You can resolve machines without sending all traffic through the VPN by creating a simple textfile named yourdomain.com with a single line "nameserver internal.ip.of.nameserver" and placing it in a magic directory /etc/resolver (which you may need to create).

So something like this will set you up:

sudo mkdir /etc/resolver
sudo echo "nameserver internal.ip.of.nameserver" > /etc/resolver/yourdomain.com

sudo echo "nameserver internal.ip.of.nameserver" > /etc/resolver/yourdomain.com

This will run echo as root, but the redirection (“>”) is done by your own login shell. Unless that is itself a privileged process — in which case there’s no point in running sudo — then it’ll fail for lack of permissions.

The way I personally deal with such things is by running sudo vi, but a novice is probably better off creating the file as you would any other file (such as with TextEdit), saving it in your home directory, and then using sudo to move it into place.

Or, with OS X, you should be able to do it all through the GUI and have it prompt you for an appropriate password whenever required. You might have to use “Go to Folder” (under the “Go” menu of the Finder) to get to the right folder. And it might not work at all…but it really should if it doesn’t….

Cheers,

b&