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How do I work disconnected from the network, for example with a notebook?
If a Linux PC (RH 6.2) is configured to use a DNS, but is temporarily disconnected from the network, it does not behave properly. In this situation, none of the configured DNS is available (assuming there is no a local DNS) and:
Actually, they do not hang forever, but just for about 15 minutes, then they go on and work fine. The solution (or better the workaround) is to edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and, when disconnected from the network, remove from the line:
hosts: files dns
the 'dns' option, so that it looks:
hosts: files
The line 'hosts: files dns'
should mean that when (reverse-)resolving names, the resolver should look first in /etc/hosts then in the DNS. Nevertheless, in our case it seems to look anyway first in the DNS'es. If you remove the 'dns'
option, it looks only in /etc/hosts and it works immediately, but you have to remember to change again the /etc/nsswitch.conf file if you want to use the DNS again.
-- DavidFugate - 28 Jun 2005