Is a caching nameserver really important?

There is some controversy about the real benefits of using a caching name server in a system, either desktop or server. In this article we keep controversy out of the discussion and focus on the performance improvement the caching of DNS information can offer to a system while performing specific tasks. For instance, a caching nameserver allows a web browser to acquire DNS information from the local DNS cache, provided that this information has already been cached, without the need to access any public DNS servers, which results in faster web browsing. Similarly, in a server environment, services like spam filters often need to perform many DNS queries for the same hostnames. The latency of the communication with the remote nameserver may add up to the total time of email processing.

BIND vs dnsmasq

BIND is the flagship of DNS servers with large deployments around the globe. I have used BIND for many years as a caching nameserver, even on my desktop, until I realized it is overkill to use BIND this way. There are lighter solutions, even all-in-one software like dnsmasq, that seem to be more suitable for setting up local DNS caching.

System preparation

So, let’s get started with the system preparation before going into the details of the dnsmasq configuration.

First of all, we need to install dnsmasq:

yum install dnsmasq

dnsmasq, when run as root, is designed to drop privileges and run as an unprivileged user. By default, this user is nobody. We use a dedicated system user to run dnsmasq.

Run the following commands as root to create such an unprivileged system user and group named dnsmasq:

groupadd -r dnsmasq
useradd -r -g dnsmasq dnsmasq

The above should be enough.

Configuration

All dnsmasq configuration options go into /etc/dnsmasq.conf. Here we write this file from scratch, so if you need to keep a copy of the original that ships with your distribution, do so with:

cp /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig

Now, let’s get started with adding our own dnsmasq configuration in /etc/dnsmasq.conf.

First of all, we set some options regarding the basic server operation like the interface and port on which it should bind, the unprivileged user that should run the service and a PID file:

listen-address=127.0.0.1
port=53
bind-interfaces
user=dnsmasq
group=dnsmasq
pid-file=/var/run/dnsmasq.pid

The bind-interfaces directive instructs dnsmasq to bind only to the network interface specified in the listen-address directive.

Next comes logging.

By default, dnsmasq sends its log messages to the DAEMON syslog facility (LOCAL0 when operating in debug mode). We go with the defaults here, but keep in mind that a separate log file can be set as it is shown in the configuration snippet below (currently commented out):

#log-facility=/var/log/dnsmasq.log
#log-queries

Logging to file requires some extra configuration for proper log rotation. For more information, please read Appendix II.

Finally, we set the options that configure dnsmasq’s name resolution and caching operations.

The following directives prevent dnsmasq from forwarding plain names (without any dots) or addresses in the non-routed address space to the parent nameservers.

domain-needed
bogus-priv

The no-hosts directive also instructs dnsmasq not to read any hostnames from /etc/hosts. In most systems, /etc/hosts is queried before a DNS service is used by the system for name lookups. So, all plain name to private IP mappings should normally be added in /etc/hosts. If this is not what you want, then take a look at the expand-hosts and domain directives.

no-hosts

Set the maximum number of concurrent DNS queries. The default value is 150. Adjust to your needs.

dns-forward-max=150

Set the size of the dnsmasq cache. The default is to keep 150 hostnames. By setting the cache size to 0 disables the feature (this is not what we really want). Again, adjust this value according to your needs.

cache-size=1000

The following directive controls whether negative caching should be enabled or not. Negative caching allows dnsmasq to remember “no such domain” answers from the parent nameservers, so it does not query for the same non-existent hostnames again and again. This is probably useful for spam filters or MTA services. By default, negative caching is enabled. To disable, un-comment the following directive.

#no-negcache

The neg-ttl directive sets a default TTL value to add to negative replies from the parent nameservers, in case these replies do not contain TTL information. If neg-ttl is not set and a negative reply from a parent DNS server does not contain TTL information, then dnsmasq will not cache the reply. Here we set the default TTL to 3600 seconds. Again, adjust to your specific needs.

neg-ttl=3600

Here we use a separate file where dnsmasq reads the IPs of the parent nameservers from. The syntax is the same as in /etc/resolv.conf. We do this to facilitate the manipulation of the parent nameservers that should be used by dnsmasq by using, for example, an external script. The filename we use here is resolv.dnsmasq, but this can be changed to your liking. We also set the no-poll directive here to prevent dnsmasq from polling the ‘resolv’ file for changes.

resolv-file=/etc/resolv.dnsmasq
no-poll

A full configuration file containing all the above configuration, which can can be used as a drop-in replacement of the default /etc/dnsmasq.conf, can be found in Appendix I.

Upstream Nameservers

We have used a separate file to store the IPs of the parent nameservers; that is /etc/resolv.dnsmasq. Using the same syntax as in /etc/resolv.conf add the nameserver IP addresses in resolv.dnsmasq. For example:

nameserver 192.168.0.252
nameserver 192.168.0.253
nameserver 192.168.0.254

Note that we still need to make a change in /etc/resolv.conf before the system starts using dnsmasq for domain name lookups. Read on…

Starting dnsmasq

In order to start dnsmasq, run as root:

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq start

Check the syslog or the dnsmasq logfile (if used) for any error messages.

If everything seems to be OK, set the dnsmasq service to start on boot:

chkconfig dnsmasq on

This command might be Red-Hat specific, so consult your distribution’s documentation about how to set services to start on boot.

Switch name resolution to dnsmasq

What we have done so far is set up the dnsmasq service. For hostnames that do not exist in /etc/hosts the system still uses the nameserver inside /etc/resolv.conf for name resolution.

To start using dnsmasq, edit /etc/resolv.conf, remove all nameservers and add only the IP of our dnsmasq service:

nameserver 127.0.0.1

From now on, the system will use dnsmasq for domain name resolution. You can un-comment the log-queries option in order to confirm the dnsmasq operation.

Appendix I – Full configuration file

This is the complete configuration file containing the configuration that has been discussed in this article. Note that it can be used as is to replace the default /etc/dnsmasq.conf.

#
# Configuration file for dnsmasq acting as a caching nameserver.
#
# Format is one option per line, legal options are the same
# as the long options legal on the command line. See
# "/usr/sbin/dnsmasq --help" or "man 8 dnsmasq" for details.
#
# Updated versions of this configuration file may be available at:
#
#   http://www.g-loaded.eu/2010/09/18/caching-nameserver-using-dnsmasq/
#
#
# Basic server configuration
#
listen-address=127.0.0.1
port=53
bind-interfaces
user=dnsmasq
group=dnsmasq
pid-file=/var/run/dnsmasq.pid
#
# Logging
#
#log-facility=/var/log/dnsmasq.log
#log-queries
#
# Name resolution options
#
domain-needed
bogus-priv
no-hosts
dns-forward-max=150
cache-size=1000
#no-negcache
neg-ttl=3600
resolv-file=/etc/resolv.dnsmasq
no-poll

This file is meant to be used both on servers and desktops.

Appendix II – Logging to file

Before dnsmasq starts logging to file it is required to set the path to the logfile in the log-facility option inside /etc/dnsmasq.conf.

log-facility=/var/log/dnsmasq.log

To ensure proper rotation of the log file you should use the following logrotate configuration:

/var/log/dnsmasq.log {
    monthly
    missingok
    notifempty
    delaycompress
    sharedscripts
    postrotate
        [ ! -f /var/run/dnsmasq.pid ] || kill -USR2 `cat /var/run/dnsmasq.pid`
    endscript
    create 0640 dnsmasq dnsmasq
}

Save the above configuration in /etc/logrotate.d/dnsmasq. Also, adjust the log filename or the path to the PID file in case you have used custom names, but make sure you do not change the USR2 signal that is sent to the dnsmasq process in the post-rotation script.

Final Thoughts

dnsmasq is a very lightweight service. Therefore, you can run it on any system, either server or desktop without any noticeable impact on system resources. In this guide we used it as an internal system service bound to the loopback interface, without permitting direct access from the outside. This along with the fact that dnsmasq is mature software that has been around for several years makes our setup rather secure.

Several people might argue that the performance improvement a local caching nameserver offers in terms of name lookup speed is insignificant. This might be true in some cases, but there are times that this performance improvement is noticeable, especially when the quality of the network connectivity between the current machine and the upstream nameserver is an issue, or when the upstream name server is overloaded. On the other hand, it is almost certain that a local caching DNS server can in no way make name resolution slower, unless perhaps a huge cache is being used. Generally, I find keeping such a service operational a good idea.

In this article we discussed about one of the dnsmasq features: DNS caching. dnsmasq is a lot more than just that. Check the whole feature set in the dnsmasq homepage. Perhaps, in the future, more guides covering other features of this software are published. Until then, enjoy local DNS caching!!!

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1. security
2. reliability
3. backwards compatibility
4. extensibility

A few years ago, I had published an approach on how to organize mailing list messages using Evolution. The same tips and tricks apply to Thunderbird, so those of you who deal with many mailing lists might find that old article interesting.

The highlights of the new release include:

• Tabbed Email: Provides the ability view individual emails and folders in tabs.
• Filtered Search: The new search interface contains filtering and timeline tools
• Message Archive: When an email message is archived, it is moved from the inbox into the new archive folder system, de-cluttering the inbox, while, at the same time, enabling users to find email months or years from now.
• One-click Address Book: A very quick and easy way to add people to an address book, by simply clicking on the star icon in the messages received from new correspondents.
• New Mail Account Setup Wizard: Getting started with Thunderbird 3 is faster than ever with the new account set-up wizard that requires simple information, like email addresses and passwords to get going instead of a user’s IMAP, SMTP, SSL/TLS settings.
• Smart Folders: Combines individual mailboxes to help manage multiple email accounts in one spot. For example, by selecting the Inbox, users can view all the incoming emails from all their different accounts without having to go to each email account separately.
• Add-ons Manager: The new add-ons manager can help users find, download, and install hundreds of add-ons enabling them to customize Thunderbird 3 and add functionality or change the appearance.
• Gecko 1.9.1 Engine: The same Web page rendering engine and graphics infrastructure used in Firefox, provides the latest Web Standards support and security enhancements.
• Automated Updates: Thunderbird’s update system notifies users when a security update is available and automates the download and installation process to keep users safe.

Now, I am off to test this beast’s new features…

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Two days ago, I decided to upgrade the program to the latest version and, during installation and without giving it much thought, I installed the application’s plugin system and a plugin called “Document Monitor” or something like that. This morning my system experienced another Notepad++ freeze, but this time a Virtual Machine, which run under VirtualBox, froze too. There was heavy disk I/O at that time. The virtual system was meant to be an RPM Build Server, so I re-deployed it just to be sure that everything was all right without risking any data loss during the freeze.

After that, I disabled Notepad++’s plugin system entirely and do not intend to use any of the plugins ever again. I continue to use the core editor, but I am also looking for alternatives. So far, PSpad (freeware) and TwistPad (commercial editor at a very reasonable price) are among the candidates. I mainly use a text editor for plain text and HTML documents, Python, PHP and BASH scripts. Any other suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

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I also installed OpenSolaris 2008.11. I had to make some room for a primary partition as OpenSolaris does not recognize/manage extended or logical partitions (even mentioning LVM is unnecessary). I used the GParted LiveCD for this purpose and all was perfectly done. Due to the fact that OpenSolaris cannot read logical partitions, my CentOS installation was inaccessible from the GRUB menu, but that was something I fixed easily later using CentOS in rescue mode, so that triple booting would be flawless well, not exactly flawless at the moment, but will work on that. Before performing the install, I did some research about the different installation methods (local or across the network), but I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the OpenSolaris installer is not very flexible or user-friendly. It would be a joke to even compare it to the RHEL/CentOS/Fedora installer; anaconda that is.

As usual, my onboard gigabit ethernet card (Attansic L1) was not recognized. I downloaded a 3rd party driver, but it was only after a few hours before I started enjoying network connectivity. At first, I had not realized that the driver distribution also included binaries. I spent most of the time trying to install the gcc compiler in order to compile the driver. What puzzled me the most was the fact that, not only the compiler was not available in the installation medium, but also the fact that there was no way to download the relevant package (SUNWgcc and its dependencies) and manually install it using pkgadd. SUN’s Image Packaging System (IPS) has reached a point that the entity of a package, as we know it, does not exist! This was unbelievable at first… Anyway, some hours later I was told that the driver’s distribution (atge) included binaries that I could use to get my network adapter up. So, that was what I did. I had a few more problems with NWAM, Network Auto Magic (the Opensolaris equivalent of Network Manager), but soon I managed to disable the automatic network configuration and bring the interface up manually.

Believe me, after all the trouble with the network connectivity, I did not want to like OpenSolaris. But the truth is I really did like it. There are some bugs here and there, some parts of the operating system are not user-friendly at all, and also some graphical system administration utilities are not really useful at the moment. But, the more someone uses OpenSolaris the more he gets the impression that there is some serious professionalism behind this project. It is being built in order to be useful and do things right. Also a quick tour around OpenSolaris.org and its relative web-sites reveals that the effort, both SUN’s and the effort of the community, behind this operating system is much more coordinated compared to the development of Linux distributions. So, it was not a surprise for me the fact that Firefox with Adobe’s Flash player performed way better (IMHO) than in Linux. Also, despite the fact that a few months ago there was no Solaris compatible Adobe Reader, now Solaris/OpenSolaris users enjoy the latest version of Adobe Reader (9.1 at the moment of writing), while Linux users still use the 8.X version — note: just checked and Adobe Reader 9.1 is available for Linux too. Well, if Adobe has to create an application that has to run on all the major Linux distributions which use different versions of libraries, the above seems reasonable and we, Linux users, should not complain at all about it. Well, Skype has not been ported yet. Finally, it should be noted that there is plenty of software available for OpenSolaris users from official and third party package repositories.

Hmm, when I was starting writing this document I wouldn’t expect it to be that long. Anyway, time permitting, I’ll test the above operating systems some more in the upcoming weeks. I had tried OpenSolaris on Virtualbox, but it had not performed well in virtualized mode on my computer. Now, that I have installed it on a physical partition things are very different.

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This plugin allows repositories to have different priorities. Packages in a repository with a lower priority can’t be overridden by packages from a repository with a higher priority even if repo has a later version.

Here follows my yum repositories configuration:

# Custom builds
[local-rpms]
name=Local Yum Repository
baseurl=ftp://192.168.0.70/pub/linux/centos/$releasever/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
#gpgkey=
priority=1
# core packages
[base]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Base
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=os
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=10
#released updates
[updates]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Updates
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=updates
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=10
#packages used/produced in the build but not released
[addons]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Addons
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=addons
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/addons/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=10
#additional packages that may be useful
[extras]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Extras
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=extras
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=10
#additional packages that extend functionality of existing packages
[centosplus]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Plus
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=centosplus
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/centosplus/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=20
#contrib - packages by Centos Users
[contrib]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Contrib
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=contrib
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/contrib/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=20
[adobe-linux-i386]
name=Adobe Systems Incorporated
baseurl=http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/linux/i386/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
priority=30
# Name: RPMforge RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise 5 - dag
# URL: http://rpmforge.net/
[rpmforge]
name = Red Hat Enterprise $releasever - RPMforge.net - dag
#baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/$basearch/dag
mirrorlist = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/mirrors-rpmforge
#mirrorlist = file:///etc/yum.repos.d/mirrors-rpmforge
enabled = 1
protect = 0
gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dag
gpgcheck = 1
priority=40

Here are some notes:

• A repository’s priority is rated like this: the smaller the priority number, the higher the priority of the repository. Packages from a specific repository cannot override (upgrade) packages of a repository with higher priority (smaller priority number).
• In the above setup, the repository with the highest priority is my Local RPM repository. This repo contains custom builds of packages. Custom builds means that I have enabled or disabled specific compilation-time switches or that I have used a patch that is not yet used in the mainstream package. Usually, when I create custom builds of RPMs, I know what I am doing and, of course, I do not want my custom RPMs to be overridden by packages from other repositories, even official ones. So, this repository has the highest priority (priority=1).
• base, updates, addons, extras are the official CentOS repositories and they all have priority 10.
• As you can see in the above setup, centosplus and contrib repositories are not enabled. However, I have set a priority number that is between (priority=20) the priority number of the official repositories and the priority number of the 3rd party repositories.
• Next comes Adobe‘s yum repository (priority=30) and finally RPMforge (priority=40). These are both 3rd party repositories. I highly recommend that you choose your 3rd party repositories carefully and set their priorities wisely. I would also advise against setting the same priority on two or more 3rd party repositories, unless you are 100% certain that they complement each other. If I ever use any other 3rd party repository, it will get a priority higher than 40 and so on.

So, this is how I have configured priorities on yum repositories at the moment. Note that this configuration is used on my desktop. On my Xen Dom0 and the four DomUs, which by the way all run CentOS, I use EPEL instead of RPMforge. Remember, it’s your own software needs that govern the use of 3rd party repositories.

Your feedback is welcome.

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On the other hand, about 4+ years ago I had switched from Microsoft Windows to Fedora for my desktop needs. My experience with Fedora as a desktop so far has shown that this operating system does not actually help me meet my goals as far as the desktop computer is concerned. Fedora is one of those OSes where all the development and testing takes place. Its own goal is to be innovative and provide the user with the latest technologies. But, this inevitably makes it a rather buggy operating system. Things that work today may be broken tomorrow. I have tried really hard to get used to this unpredictable way of computing, but I cannot do it any more. So, I have decided to switch back to something more stable and predictable.

Two of the candidates for my desktop are CentOS and Windows Vista. I chose those two because I know them very well. My decision is not driven by my intention to contribute back to the community through this particular use of one of the aforementioned operating systems. If that was the goal, I would stay with Fedora or migrate to Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Gentoo or any other Linux distribution that represents the so called “cutting edge”. I need a desktop operating system that is reliable, stable, predictable and easy to use. As far as CentOS is concerned, this comes at the cost of using older versions of software (by default), for instance it ships with OpenOffice 2.3 (it is easy to upgrade though). In the case of Windows, stability, reliability and predictability have to be bought and also the “license to use” is bound to the hardware. Well, nothing is really free in this world. Everybody has to make choices.

Strictly judging by the use of a particular operating system as a desktop, one thing I would like to put some emphasis on is that a CentOS user does not differ much from a Windows user. Both choose a predictable system and pay the necessary cost (whatever it might be) in order to accomplish their goals. Moreover, since both of those OSes have already been extensively tested by others, the users’ primary goal is not to contribute back to the community in the form of bug-hunting or beta-testing, which is probably one of the most important parts of the software development process. Of course, both CentOS and Windows have bugs, but it would be a joke to compare the type and the number of problems that arise in these OSes to the issues a Fedora/Ubuntu/OpenSuse/Gentoo etc user has to face.

If any user of a conservative Linux distribution (Debian-testing included) feels insulted by being compared to a Windows user, I apologize. It was not my intention to insult you or make you feel uncomfortable in any way. A user of a conservative Linux distribution may contribute to the FOSS development by other means, but what I try to analyse here are the criteria upon which the choice of an operating system is made and what that choice practically means.

But, that is enough with this topic.

What this post is about is my announcement that I officially migrate to CentOS for both the server and the desktop. I am also considering migrating to Windows Vista as far as my desktop is concerned, but this will depend on how my desktop experience with CentOS will be. Time permitting I will be closely following the development of Fedora through virtualization and, as usual, report any issues I encounter.

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UPDATE: I just read the news about lastfm’s new policy after March 30. It is a pity. I joined about a month ago and also subscribed without actually enjoying any of the features. It’s not about the money. 3 EUR per month is not a lot of money for such a service. It’s the different treatment of their customers I cannot accept. So long lastfm.

[gnot@galeon ~]$ rpm -q --changelog imsettings-libs
* Wed Mar 18 2009 Akira TAGOH  - 0.105.1-4
- Fix a dead key not working. (#483840)
- Get rid of more debugging messages. (#484142)
- Disable imsettings-xim in xinput.sh. (#485595)
- Fix a parser error on reading Compose data.
- Fix a double-free issue.
- Workaround to get the accelerator keys working again.
  Note that this workaround might affects to the performance. you may want
  to disable this with:
  gconftool-2 -t bool -s /apps/imsettings-applet/sync_on_forward false
  (#488675)
- Fix getting-stuck-issue on keyevent. (#488976, #489611)

I am not quite sure which one fixed the aforementioned issue, but I am really glad things work again normally.

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My primary desktop has been running GNU/Linux exclusively for 4+ years. During that time, I had the opportunity to use every FOSS graphical CD/DVD burning frontend that has ever been released, but I always ended to the good old command-line tools (mkisofs – now genisoimage-, dvd+rw-tools) to do the job.

Making an exception for K3B, I wouldn’t rate all other FOSS graphical CD/DVD burning frontends higher than “crapware“.

Of course, things would have been better if all those FOSS devs joined forces, had a plan and assembled a team of volunteer beta testers (I would have loved to participate). I am sure that the result would have been an awesome burning application. But, unfortunately, each of those selfish geniuses decided to torture the world by delivering his own version of crap to our desktop, dammit!

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As for the others, FreeBSD was exactly as I expected it to be. A system aiming at stability and backwards compatibility, but I am not sure if it would be the right choice for the everyday desktop computer. Like it happens with OpenSolaris, the user needs to do some extensive reading before this OS can reveal its full potential.

CentOS and Debian are two widely used linux distributions. Well, I had never really used Debian before (constantly stuck with RedHat Linux, Mandrake and CentOS), so some reading is also required for this OS too (not as much though as in FreeBSD/OpenSolaris).

What is the conclusion of all those test installations? In terms of easy-migration from Fedora to my new desktop OS, CentOS is probably the #1 candidate to take Fedora‘s place. But, I think I will delay the migration a bit longer in order to have time to check OpenSolaris more thoroughly.

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This post is not supposed to start a flame about linux distributions, so please allow me to disable comments.

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