CIFS mounting only works with IP address and not hostname..

[John Carlyle-Clarke]

WipeOut wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have just switched my fstab entries for my samb mounts to cifs rather 
> than smbfs because its far faster..
>
> The problem is that using cifs I have to use the server IP address for 
> it to work..
>
> I have tried from a command line as well and it will not connect and 
> just gives an error when using the hostname.. Even if I manually place 
> an entry in the /etc/hosts file it still won't work..
>
> I did some digging and it appears that one proposed solution was to 
> install mount.cifs which is apparently used for the name resolution but 
> I can't seem to find how to install mount.cifs on Ubuntu..
>
> Anyone got any ideas on why I am having to use the IP address of the 
> server or how to install mount.cifs?
>
> Thanks..
>
>   
I believe this is expected.  The older Windows networking protocols 
relied on NetBIOS over TCP/IP for name resolution and file sharing.  The 
newer ones rely on CIFS and DNS (or at least DNS plus extensions) called 
Active Directory.  Most Windows servers now will have NBT disabled.  You 
will have to create a hosts file, or use DNS somehow.  A lot of DHCP 
servers support dynamic DNS.