[kubuntu] Upgrade to 18.04LTS disables DNS

I know, this looks like one of many similar threads that have been posted before but the solutions provided have not worked and in fact explain very little.

I had Ubuntu 16.04LTS installed on a PC. That PC is connected via ethernet (not wifi) to my home network. That network has it's own DNS server (Ubuntu server) and it worked just fine for years.

I then performed an update to 18.04LTS on the PC and now I get the following message when I try to ping any hostnames:

ping: google.ca: Temporary failure in name resolution

No hostnames either local (from my own DNS) or global are accessible. However access via IP address works just fine so the PC is on the network.

The error shown above is new to me (I've been a programmer for over 30yrs) but then I am a low level programmer and I just get the servers to work and then get on with the real work! (Ahem..)

I gather there is a new player in town called "netplan"? I did try to configure it with the following file: 01-netcfg.yaml

network:
I ran various combinations of netplan commands to no avail.

What is really puzzling is the complete lack of debug/error/information as to what's happening. Nothing in syslog either. I guess what I need is information as to how to track this issue down.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers!!