Re: Pinging Host Names as opposed to pinging FQDNs Herb Martin Guest Posts: n/a 's Computer Specifications 10th Aug 2003 "Bryan Blair" &lt;(E-Mail Removed)&gt; wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)... &gt; I have 2 Internal DNS Servers (DNS Server A and B) setup. They both reside &gt; in different sites that are connected via a VPN. DNS Server A has DNS &gt; Server B's primary zone setup as a secondary zone and vice versa. &gt; Workstations that reside in opposite sites can ping each other, but only by &gt; pinging the FQDN of the corresponding workstation. Workstations that reside &gt; in the same site can ping each other by Host Name and FQDN. My questions &gt; is......is it possible to allow workstations in opposite sites to ping each &gt; other by Host Name and FQDN? Yes. DNS and/or WINS server(s) setup correctly do this quite easily. Ok, so both zones are at both sites (Srv A & B each have both) pinging by name should work just fine IF pinging by number already works (you did register the names, right?) Technically it's not a FQDN until you put a DOT. on the END., e.g., www.Domain.Com . &lt;-- DOT there (but lots of people use FQDN to MEAN a multipart name with several tags ending in a TLD Host name is not a definitive term, it is commonly just a synonym for what you are calling a FQDN. Your machine can ping by just the machine part IF the other machine is