| name | dns-dhcp-troubleshooter |
| description | Diagnose DNS and DHCP problems in KKTerm, including failed hostname lookup, wrong records, split DNS, stale cache, DHCP lease issues, gateway/DNS option problems, and VPN DNS behavior. |
DNS and DHCP Troubleshooter
Use this skill when a hostname resolves incorrectly, only works on some networks, fails after VPN changes, or the local machine has suspicious IP/gateway/DNS settings.
Workflow
- Determine whether the symptom is DNS, DHCP, or both: name lookup failure, wrong address, search suffix issue, no lease, wrong gateway, or wrong DNS server.
- Identify the resolver path: Windows DNS client, WSL resolver, VPN-provided DNS, remote SSH host resolver, or application-specific proxy.
- Ask for the exact hostname and expected network context, but do not ask for secrets or private zone contents beyond what is needed.
- Compare authoritative intent vs client result when available: expected record, actual answer, resolver used, TTL/cache behavior, and search suffix expansion.
- For split DNS, check whether the user is on the right VPN or network and whether the query is being sent to the internal resolver.
- For DHCP, inspect lease address, subnet mask, gateway, DNS servers, and lease age before suggesting renew/release actions.
- Avoid telling users to hard-code public DNS servers when private zones, VPNs, domain controllers, or corporate policy may be required.
- If flushing cache is suggested, explain that it removes cached client answers but does not fix authoritative records or resolver policy.
Command Guidance
- Windows DNS:
Resolve-DnsName <host>, nslookup <host>, Get-DnsClientCache, Get-DnsClientServerAddress.
- Windows DHCP/interface:
Get-NetIPConfiguration, ipconfig /all, ipconfig /renew only after confirming a local lease problem.
- WSL/POSIX:
getent hosts <host>, resolvectl query <host> when available, cat /etc/resolv.conf.
- Remote SSH vantage point: run resolver checks on the remote host only when the question is about that remote network.
KKTerm Boundaries
- DNS behavior can differ between local Windows terminal Sessions, WSL, SSH Sessions, and WebView2 URL Connections.
- A Connection hostname is durable data, but DNS answers are runtime environment state.
- Do not rewrite Connection hosts from names to IPs unless the user explicitly wants that tradeoff.
