Default Domain question.

[Sean Knox]

I'm sorry if this is off-topic, as this is more a general DNS question than
a specific one about BIND.

If you define a default domain on a host, say a Windows 2000 box or a
router, when exactly is that domain appended on? i.e. if we define devel.net
as the default domain, and I ping a working host on devel.net by host name
only:

Router#ping server
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.10.50.125, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/1/4 ms

obviously devel.net is appended on. 

How do the nameserver resolve (or should I say attempt to) when I ping
"server.devel" (notice no .net)... is devel.net appended to this "unknown
host" as well? Thanks for any information helping to clear this up.

- Sean