  Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @Gertjan
                  last edited by Bob.Dig

                  @gertjan Hey gertjan, they are listed with IP, domain name and hostname only and it is still not possible for me to connect via hostname only, if the target is on another interface/subnet. And that has worked before. Maybe it shouldn't work, then I am ok with it, I am open to change, but found it noteworthy.

                  GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • GertjanG
                    Gertjan @Bob.Dig
                    last edited by

                    @bob-dig

                    The /etc/hosts file is used to populate the local unbound resolve cache.
                    So, unbound knows about them.

                    Check for yourself, on the console :

                    dig @127.0.0.1 device
                    

                    It should give you the correct answer.

                    Now, dig (or nslookup) on the device from where you RDP from. Is DNS working ? If yes, it should resolve the hostname you are using to connect to.

                    No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                    Edit : and where are the logs ??

                    Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • Bob.DigB
                      Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @Gertjan
                      last edited by Bob.Dig

                      @gertjan It is not working like that in a fresh pfSense 2.5 I guess:

                      [2.5.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: dig @127.0.0.1 mail
                      
                      ; <<>> DiG 9.16.11 <<>> @127.0.0.1 mail
                      ; (1 server found)
                      ;; global options: +cmd
                      ;; Got answer:
                      ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 57206
                      ;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1
                      
                      ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
                      ; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
                      ;; QUESTION SECTION:
                      ;mail.                          IN      A
                      
                      ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
                      .                       3600    IN      SOA     a.root-servers.net.nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2021030100 1800 900 604800 86400
                      
                      ;; Query time: 7 msec
                      ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
                      ;; WHEN: Mon Mar 01 09:33:29 CET 2021
                      ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 108
                      
                      [2.5.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root: dig @127.0.0.1 mail.home.arpa
                      
                      ; <<>> DiG 9.16.11 <<>> @127.0.0.1 mail.home.arpa
                      ; (1 server found)
                      ;; global options: +cmd
                      ;; Got answer:
                      ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 29863
                      ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
                      
                      ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
                      ; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
                      ;; QUESTION SECTION:
                      ;mail.home.arpa.                        IN      A
                      
                      ;; ANSWER SECTION:
                      mail.home.arpa.         3600    IN      A       192.168.92.10
                      
                      ;; Query time: 0 msec
                      ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
                      ;; WHEN: Mon Mar 01 09:36:17 CET 2021
                      ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 59
                      
                      [2.5.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.home.arpa]/root:
                      
                      GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • GertjanG
                        Gertjan @Bob.Dig
                        last edited by

                        @bob-dig
                        See the image of mu RDP connect above, it lists my LAn device I 'RDP' to .

                        The full (local) domain name was needed :

                        [2.5.0-RELEASE][admin@pfsense.me.net]/boot/kernel: dig Bureau2 +short
                        [2.5.0-RELEASE][admin@pfsense.me.net]/boot/kernel: dig Bureau2.me.net +short
                        192.168.1.2
                        

                        From a windows device,it worked with the host name only :

                        C:\Users\Gauche>nslookup Bureau2
                        Serveur :   pfsense.me.net
                        Address:  2001:470:1f13:5c0:2::1
                        
                        Nom :    Bureau2.me.net
                        Addresses:  2001:470:1f13:5c0:2::88
                                  192.168.1.2
                        

                        Probably because my Windows prefixes (appended ?) the local domain name.

                        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                        Edit : and where are the logs ??

                        Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • Bob.DigB
                          Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @Gertjan
                          last edited by Bob.Dig

                          @gertjan It is not working here and my windows is not new. Host file is empty on it, just checked. And it had worked on the last days of the old pfSense, where I already changed the domain to home.arpa...

                          PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nslookup mail
                          Server:  pfSense.home.arpa
                          Address:  192.168.1.1
                          
                          *** pfSense.home.arpa can't find mail: Non-existent domain
                          PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> nslookup mail.home.arpa
                          Server:  pfSense.home.arpa
                          Address:  192.168.1.1
                          
                          Name:    mail.home.arpa
                          Address:  192.168.92.10
                          
                          PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
                          
                          GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GertjanG
                            Gertjan @Bob.Dig
                            last edited by

                            @bob-dig said in 2.5 connecting via hostname not working across interfaces:

                            and my windows is not new. Host file is empty on it,

                            The host file on windows == don't care.
                            I was talking about the hosts file of pfSense.

                            Make your Windows IPv4 DHCP "domain name aware" :

                            53008350-106b-42e6-866a-9a4cc471b6e9-image.png

                            No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                            Edit : and where are the logs ??

                            Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Bob.DigB
                              Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @Gertjan
                              last edited by

                              @gertjan Thanks for the solution.
                              Although it was not the point of my posting. ๐Ÿ™‚

                              GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • GertjanG
                                Gertjan @Bob.Dig
                                last edited by

                                @bob-dig said in 2.5 connecting via hostname not working across interfaces:

                                @gertjan Thanks for the solution.
                                Although it was not the point of my posting. ๐Ÿ™‚

                                Ah, yes, the issue :

                                @bob-dig said in 2.5 connecting via hostname not working across interfaces:

                                I used to connect RDP via hostname, this has always worked for me with 2.4.5.
                                Now with a fresh 2.5 it works only on the same interface.

                                Check :

                                Can you actually connect from 'a network' to 'another network' : check your firewall wall rules on the 'a network' interface.
                                Also : the system you RDP to accepts connection form the 'a network' ? and not only from its own network ?

                                I didn't detect any changes. I can still RDP into my 'local' systems using aremote VPN access etc.

                                No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                                Edit : and where are the logs ??

                                Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Bob.DigB
                                  Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @Gertjan
                                  last edited by Bob.Dig

                                  @gertjan RDP just works fine via FQDN, so it is the pfSense DNS-Resolver which now behaves differently, thanks to all our testing, I would say.

                                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • johnpozJ
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Bob.Dig
                                    last edited by johnpoz

                                    @bob-dig said in 2.5 connecting via hostname not working across interfaces:

                                    DNS-Resolver which now behaves differently

                                    Again what version of pfsense were you on?? 2.3.3 fixed the problem of resolving just hostnames.

                                    https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/2-3-3.html#dns-resolver-forwarder
                                    Changed behavior of DNS Resolver overrides to only add FQDN entries, not short hostnames #6064

                                    That was Feb of 2017

                                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

                                    Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Bob.DigB
                                      Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @johnpoz
                                      last edited by Bob.Dig

                                      @johnpoz 2.4.5.p1, as I said, always the latest. So you say, it is not a bug, it is feature? I can't quite see it, but good to know.
                                      I think I started with pfSense with 2.4.4., but not sure exactly.
                                      The other change is I now use a gen2 VM instead of a gen1 VM and another NIC (Hyper-V).

                                      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Bob.Dig
                                        last edited by johnpoz

                                        It resolving just hostname was a bug yes.

                                        dns - to resolve it must be fqdn.

                                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • JeGrJ
                                          JeGr LAYER 8 Moderator
                                          last edited by

                                          Or another thing that could be the culprit would be the DHCP Domain added to your client. If that changed in your new install of 2.5 or you added VLANs and used different Domain parts in DHCP for those (vlan1.home.arpa, vlan2.home.arpa, lan.home.arpa etc) and/or your windows client didn't get the domain search path (or a new one), a lookup of "nslookup <name>" won't get resolved anymore. With domain search path set to "home.arpa" that should be extended to "<name>.home.arpa" and if that won't exist or is unknown to unbound, that won't get you far. I think there was some bug/problem with DHCP and different default domains or search paths per VLAN but I'm not entirely sure ;)

                                          But setting the domain search path in DHCP (or manually adding the suffix as Gertjan pointed out on the client itself) should let Windows resolve hostnames only

                                          Don't forget to upvote ๐Ÿ‘ those who kindly offered their time and brainpower to help you!

                                          If you're interested, I'm available to discuss details of German-speaking paid support (for companies) if needed.

                                          Bob.DigB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • Bob.DigB
                                            Bob.Dig LAYER 8 @JeGr
                                            last edited by Bob.Dig

                                            @jegr Definitely did none of those things before and now.

                                            But RDP-Client is very sticky with targets anyway so there will be no discomfort once I have all of them in there and I deleted all hostnames. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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