Tuesday, May 14, 2024

May 14 (Tue) – Network Monitoring #3

More progress on the new script.

In my last article on this subject I mentioned a few improvements in the new script. One is that if a utility isn’t installed the script will install it. Well, adding that feature wasn’t as easy as I expected. On my computer I have to enter a password to install software and I want to avoid the password thing.

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There’s several ways I could avoid a password. I decided to keep it simple. I’ll find someone that can install software without a password and make them run the script for me. User root can do that.

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Root running the script solved that problem but caused another. Root has no idea who I am and what monitor I’m looking at. So when the new script needs to put a notification on my monitor, it can’t.

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I solved that problem by shamelessly stealing ten lines of code off the internet and adding them to the script. That code figures out who I am, what monitor I’m looking at, and sends the message. Voila! Utilities can be installed and notifications are displayed!

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So here’s a very simplified outline of the script that shows what parts are done. Since it’s raining out and I want to work on this that’s what I’m gonna do. Here’s the script so far.

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The outline says that the next step is to check DNS. DNS, as you might now. is the internet’s phone book. It tells computer A how to reach computer B. The internet would stop working in an instant if the DNS phone book got lost or stopped working. It’s so important that there’s more than one copy of the phone book. Matter of fact there’s millions of copies of the phone book or parts of it.

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Anything that connects to the internet has at least part of the phone book inside of it - every cell phone, tablet, workstation, router, and PC has part of the phone book tucked away inside and every one of those copies is being updated fairly often. The “big heavy” phone books that have almost ALL the addresses for the entire internet are scattered all over the planet. See for yourself.

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Keeping a DNS phone book up to date costs money. Some companies maintain a copy of the phone book and make a bit of money doing it. They keep lists of who uses their phone book and what they’re looking up. Selling those lists is profitable, and a privacy concern.

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My position on DNS phone books is simple. I use just one phone book that’s kept current by a company I trust not to make and sell lists. Anything else is called a DNS leak. Checking for dns leaks is what I’m working on now.

May 13 (Mon) – Network Monitoring #2 »
« May 15 (Wed) – Update

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