Wingate 8 DNS problem

[ketichi]

I keep trying to run the program but i get this always

http://postimg.org/image/amt6c3jhx/

Any help ?

[adrien]

Hi

like it says, WinGate discovered no DNS servers that can do DNS lookups for internet (non-local) names.

So you will need to add some to either

a) the OS (NIC properties)
b) WInGate DNS client

or, if you're using an internal server, make sure it has forwarders configured so it can resolve internet names.

[ketichi]

I stil can't manage do get pass this.
I did add the WInGate DNS client and still it didn't "fix" the problem.
About step a) I have no idea what that means. Can you tell me what to do or can you send me to another post ?

Thanks for the help.

[adrien]

Hi

normally WinGAte DNS client (which is what is reporting that error you are seeing) uses the DNS servers that are used by the OS that WinGate is installed on.

It also probes them, which involves sending a couple of requests to each known server. This is used to check for DNS looping, and to test whether the DNS server is able to forward requests to a DNS server on the internet.

So that error will be reported if no known servers (e.g. discovered from the host OS, or manually entered by you) passed the test for being usable for internet lookups.

So there are several reasons this can occur:

1. The host OS doesn't have suitable DNS servers entered into the network adapter TCP IP properties
2. The DNS servers that the WinGAte computer are configured to use do not have any forwarders set, so do not pass requests onto internet servers
3. The DNS client in WinGate has disabled probing for or disabled internet lookups for servers (unlikely unless you set this yourself).

if the reason is 1 or 2, then I would expect that the host WinGate computer does not have access to the internet - e.g. if you open a web browser on that computer, it can't find anything either.

Depending on your network setup, what to do next can be quite different.

e.g.

a) if WinGate is the sole internet gateway, and you're not running any other DNS servers, then you will need to enter your ISP DNS server IP address into your external adapter TCP/IP properties.
b) if you have a DNS server on your LAN, it needs to be configured with forwarders so it can forward requests it isn't authoritative for. It can forward to WinGate or some other server (e.g. ISP DNS server). If it forwards to WinGate, then WinGate needs to know about the ISP DNS server

Adrien

[SlowBro]

Bumping an old thread because I'm getting the same error. I do not have a local DNS server and I plan to use WinGate to block/whitelist websites on the local computer for my kids.

At the moment I use OpenDNS for web filtering; however the PC I am installing WinGate to (my personal PC that the kids sometimes login to) is mostly unrestricted. I am not sure why WinGate would complain.

The DNS servers:

[adrien]

Hi

the "not in use" is the problem here.

either you have those servers set to be probed, and when WinGate tested them, found they were not responding for any of the probes, or you don't have them set to be probed, but neither are they set to be used for local or internet lookups.

Adrien

[SlowBro]

Ok what's the fix? These servers do work on this computer; in fact I am using them to send this message :-D

[adrien]

You need to verify if those servers are working for DNS, if not, either fix that or choose some different ones to use.

Normally if they are "not in use" in WinGate, it's because they did not respond to any probe lookups.

[SlowBro]

Yes as mentioned these servers do indeed work on that computer and in fact I was using them to send that message.

So what's the next step?

[MattP]

Hi,

As Adrien said, they've probably been marked as Not in Use because they've been probed and didn't reply, or are not set to be used for local or internet lookups. So uncheck "probe server for loops/usage" or check "Use server for internet lookups" and see if that helps.

Regards,

Matt