Broken default route in ppp

[Jerry Hubbard <jhubbard mlc net>]

Please, someone, point me in the correct direction, or show me how I am
being such a dummy. This must be something simple.

When hostnames on my home LAN are listed (hostname xxxx.xxxx.xxxx.xxxx)
in etc/hosts, the ppp0 default route changes. (The localhost.localdomain
entry was not changed in etc/hosts.) I can not retreive email or connect
to web sites. I have tried connecting with the FQN (www.foo.com) and the
IP address. Both of these methods fail and so it appears not to be a DNS
problem. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

When the etc/hosts entries are removed (and network service is
restarted) it changes back to the correct defaultroute. 

Where can I set the ppp* default route back to 0.0.0.0? Does anyone know
why it changes.

I found if the computer is renamed to ns it works correctly (with the
etc/host file populated).  The names of my ISP's DNS servers are
ns.mlc.net and ns2.mlc.net. I know better than leaving my computer named
ns and connected. :) The only DNS server I have set up was on N.T. 4.0
several years ago. This now really has me confused.


This is a Microtel system, runing RH9, with all the updates applied. The
Microtel uses a TOPIC modem that is not detected by RH9. I had to use an
rc.serial file in /etc to make it work with RH9. The browser is Mozilla
and the email program is Evolution. The etc/hosts file has been built
with the Network Device Control>Network Configuration applet and/or with
a text editor. It does not change the problem.

I have searched Google and Red Hat sites, but no luck on RH8 or RH9.
What was found did not help.


Results of route command with the etc/hosts file built:

[root microtel /]# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway      Genmask         Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
64.199.128.14   *            255.255.255.255 UH    0      0   0  ppp0
192.168.200.32  *            255.255.255.224 U     0      0   0  eth0
169.254.0.0     *            255.255.0.0     U     0      0   0  eth0
127.0.0.0       *            255.0.0.0       U     0      0   0  lo
default        64.199.128.14 0.0.0.0         UG    0      0   0  ppp0

NOTE 64.199.128.14 is the IP assigned by the ISP DHCP.



Results of route command when the etc/hosts contains only the localhosts
entry or the computer is named ns and etc/hosts is populated:

[root microtel /]# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway    Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use
Iface
mlcnet-nas01.ml *          255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0  ppp0
192.168.200.32  *          255.255.255.224 U     0      0        0  eth0
169.254.0.0     *          255.255.0.0     U     0      0        0  eth0
127.0.0.0       *          255.0.0.0       U     0      0        0  lo
default    mlcnet-nas01.ml 0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0  ppp0


host.conf is:
order hosts,bind



resolv.conf is (from my ISP):
nameserver 64.199.128.2
nameserver 64.199.128.3