Can SSH with IP but not host name?

Question

When I SSH directly to the server's IP address, it works. (ssh [email protected]) For reference, here is the resulting prompt:

michael@noranetserver:~$

However ssh-ing by name doesn't work like so:

ssh michael@noranetserver
ssh: Could not resolve hostname noranetserver: nodename nor servname provided, or not known

Why would this be?

Solution

You could try adding 10.1.10.129 noranetserver to /etc/hosts, to make the computer you connect from aware of the server hostname.

There are other ways as well, as pointed out in the following questions: 1 and 2.

Comments

[No Time]

You could try nslookup and see if the 'noranetserver' is in the names list. nslookup noranetserver if it is not that may be the reason.

[PopKernel]

Is nslookup preinstalled on most UNIX-likes? Or must I download it?

[No Time]

Yes it should be in by default

[PopKernel]

It returned ** server can't find noranetserver: NXDOMAIN Does that mean anything?

[No Time]

Sucky think about SSH: Using NAT (especially on port overload), and DHCP make it hard to SSH because of the constant changed, vs a home network where you can set stuff up how you want. :/ hope that answer below helped.

[mikewhatever]

Sure, there are other ways to make the server advertise its hostname. Please refer to the following questions: 1 and 2.