13.1 Server Infrastructure

The server setup and operating procedures for Novell Linux Point of Service servers are easy in most circumstances. However, the distributed nature of the Novell Linux Point of Service system might provide some challenges. The following section describes frequently encountered difficulties with name resolution.

13.1.1 Name Resolution

Care must be taken to ensure that the system can resolve its own name to its IP address on the branch network, especially when configuring the Branch Servers with posInitBranchserver.sh.

If the system has only one network interface, or if the eth0 interface is the branch network interface, the correct resolution is done through the /etc/hosts file, where YaST adds the correct entries. Otherwise, add the corresponding line to /etc/hosts manually or make sure that DNS is able to resolve the hostname.

Symptoms

If the DHCP server configuration file /etc/dhcpd.conf is not created properly, poscheckip.pl returns the following error code:

# poscheckip.pl
# echo $?
1

If the dhcpd.conf file is created properly, poscheckip.pl returns the correct hostname, address, netmask and domain as follows:

# poscheckip.pl
bs      192.168.150.1   255.255.255.0   Lab.HQ.mycorp.us
# echo $?
0

Hints

  • Make sure that /etc/named.conf lists the right parent. Configure the DNS servers as forwarders.
  • Add the hostname to /etc/hosts.
  • When using DHCP to configure the external (WAN) network interface of the Branch Server, set the DHCP client on the Branch Server to modify named.conf instead of resolv.conf in /etc/sysconfig/network/config. The variables are MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF_DYNAMICALLY and MODIFY_NAMED_CONF_DYNAMICALLY. The template file is prepared for this.