Neal Becker wrote: ...
Because
host <blah> fails for this machine, but works for lots of others.
I think it's like this:
I've never had any problems like this. If the machine gets an IP by DHCP, the server registers the hostname in DNS, independent of the client machine running NM or not. If the hostname is specified in DHCP_HOSTNAME.
Without access to the server's logfiles it would be difficult to find out what your problem is...
Unless you can sniff the DHCP packets, or make a local setup with your own DHCP server, not connected to the rest of the network.
Mogens