Either the time, OR, it could be 'bad' data in the dnsCache.db (that's what
the textinfo.html results would show).

Although the structure used in dnsCache.db had a field for the TTL, it
wasn't being used until a few months ago, when I fixed the code.  Still, the
entry did 'exist' (it was found in the database), but of the wrong length,
so it was ignored.

I think this was then caught later on and so ntop tried to do a resolution -
hence the huge # of calls.

It may be that we want to push this into the make install process and the
rpm's - delete older files???  Gotta think about that...

-----Burton

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 9:22 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: [Ntop] Yet another DNS question....
>
>
>
> Burton, thanks for the reply.  I did a couple of things this
> morning to try
> and pin this down:
>
> - I deleted the addressQueue.db and the dnsCache.db files.
> - Built a bind server local to the Linux box and updated my
> /etc/resolv.conf to point at 127.0.0.1
> - Configured the BIND server to be secondary for all reverse zones in my
> building, 15 of them.
>
> This seems to have solved the problem.  It apparently was related to the
> time it was taking to do the name lookups??
>
>
>
> --
>
> J. Eric Josephson
> Director of Network and System Operations
> 978-720-2159
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
>
>
>                       "Burton M.
>
>                       Strauss III"             To:
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>                       <[EMAIL PROTECTED]        cc:
>
>                       rt.com>                  Subject:  RE:
> [Ntop] Yet another DNS question....
>                       Sent by:
>
>                       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>                       it
>
>
>
>
>
>                       03/10/2004 08:02
>
>                       PM
>
>                       Please respond to
>
>                       ntop
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> No beating, just...
>
> Remember DNS resolution is a three layer process... see
> resolveAddress() in
> address.c -   This runs in an async thread, handling the queue.
>
> 1. If it's in the cache (dnsCache.db), that value is used.  Cached entries
> have a TTL that is unique to ntop - CONST_DNSCACHE_LIFETIME in
> globals-defines.h.  Default is 24*3600 seconds or 24 hours.
>
> 2. If it's not cached, ntop uses the host's gethostbyaddr() calls (these
> will hit the /etc/hosts file, DNS server, whatever - same as nslookup).
> That's it.
>
>
> Now sniffing runs separately and loads the cache with data from the
> responses to other peoples queries.
>
>
> So dnsCache.db becomes a pretty good cache over time.
>
> However, a negative reply - even a transient one - will stick around for
> the
> LIFETIME period.
>
>
> All of this is EXPLICITLY counted in the info.html and textinfo.html
> reports:
>
> Address Resolution
>
> DNS Sniffed:
>
> DNS Packets sniffed.....0
>   less 'requests'.....0
>   less 'failed'.....0
>   less 'reverse dns' (in-addr.arpa).....0
> DNS Packets processed.....0
> Stored in cache (includes aliases).....0
>
>
> IP to name - ipaddr2str():
>
> Total calls.....48
> ....OK.....0
> ....Total not found.....48
> ........Not found in cache.....44
> ........Too old in cache.....3
>
>
> Queued - dequeueAddress():
>
> Total Queued.....14
> Not queued (duplicate).....34
> Maximum Queued.....7
> Current Queue.....4
>
>
> Resolved - resolveAddress():
>
> Addresses to resolve.....11
> ....less 'Error: No cache database'.....0
> ....less 'Found in ntop cache'.....0
> Gives: # gethost (DNS lookup) calls.....11
>
>
> DNS Lookup Calls:
>
> DNS resolution attempts.....11
> ....Success: Resolved.....8
> ....Failed.....2
> ........HOST_NOT_FOUND.....2
> ........NO_DATA.....0
> ........NO_RECOVERY.....0
> ........TRY_AGAIN (don't store).....0
> ........Other error (don't store).....0
> DNS lookups stored in cache.....10
> Host addresses kept numeric.....2
>
>
> That's the FIRST place you have to start to figure out what's going on.
>
>
> But somehow, everytime I ask anyone for this information, they're never
> heard from again...
>
>
> -----Burton
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 11:42 AM
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: [Ntop] Yet another DNS question....
> >
> >
> >
> > OK, I'm ready to take my mailing list beating...
> >
> > I looked through the old list postings and found similar
> > questions and some
> > answers, but could not spot the information I was looking for.
> >
> > In my implementation of NTOP, I am watching all traffic going out of our
> > corporate firewall.  NTOP seems to capture most DNS requests that
> traverse
> > the firewall.  That is working fine.  What I'm having a problem with is
> > that I have hundreds of internal machines that generate traffic to the
> > external world, but have no cause to have their own IP address resolved
> by
> > any traffic I can sniff.
> >
> > I am starting NTOP with the following:
> >
> > ntop -d -u ntop -i eth0,eth1 -M -o -m 10.0.0.0/8 -p /etc/protocols.ntop
> -P
> > /tmp
> >
> > and have all of my subnets broken down into 24 bit masks. i.e
> 10.12.54.x,
> > 10.12.44.x etc...
> >
> > I am using today's CVS pull, but have had this "problem" for a very long
> > time.
> >
> > I there a way I can specify what address to aggressively do reverse name
> > resolution on or simply to have NTOP actively resolve all IP addresses,
> > thus more completely populating my internal machine addresses
> with names?
> >
> > --
> >
> > J. Eric Josephson
> > Director of Network and System Operations
> > 978-720-2159
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ntop mailing list
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > http://listgateway.unipi.it/mailman/listinfo/ntop
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://listgateway.unipi.it/mailman/listinfo/ntop
>

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