NMControl Windows Installer v0.8.1

Namecoin, NMControl
phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

NMControl Windows Installer v0.8.1

Post by phelix »

NMControl connects .bit domain lookups to the Namecoin client to allow for easy browsing of .bit domains.

The setup file will automatically install .bit support on Windows 8 and higher. Only .bit DNS requests will be handled by NMControl in the default configuration. Note the system tray icon.


Installation
The Namecoin client (core or v0.3.80) needs to run and have finished downloading the blockchain. Also you need to create a .conf file in "%appdata%/namecoin" like this:

Code: Select all

# server=1 tells Namecoin Core GUI to accept JSON-RPC commands.
# By default, only RPC connections from localhost are allowed.
server=1

# You must set rpcuser and rpcpassword to secure the JSON-RPC api
rpcuser=winston
rpcpassword=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_STRING_OR_YOU_WILL_GET_ROBBED._JUST_HAMMER_YOUR_KEYBOARD_FOR_GOOD

# namehistory=1 tells Namecoin Core to enable name history at the cost of a slightly larger database (optional)
#namehistory=1

Download
http://blockchained.com/stuff/NMControl ... etup_b.exe or https://namecoin.info/files/NMControl_v0.8.1_setup.exe (same file)
zip archive: http://blockchained.com/stuff/nmcontrolwin_0.8.1.zip

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256


$ shasum -a256 NMControl_v0.8.1_setup_b.exe
949d8ccb0dea286a22f89bcea85534b27ff4df7fbaf7902689c320d6a54cf227 NMControl_v0.8.1_setup_b.exe

$ shasum -a256 nmcontrolwin_0.8.1.zip
db89c94fef377db342289f40b975296ce5da1f619b2f1e7fb70c1ecb530f86d5 nmcontrolwin_0.8.1.zip

id/phelix


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somename
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:12 pm
os: windows

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by somename »

phelix wrote:The installer will automatically install .bit support on Windows 8 and higher. Only .bit requests will be redirected to NMControl. The Namecoin client (v0.3.80 or core) needs to run and have the blockchain downloaded for .bit resolving to work. Note the system tray icon.

NMControl_v0.8_c_setup.exe (see signed sha256 below)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

$ shasum -a 256 NMControl_v0.8_c_setup.exe
4e67c19db83ef6959644024dc6ec15e8eb0d58f83680e80b9443bc8d633ee68f NMControl_v0.8_c_setup.exe

id/phelix


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Thanks.
It installed without issues, but I submitted one issue here: https://github.com/namecoin/nmcontrol/issues/98

> The installer will automatically install .bit support on Windows 8 and higher. Only .bit requests will be redirected to NMControl.

I confused "automatically" to mean that I don't have to do anything else, but I redirected my DNS server to 127.0.0.1 (the other DNS server I pointed to my regular DNS server) and .bit resolution then worked.
But non-.bit stopped working.

My NIC DNS Setting: 127.0.0.1, 8.8.8.8
My NMControl Setting:
; Forward standard requests to
resolver=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4

Any ideas?

Also, what does this setting do?

; Disable lookups for standard domains
disable_standard_lookups=1

I would assume it prevents the client from making regular DNS lookups, so this could be why.
But when I changed this to 0 and kept my host DNS setting just 127.0.0.1, normal DNS still didn't work which means forwarding seemed not to work.
So I set this to 0 and set my host to use 127.0.0.1 and 8.8.8.8 and in this case both .bit and non-.bit works.

phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by phelix »

Updated OP with a new version. Before the initial start failed in the new logging system if the NMControl directory did not exist - doh.
somename wrote: > The installer will automatically install .bit support on Windows 8 and higher. Only .bit requests will be redirected to NMControl.

I confused "automatically" to mean that I don't have to do anything else,
Yeah, that is exactly what I mean. The installer should configure your system such that .bit requests go to NMControl (other requests will be processed as usual). Does it not work? What Windows version are you on?
but I redirected my DNS server to 127.0.0.1 (the other DNS server I pointed to my regular DNS server) and .bit resolution then worked.
But non-.bit stopped working.

My NIC DNS Setting: 127.0.0.1, 8.8.8.8
My NMControl Setting:
; Forward standard requests to
resolver=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4

Any ideas?
Manual configuration goes like this:

Point your primary system DNS to 127.0.0.1 (leave the secondary empty at least to test)
In %appdata%/Nmcontrol/conf/service-dns.conf:
set 'disable_standard_lookups' to 0
optional: set 'resolver' to your favorite DNS server if you don't like the Google default ones. (e.g. 192.168.1.1)
Restart NMControl
Also, what does this setting do?

; Disable lookups for standard domains
disable_standard_lookups=1

I would assume it prevents the client from making regular DNS lookups, so this could be why.
That is correct. We have it activated by default so people don't accidentally use the Google DNS servers.
But when I changed this to 0 and kept my host DNS setting just 127.0.0.1, normal DNS still didn't work which means forwarding seemed not to work.
So I set this to 0 and set my host to use 127.0.0.1 and 8.8.8.8 and in this case both .bit and non-.bit works.
You can test from the command line:
what your system does: 'nslookup nx.bit' or 'nslookup zombo.com' (will also tell you your default DNS)
what NMControl does: 'nslookup nx.bit 127.0.0.1' or 'nslookup zombo.com 127.0.0.1'

I hope this helps. Thanks for your bug reports and feedback. Let me know if there are more issues.
nx.bit - some namecoin stats
nf.bit - shortcut to this forum

somename
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:12 pm
os: windows

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by somename »

phelix wrote: You can test from the command line:
what your system does: 'nslookup nx.bit' or 'nslookup zombo.com' (will also tell you your default DNS)
what NMControl does: 'nslookup nx.bit 127.0.0.1' or 'nslookup zombo.com 127.0.0.1'

I hope this helps. Thanks for your bug reports and feedback. Let me know if there are more issues.
I did test with `nslookup id.bit` and `ping id.bit`, but it didn't work as I expected.

I just tried again - it seems (I don't have time to verify) that it is also important to have Namecoin Core to start with DNS resolution first, otherwise - if you set your system DNS to 127.0.0.1 and then start Namecoin Core and NMControl, Namecoin won't be able to work and consequently NMControl either.

Also, it appears that NMControl needs 4-5 seconds to start working, so one has to be patient and re-query DNS if NMControl has just started.

And finally, nslookup id.bit 127.0.0.1 intermittently fails, I tried quite a few times and it sometimes times out. I think you could write a loop that runs every 5 seconds over a period of 1 hour to see if any queries time out. I am not 100% sure but it appears if 127.0.0.1 is the only DNS configured, that NMControl lookups of .bit domains fail more easily (and I wonder if that has to do with the functioning of Namecoin Core).

-----------
C:\Windows\System32>nslookup id.bit 127.0.0.1
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Server: UnKnown
Address: 127.0.0.1

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.

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

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by biolizard89 »

somename wrote:
phelix wrote: You can test from the command line:
what your system does: 'nslookup nx.bit' or 'nslookup zombo.com' (will also tell you your default DNS)
what NMControl does: 'nslookup nx.bit 127.0.0.1' or 'nslookup zombo.com 127.0.0.1'

I hope this helps. Thanks for your bug reports and feedback. Let me know if there are more issues.
I did test with `nslookup id.bit` and `ping id.bit`, but it didn't work as I expected.

I just tried again - it seems (I don't have time to verify) that it is also important to have Namecoin Core to start with DNS resolution first, otherwise - if you set your system DNS to 127.0.0.1 and then start Namecoin Core and NMControl, Namecoin won't be able to work and consequently NMControl either.

Also, it appears that NMControl needs 4-5 seconds to start working, so one has to be patient and re-query DNS if NMControl has just started.

And finally, nslookup id.bit 127.0.0.1 intermittently fails, I tried quite a few times and it sometimes times out. I think you could write a loop that runs every 5 seconds over a period of 1 hour to see if any queries time out. I am not 100% sure but it appears if 127.0.0.1 is the only DNS configured, that NMControl lookups of .bit domains fail more easily (and I wonder if that has to do with the functioning of Namecoin Core).

-----------
C:\Windows\System32>nslookup id.bit 127.0.0.1
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Server: UnKnown
Address: 127.0.0.1

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
The timeouts might get fixed when we switch DNS libraries (right now it's using PyDNS and PyMDS, we are most likely going to switch to Unbound and madns).
Jeremy Rand, Lead Namecoin Application Engineer
NameID: id/jeremy
DyName: Dynamic DNS update client for .bit domains.

Donations: BTC 1EcUWRa9H6ZuWPkF3BDj6k4k1vCgv41ab8 ; NMC NFqbaS7ReiQ9MBmsowwcDSmp4iDznjmEh5

phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by phelix »

somename wrote:
phelix wrote: You can test from the command line:
what your system does: 'nslookup nx.bit' or 'nslookup zombo.com' (will also tell you your default DNS)
what NMControl does: 'nslookup nx.bit 127.0.0.1' or 'nslookup zombo.com 127.0.0.1'

I hope this helps. Thanks for your bug reports and feedback. Let me know if there are more issues.
I did test with `nslookup id.bit` and `ping id.bit`, but it didn't work as I expected.

I just tried again - it seems (I don't have time to verify) that it is also important to have Namecoin Core to start with DNS resolution first, otherwise - if you set your system DNS to 127.0.0.1 and then start Namecoin Core and NMControl, Namecoin won't be able to work and consequently NMControl either.
It might be better to have resolving normal domains work before starting Namecoin Core.
Also, it appears that NMControl needs 4-5 seconds to start working, so one has to be patient and re-query DNS if NMControl has just started.

And finally, nslookup id.bit 127.0.0.1 intermittently fails, I tried quite a few times and it sometimes times out. I think you could write a loop that runs every 5 seconds over a period of 1 hour to see if any queries time out. I am not 100% sure but it appears if 127.0.0.1 is the only DNS configured, that NMControl lookups of .bit domains fail more easily (and I wonder if that has to do with the functioning of Namecoin Core).
If you configure more than on e DNS server in Windows odd things may happen. You should leave the secondary DNS server empty with 127.0.0.1 as primary.
nx.bit - some namecoin stats
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biolizard89
Posts: 2001
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:25 am
os: linux

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by biolizard89 »

I once had some weird things happen where lookups using PyMDS would fail randomly on Windows. It only happened on one of my VM's. I never figured out what was causing it, because we were planning to deprecated PyMDS anyway.
Jeremy Rand, Lead Namecoin Application Engineer
NameID: id/jeremy
DyName: Dynamic DNS update client for .bit domains.

Donations: BTC 1EcUWRa9H6ZuWPkF3BDj6k4k1vCgv41ab8 ; NMC NFqbaS7ReiQ9MBmsowwcDSmp4iDznjmEh5

phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by phelix »

Added installation instructions.
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phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

Re: NMControl Windows Installer RC1

Post by phelix »

I would like to put this up on the homepage soon.

The only thing that is not really nice is that there is no error message if the blockchain is downloading but it just fails... besides a GUI window pop up maybe we could launch a http GUI page explaining things (it would have to be "rate limited" so that it does not show up e.g. for every open tab on browser start).
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phelix
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 am

Re: NMControl Windows Installer v0.8.1

Post by phelix »

OP updated. Ready for release.
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