Computer Shows up as "unknown" in Router

[James Fogg]

> I have a D-link router, and have three ubuntu boxes at home. 
> When I got the router management page and look at the DHCP 
> clients that are connected to the router, I see either 
> "unknown" or " " as the name for the ubuntu boxes. Managing 
> these becomes a pain, as i have to resort to finding out the 
> MAC address to do this.
> 
> The Winxp boxes have their designated names.


Do the XP boxes get network configurations from a Windows DHCP Server
and the ubuntu boxes don't? That would be the problem. I would guess
that your router is doing a reverse name check and the nameserver is the
Windows server. If you have the ubuntu boxes use DHCP and configure the
Windows DHCP server auto-update DNS for non-capable devices you will
solve your problem.