Sonicwall NetExtender VPN Lion DNS Problem

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Level 1

7 points

Sonicwall NetExtender VPN Lion DNS Problem

I've just installed the SonicWALL SSL-VPN NetExtender version 5.5.707 on my iMac in order to connect to my office VPN. I'm also using a similar client on a MS Windows 7 notebook computer.

On my iMac, I can install the software and do connect to my office. Connectivity appears to work; for example I can visit an internal website by ip address.

However, DNS lookup does not work. I see that the NetExtender client does indicate the connect DNS servers and domain. However, my mac cannot resolve any address on my internal network.

Looking in the log, I do see messages indicating "Monitoring namserver:" and "Monitoring DNS suffix:" that seem to be what I would expect.

I also saw some messages like this:

03/17/2012 19:05:27.833 [dns

warn

9640] Fixed DNS settings 6 times in a row; giving up for 1 minute

Have others had success with NetExtender and Lion 10.7.3?

Here is a log (with ip and domain names replaces by xxx and yyy)

03/17/2012 19:56:23.623 [connect info 10070] NetExtender interface up

03/17/2012 19:56:24.625 [dns notice 10070] DNS settings were backed up successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:24.636 [dns notice 10070] DNS settings were configured successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:24.636 [general info 10070] Setting up DNS suffix: yy.foo.fr

03/17/2012 19:56:24.638 [general info 10070] Flushing DNS cache

03/17/2012 19:56:24.656 [general info 10070] Flushing ARP cache

03/17/2012 19:56:24.672 [general info 10075] Monitoring processes: nx=9251, pppd=10059

03/17/2012 19:56:24.672 [dns info 10075] Monitoring nameserver: xx.xxx.244.xx

03/17/2012 19:56:24.672 [dns info 10075] Monitoring nameserver: xx.xxx.245.xx

03/17/2012 19:56:24.673 [dns info 10075] Monitoring DNS suffix: yy.yyy.fr

03/17/2012 19:56:28.692 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.244.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:28.692 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.245.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:28.717 [general info 10076] NetExtender DNS helper launched

03/17/2012 19:56:28.717 [dns notice 10076] DNS settings were backed up successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:28.718 [dns notice 10076] DNS settings were configured successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:28.718 [general info 10076] Setting up DNS suffix: rd.francetelecom.fr

03/17/2012 19:56:28.720 [general info 10076] Flushing DNS cache

03/17/2012 19:56:28.727 [general info 10076] Flushing ARP cache

03/17/2012 19:56:33.903 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.244.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:33.903 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.245.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:34.029 [general info 10079] NetExtender DNS helper launched

03/17/2012 19:56:34.030 [dns notice 10079] DNS settings were backed up successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:34.031 [dns notice 10079] DNS settings were configured successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:34.031 [general info 10079] Setting up DNS suffix: yy.yyy.fr

03/17/2012 19:56:34.032 [general info 10079] Flushing DNS cache

03/17/2012 19:56:34.039 [general info 10079] Flushing ARP cache

03/17/2012 19:56:39.048 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.244.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:39.048 [dns warn 10075] DNS server xx.xxx.245.xx is no longer configured locally

03/17/2012 19:56:39.070 [general info 10082] NetExtender DNS helper launched

03/17/2012 19:56:39.071 [dns notice 10082] DNS settings were backed up successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:39.072 [dns notice 10082] DNS settings were configured successfully

03/17/2012 19:56:39.072 [general info 10082] Setting up DNS suffix: yy.yyy.fr

03/17/2012 19:56:39.073 [general info 10082] Flushing DNS cache

03/17/2012 19:56:39.081 [general info 10082] Flushing ARP cache

03/17/2012 19:56:39.085 [dns warn 10075] Fixed DNS settings 3 times in a row; giving up for 1 minute

Thanks.

Mac OS X (10.7.3), Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.33 GHz, 8 GB, ATI Radeon HD 4670

Posted on Mar 17, 2012 7:55 PM

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Answer 1

May 9, 2012 12:04 PM in response to jiceman

Same problem here. Did you ever find an answer?

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Answer 2

jiceman Author

Level 1

7 points

May 9, 2012 11:12 PM in response to Markarian421

Yes, I did.

The DNS for the VPN will not work if you have a DNS server specificed on your mac. I set my network to obtain a DNS entry automatically using DHCP.

In this case, my router is my DNS server which uses some external DNS servers as well as my local network.

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Answer 3

Jan 29, 2013 11:12 AM in response to jiceman

I have not found this to be a solution in my case. I have some Apple OS users, Fedora/Ubuntu users and Windows 7 users who are using the SonicWall client. They can connect to either location in the US fine. Once connected, they receive a DNS search domain of pppFrameEncoded =0; instead of our AD domains which are passed fine in Windows and additionally the correct DNS servers (IP addresses) are listed in preference above the local router IP of the user.

I found that the correct DNS and routes were listed in the SonicWall client and while could ping the IP of the resource, I could not resolve its hostname with the Network Utility. After manually adding the Search Domains (we have two) in preference and removing the previous above, I was then able to resolve lookups to the FQDN and IP but not the hostname. This really ***** for our Apple users who are mainly execs and use samba connections to shared resources. Strangely enough this also seems to impact the Apple iPad and iPhone 4 I have on iOS 5.1 as well. Any thoughts anyone? Can connect with no error, ping IP, can resolve easily FQDN and can access resources by IP or FQDN but not by hostname.

172.xxx.xxx.xxx works fine

smb://hostname.sub.domain.com works fine

smb://hostname does not but resolves

Anyone else run into this? It doesn't affect any Windows users at all.

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Answer 4

jiceman Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 31, 2013 7:49 PM in response to tateconcepts

I have not see the problem described by tateconcepts.

I normally type the FQDN when access machines via VPN and is not a problem for my use case.

I just tried using the hostname only and it too works. In my case, in Network section of System Preference, I set the first search domain to be that accessed via VPN and list others (including local) below it. I also confirmed that the DNS servers that the Mac sees lists the two obtained from the VPN ahead of my local router DNS.

I don't have domainname set in OSX (typing that command at a shell return nothing). I don't know if experimenting with setting that might help you.

And, as I mentioned, I am configured by selecting, "Using DHCP".

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