Problems Starting the ListManager Server

If, when starting ListManager, you instead receive an error message about "invalid host" then the problem is likely with your TCP/IP machine name configuration.

This problem is usually caused by an incomplete DNS configuration. In order for ListManager to work, the TCP/IP host name on your machine must exist on your DNS server, and the TCP/IP addresses that your machine uses must themselves have names. In technical-lingo, this means that you need both "forward and reverse DNS lookups" installed on your system.

Check the hostname/domain name that you have set in your TCP/IP configuration. Make sure that you can ping this full name, both from your machine and from another machine. You must have a DNS entry for your machine on your DNS server. This hostname/domain-name setup is usually the cause of your problem.

If you have multiple TCP/IP addresses, make sure that the first TCP/IP address on your system has a DNS name entry.

With the program "nslookup.exe" (nslookup on UNIX), you can check to see if DNS entries are set up correctly. If you do not have "nslookup.exe" on your computer, you can download it from: ftp://ftp.lyris.com/listmanager/scripts/nslookup.exe

If your computer is named "fia.yourcompany.com", you would type:

nslookup fia.yourcompany.com

And nslookup will respond with:

C:\>nslookup fia.yourcompany.com <- this is what you type

  Server: kuno.yourcompany.com <- this is your DNS server
  Address: 207.105.6.156 <- this is your DNS server

  Name: fia.yourcompany.com <- this is your host name
  Address: 207.105.6.147 <- your tcp/ip address

If your DNS is not set up correctly, this forward lookup will say:

*** kuno.yourcompany.com can't find fia.yourcompany.com: Non-existent host/domain

If it did work and you did not get an error message, now do a "reverse lookup" by typing the TCP/IP address of your machine. For example, if the TCP/IP address of your machine is "207.105.6.147", you would type:

C:\>nslookup 207.105.6.147 <- this is what you type

Server: kuno.yourcompany.com <- this is your DNS server
Address: 207.105.6.156 <- this is your DNS server

Name: fia.yourcompany.com <- your host name
Address: 207.105.6.147 <- your tcp/ip address

If your DNS is not set up correctly, the reverse lookup will say:

*** kuno.yourcompany.com can't find 207.105.6.147: Non-existent host/domain

If you do have a DNS problem, you should contact the person responsible for your DNS. In most cases, this is your Internet Service Provider. Once this is fixed, ListManager will work correctly for you.

If you have multiple TCP/IP addresses, and only want ListManager to use some of them, see the next section, "Problems with Multiple TCP/IP Addresses".