Over VPN clients do not seem to be using their DNS search suffix list.
When attempting to ping a netbios name, the client appends it's own domain name to the lookup.
The dns server responds that there no such name.
The client then does nothing.
From inside the LAN this works totally different.
Client appends it's own domain.
DNS server replies no such name.
Client appends next domain in search suffix list.
DNS server has a secondary zone for this domain, replies with the correct IP address.
The client can ping the resource by IP, and FQDN. Also, nslookup resolves the correct name.
It seems that only netbios lookups are failing.
Tags:
DNS, VPN, Checkpoint, Windows XP
Best Answer
NetBIOS is a different thing to DNS. NetBIOS name resolution uses either broadcasts (limited to a single subnet on an ip network typically), WINS (wider scope, requires a WINS server to be identified generally provided via DHCP), or an LMHOSTS file. If NetBIOS name resolution is failing across a VPN connection but working within your LAN environment and that LAN uses WINS then you should look at the DHCP scope options being provided by your VPN client (these may be configured at the client end or provided dynamically by the VPN gateway).
If you mean the hostname (e.g. the MyPC part of MyPC.somedomain.com) does not resolve across your VPN even though it does when you are in your office then the issue is that your VPN is either not appending the domain suffix that you need or possibly that your VPN is not redirecting DNS.
Without a bit more information it's hard to be more specific - post the output of ipconfig /all when connected via VPN and when connected to the LAN for a start.