1. Both rc.config and resolv.conf have entries like those in the book (search .... nameserver ). 2. good part: both local and remote ping work. The remote works for explicit IP, 3. bad part: name resolution does not seem to work at all although I specified external DNS (those of my ISP) as I descibed in #1. Specifically, "ping <hostname>" does not return. No error but no connection to <hostname>. 4. When ppp is down, command "nslookup" produces this: "Can't find server name for address . No response from server" When ppp is up, nslookup does not return until I stop it by Ctrl-C. 5. It looks to me the system knows about the DNS and sends the request but handshaking did not happen What do you think is required to use outside DNS in addition to providing their IP (in rc.config and as I saw in resolv.conf) ??. I am thankful for any guess or attempt to help. Vicco -- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e