anybody reading this has probably noticed and or responded to my requests for help on this topic as well as putting up whith my stupidity and newbyism and i truely appreciate it. However squid still hates me. I had an appifiny recently and thought that maybe i cannot get any results out of squid because something else that may be needed is not running properly. I think that i don't have a name sever running if this has anything to do with it. i think that i know what a name server is but i am not able to wrap my brain around how i can get one working properly. i am pritty shure that i will need my computer to be a name server in addition to everthing else order to achive my final goal of creating a all purpose server, simply because everywhere i look i see programs and files asking for the location of my name server. i have assumed that the server i am making is the mythical 'name server' and have been entering its ip address everywhere. Any advice will be helpfull, info on what i am trying to do is as follows The Goal: i am making a linux server for my windows network. it is to be and all purpose, fix all my problems server but the primary goal is for it to be a logon server for windows computers, dial on demand over a network provider (56k untill i upgrade to DSL), DHCP host, adn anything else i might end up tacking on. The Situation: this is a HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR PROJECT DUE SOMETIME IN APRIL I CANNOT SPEND ANY MORE MONEY :( i am running SuSE 8.2 pro. I though i knew something but it seems i don't know anything. the SuSE box is a server on a 192.168.1.xxx isolated network. The box (named Izzarra) has the following: -500 MHz intell celeron, over 256 ram i forget the exact #. -a oversized swap, i figured i wouldn't hert -a nice ASUS motherboard that was state of the art a few years ago. -I will spare the rest of the misc. statistics. the network has no connections with the outside workd exept by diskett and one modem in the linux box that actually works (there are a total of three modems, 2 in and one ex sitting on, the linux box and only one is even detectable) i am running a 56k internet connection and am trying to get a dial on demand over the network working. as well as numberus other server functions. Other then the SuSE box i have a beetup win98 etower and a hap hazard win2000 pro box. both are clean slates with fresh installs. they can all see each other about half of the time no thanks to 5,000,000 problems. Samba was my first step and i was able to do it so easaly that i thought that i could easaly finish this project by my deadline date without even asking for help. Boy was i wrong. i asked a friend about my modem problem and wound up on these wonderful mailing lists. then went on to find out that DHCP might be usefull so i tackled that and it is working, sort of, so i am fine with it. i stumbled uppon squid a few days ago and have gotten nothing but hell from it. BIND is confusing me but the SuSE manual says that is a good idea to use it with Squid so i have started looking at it and have gotten nowhere. i have made some entries to the DNS file in YAST and have managed to name the computer Izzarra. I am now floundering around trying to figure out how many more little programs i need to configure in order to make things work. FadMart - http://www.fadmart.com - An Associate of the World's Largest Store!