by Hi there... I'm trying to figure out what's happening with
my `ping' command. Background: my system is connected via
SLIP to ucb-annex.csn.org. OS is Microport svr4 4.2.1, 486.
My system is configured to resolve addresses using DNS,
acting as a client to a Colorado SuperNet machine. Here's
a typical ping result, with major packet losses:
----slate.Mines.Colorado.EDU PING Statistics----
5 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 60% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 260/720/1180
However, if I put slate's address into my /etc/hosts file,
everything works fine.. the packet losses disappear:
----slate.mines.colorado.edu PING Statistics----
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 290/300/340
The phenomenon is only observed for `ping'. Other programs
like `ftp' appear to be working fine, regardless if the
host is in /etc/hosts or not.
Why does this happen ? Is `ping' trying to use the DNS
resolver before sending each packet, and it's taking too
long ?
Thanks in advance,
-Ade 'clueless' Barkah