Jim Cunning pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
The reason for the behavior you describe is that the resolver is actually only calling the first name server in the list, which returns a "No such domain" (NXDOMAIN) for the FQDNs it does not know about. The list of name servers is only used if there is no reply from the first nameserver queried. From "man resolv.conf":
"The algorithm used is to try a name server, and if the query times out, try the next, until out of name servers, then repeat trying all the name servers until a maximum number of retries are made."
Unfortunately, I think this means a negative response from any name server causes the search to terminate. I don't know of any set of resolv.conf parameters that would do what you want. You might consider trying "option rotate", however.
This seems like your client's name server is misconfigured. Apparently it is only returning names for its local hosts, and not forwarding queries to any upstream name servers. It might be possible to put a caching name server on your laptop, and then have it forward queries to your client's server or your ISP's. See http://www.bind9.net/BIND-FAQ. The example they give isn't quite your situation, but might give you a clue.
Worse case enter their servers in your local /etc/hosts file. -- Ken Schneider SuSe since Version 5.2, June 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org