namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5981

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stevenvsi
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:08 pm
os: windows

namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5981

Post by stevenvsi »

Hi,

I've installed namecoin and got some coin via one of our BTC-e account.
So far so good.

All bellow has been tried with ESET security turned off
I allways get this: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect to nmcontrol 5981
1.I registered a domain 2 days later and installed the freespeechme plugin on a Windows 8.1 pc.
2. I did read this manual 5 times over http://www.freespeechme.org/download-and-install/
3. Just to let you know I have been running an ISP company since 1994 so configuring DNS servers and the like is my job. I would like to contribute to this .bit project.

I did setup the domain goodprivacy.bit with its related name servers but so far under W8.1 I cannot get the plugin to work.

a) The namcoin wallet is running under its default settings (Map port using UPnP)
b) the plugin runs under its default value
c) tried without the namecoin wallet as describle above AND IIS not running not other process bind this port.
d) no dos windows remains visible in either case, another hint?

A netstat reading do not show any port 5981 to be opened so look like this could be a hint.

What am I missing?

Regards,

Steven L
Last edited by stevenvsi on Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

jonasbits
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:47 pm
os: linux

Re: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5

Post by jonasbits »

This is my setup:

Namecoin with rpc server flag and password
nmcontrol (https://github.com/namecoin/nmcontrol)

and then

FreeSpeechMe for Firefox

That way I can check that it works every step of the way.
My Namecoin address: NC3HGHk527xuWZBgMdGJ2GxjpRSw8D4oA6

biolizard89
Posts: 2001
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:25 am
os: linux

Re: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5

Post by biolizard89 »

stevenvsi wrote:Hi,

I've installed namecoin and got some coin via one of our BTC-e account.
So far so good.

All bellow has been tried with ESET security turned off
I allways get this: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect to nmcontrol 5981
1.I registered a domain 2 days later and installed the freespeechme plugin on a Windows 8.1 pc.
2. I did read this manual 5 times over http://www.freespeechme.org/download-and-install/
3. Just to let you know I have been running an ISP company since 1994 so configuring DNS servers and the like is my job. I would like to contribute to this .bit project.

I did setup the domain goodprivacy.bit with its related name servers but so far under W8.1 I cannot get the plugin to work.

a) The namcoin wallet is running under its default settings (Map port using UPnP)
b) the plugin runs under its default value
c) tried without the namecoin wallet as describle above AND IIS not running not other process bind this port.
d) no dos windows remains visible in either case, another hint?

A netstat reading do not show any port 5981 to be opened so look like this could be a hint.

What am I missing?

Regards,

Steven L
Hi Steven,

Thank you for your interest; we definitely welcome contributors.

Do I understand correctly that you're using the Namecoin-Qt wallet client that you downloaded yourself, and not the namecoind that was bundled with the FreeSpeechMe Firefox extension? If that's the case, you'll need to have NMControl running (see the link Jonas provided) in addition to Namecoin-Qt. This is because the .bit browsing software in split into 3 parts: Namecoin-Qt/namecoind looks up the data for the name, NMControl interprets it into an IP according to the .bit spec, and FreeSpeechMe actually handles the HTTP/HTTPS traffic routing to the .bit website. FreeSpeechMe bundles namecoind and NMControl, but it's not currently possible to use the bundled NMControl with your own Namecoin-Qt. I believe 5981 is an error code from the socket library rather than a port number.

Hopefully having NMControl running should fix your issue. If not, let us know and we'll try to figure it out.

If you haven't done so already, you'll also need to enable the RPC server in Namecoin-Qt so that NMControl can connect to Namecoin-Qt. This process is identical to doing so in Bitcoin; if you're familiar with that then it should be easy. If not, let us know and we'll walk you through it.

Cheers,
-Jeremy Rand
Namecoin Lead Application Engineer
Jeremy Rand, Lead Namecoin Application Engineer
NameID: id/jeremy
DyName: Dynamic DNS update client for .bit domains.

Donations: BTC 1EcUWRa9H6ZuWPkF3BDj6k4k1vCgv41ab8 ; NMC NFqbaS7ReiQ9MBmsowwcDSmp4iDznjmEh5

stevenvsi
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:08 pm
os: windows

Re: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5

Post by stevenvsi »

Hi,

Yes that's it, I had namecoin wallet installed first in order to get NMC coins.
That is how I got the domain name registered (I hope), now I try to see how to use it as I am hosting it too.

So if I understand correctly the plugin is incompatible with the regular namecoin wallet, right?

Now if I get it correctly, I need to have the python script installed and run it as a service in order to catch and relay the dns calls to the .bit namespace, right?

This means that for a normal client (not a computer expert) running windoze pcs will have to install Python on their pc for the plugin to work, right?

They will also have to disable the firewall, both local and office wide, at least for the plugin installation, right?

Are these temporary and the next version of the plugin allows to get defaults setting that would prevent all of the above.

I thought that nmcontrol was included in the plugin.

Anyway, I am installing the python interpreter on this W8.1 box and see if it helps.

Now at the server level, we run our ISP operation on Linux Centos and I was wondering what I should do to setup a .bit public dns service and how I can help by providing DNS services to this namespace, any help is appreciated, this could be one form of contribution.

Regards,

Steven L.

stevenvsi
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:08 pm
os: windows

Re: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5

Post by stevenvsi »

Hi,

Ok, looks like I will have to figure out of to setup Python on a W8.1 pc and rewrite the batch file to allow a proper install og nmcontrol.

So it is clearly in alpha mode, I understand, so is the plugin I assume as nobody will be able to install just the plugin and get going.

I will try to find some time around Christmas to get this setup unless there is an easier way to get the .bit domain space going now for my customers.

Regards,

biolizard89
Posts: 2001
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:25 am
os: linux

Re: namecoin resolution error Failed to connect nmcontrol 5

Post by biolizard89 »

Sorry for delayed reply, had some other things come up that needed attention.
stevenvsi wrote:Hi,

Yes that's it, I had namecoin wallet installed first in order to get NMC coins.
That is how I got the domain name registered (I hope), now I try to see how to use it as I am hosting it too.

So if I understand correctly the plugin is incompatible with the regular namecoin wallet, right?
The bundled versions of namecoind and NMControl will possibly conflict with preexisting installations of those. That is fixed in latest GitHub code (at least, I'm pretty sure it's fixed). If you're using your own installations of Namecoin-Qt/namecoind and NMControl, then there is no conflict. Using a bundled NMControl with a preexisting Namecoin-Qt/namecoind installation is planned, and will probably be relatively easy.
stevenvsi wrote:Now if I get it correctly, I need to have the python script installed and run it as a service in order to catch and relay the dns calls to the .bit namespace, right?

This means that for a normal client (not a computer expert) running windoze pcs will have to install Python on their pc for the plugin to work, right?
NMControl can be built as a .exe file; this is how FreeSpeechMe ships it. The build script is in the Git repo, but we are not (yet) providing pre-built .exe files of it. This is something that I'd really like to work on soon.
stevenvsi wrote:They will also have to disable the firewall, both local and office wide, at least for the plugin installation, right?
The local firewall might possibly block the namecoind peer port (incoming and outgoing), the namecoind RPC port (incoming), the NMControl RPC port (incoming), and/or the FreeSpeechMe proxy port (incoming). Only the namecoind peer port (outgoing) would have to be open office-wide, I think... all the incoming ports shouldn't matter office-wide. Blocking incoming connections to the namecoind peer port shouldn't hurt anything; lots of users have those blocked by NAT.
stevenvsi wrote:Are these temporary and the next version of the plugin allows to get defaults setting that would prevent all of the above.
Everything except for the port/firewall issues is temporary and is either fixed in current GitHub code or can be fixed without a lot of work.
stevenvsi wrote:I thought that nmcontrol was included in the plugin.
NMControl is bundled with FreeSpeechMe, but currently the configuration only allows it to work with the bundled namecoind.
stevenvsi wrote:Anyway, I am installing the python interpreter on this W8.1 box and see if it helps.

Now at the server level, we run our ISP operation on Linux Centos and I was wondering what I should do to setup a .bit public dns service and how I can help by providing DNS services to this namespace, any help is appreciated, this could be one form of contribution.

Regards,

Steven L.
Okay, so, this topic is slightly controversial among the developers (there is not yet a clear consensus on this topic). I'll try to summarize both sides briefly here.

One side is that public DNS services make the transition to .bit easier for end users, which can encourage more websites to use .bit, which benefits .bit adoption long-term. This side would hold that just offering access to .bit domains helps .bit, even when none of the benefits of .bit (resistance to censorship, hijacking, and surveillance) are present.

The other side is that public DNS services are inherently no more resistant to censorship, hijacking, and surveillance than standard DNS, since the operator of the public DNS service can do all those things. This side would hold that by offering access to .bit domains but without the associated benefits that .bit provides, a public DNS service might do more harm than good, by making some users think "I have .bit, so I'm safe from those things" when that is not the case.

Full disclosure: I fall into the 2nd group listed above.

Generally, .bit gets the most benefit to the end user when the .bit resolution is performed on the user's machine, or a machine which the user has explicitly trusted. At the moment, this has usability issues. We are trying to make those usability issues as minimal as possible (we have quite a bit of work left to do on that). I don't have any particularly good ideas at this time for ways to give .bit functionality to your end users without sacrificing the main benefits that .bit offers. Long-term, once we have more usable end-user software, it might be possible to distribute that software to any of your end users who are interested. Right now though, the software is not usable enough for me to recommend giving it to novices (and none of us have the resources to provide tech support to a huge number of novices all at once either).

I'm sure this isn't the news you want to hear -- but that's the state of things right now. (If one of our developers who falls into the 1st group wants to jump in here, they're welcome to do so -- just realize that the topic is controversial, which might mean waiting is a wise idea here.)

As an aside, I'm not sure what your skill set is, but if you're any good with Python or Javascript, we'd love to have some help with the NMControl and/or FreeSpeechMe code. Or more generally, help in any way is always appreciated.

Cheers!
-Jeremy
Jeremy Rand, Lead Namecoin Application Engineer
NameID: id/jeremy
DyName: Dynamic DNS update client for .bit domains.

Donations: BTC 1EcUWRa9H6ZuWPkF3BDj6k4k1vCgv41ab8 ; NMC NFqbaS7ReiQ9MBmsowwcDSmp4iDznjmEh5

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