topic Re: Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif) in Network and Storage Protocols

Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif)

bobby_gillette — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:02:11 GMT

We're able to access the shares via the vif IP, but not the DNS alias... any ideas?

Re: Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif)

rmharwood — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:30:26 GMT

Not much information to go on here, Bobby. Things I would do to diagnose:

Does "nslookup alias" give you the same IP address?

Are you using NetBIOS in your environment? If so, you may need the "cifs nbalias" command to set up NetBIOS aliases on the filer.

Re: Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif)

bobby_gillette — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:43:36 GMT

Site received a new 3140 cluster so we pulled the shelves in from the old Filer and presented the CIFS shares on the new cluster. We made no changes to DNS, just created a vif with the IP of the old Filer... just verified a DNS lookup responds with the correct IP of the old Filer (which is now assigned to the vif on one of the new 3140s)...

Let me know if you need additional information

Re: Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif)

rmharwood — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:06:42 GMT

The times I've seen an IP address work where a hostname doesn't is usually when name resolution is not working. It depends what is doing the name resolution. If it's only DNS then there could be an entry in the local hosts table pointing to the wrong IP address. Can you ping the DNS alias of the filer?

If you are still using WINS and NetBIOS on your clients then you will need to add that alias using the "cifs nbalias" command on the filer. I can't remember if that requires a restart of the cifs service or not. You will also need to enable WINS on the vif.

If that doesn't do it then I don't know. Try a packet trace both with the IP address and with the alias and see what the differences are?

Re: Can't open CIFS shares via DNS (on vif)

estebano — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:24:56 GMT

Just some things to remember: Check your cifs license is installed. Terminate cifs and rerun cifs setup to double-check your config. Check your Vif vlans