Trying to update debian not working

Question

As root i type this command apt-get update and get these error messages.

> Err http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release.gpg                                                                                     
  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Err http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en_US                                                                          
  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Err http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Translation-en_US                                                                       
  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Err http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/non-free Translation-en_US                                                                      
  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Err http://www.backports.org lenny-backports Release.gpg                                                                                     
  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'
Err http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Translation-en_US                                      
  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'
Err http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/contrib Translation-en_US                                   
  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'
Err http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/non-free Translation-en_US                                  
  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'
Err http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny Release.gpg                                                           
  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Err http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US              
  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Err http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Translation-en_US           
  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Err http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/non-free Translation-en_US          
  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Err http://http.us.debian.org stable Release.gpg                       
  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'
Err http://http.us.debian.org stable/main Translation-en_US            
  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'
Err http://http.us.debian.org stable/contrib Translation-en_US         
  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'
Err http://http.us.debian.org stable/non-free Translation-en_US        
  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'
Reading package lists... Done                                          
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/contrib/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/non-free/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/contrib/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/non-free/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'http.us.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/lenny/updates/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/lenny/updates/main/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/lenny/updates/contrib/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/lenny/updates/non-free/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://www.backports.org/debian/dists/lenny-backports/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://www.backports.org/debian/dists/lenny-backports/main/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://www.backports.org/debian/dists/lenny-backports/contrib/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'

W: Failed to fetch http://www.backports.org/debian/dists/lenny-backports/non-free/i18n/Translation-en_US.gz  Could not resolve 'www.backports.org'

W: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems

This is on a dreamplug linux server. Configured so that my network starts on 192.168.1.2 and my router is port forwarding ssh to 192.168.1.6 to the server.

Solution

Seems to be an issue with your DNS resolver.

Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'

etc, etc

Comments

[ghoti]

Looks like a network error or DNS error. Can you ping hosts on the Internet by DNS name? How about by IP address? What's in your /etc/resolv.conf file?

[Sean]

nameserver 192.168.1.2

[Sean]

I can ping ip addresses but not namespaces. I recently got a namespace at no-ip.com

[ghoti]

And is there a nameserver running on the host at 192.168.1.2? Is that your router? Does your router forward DNS requests to an upstream DNS server, like at your ISP? Is THAT working? This is basic debugging, and is not a programming question.

[Sean]

yes it is my router which my server is connected to.

[Sean]

I just tried to ping google.com and it didn't work.

[Sean]

BUt when i entered ping -c 4 208.67.222.222 it worked???

[Admin]

My answer should probably have been a comment. Anyway, what do you mean by "my router is port forwarding ssh to 192.168.1.6 to the server"?

[Sean]

just uneccessary info.

[Sean]

It worked before. I have recently got a namespace for my server from no-ip.com, could this be the probelm???