Cybersmart nslookup?!

[mbs]

Hi folks - some help from the net techies please - I'm slowly getting quite pee'd-off with the viral marketing I see, every time I log into a server using a shell. This has been happening for about the past 3 months - the last login response shows "from [IP address]-get-oneprice-adsl-for-only-r169.cybersmart.co.za". This is a deliberate prostitution of nslookup tables as I see it, and whoever is responsible should be zapped accordingly. The tragedy is that this cr@p also gets reported on many traffic apps. What adds fuel to the fire is that I've never had any dealings whatsoever with Cybersmart - I've got a 512 line that I've had since yonks with Telkrap, who I pay directly, and I use my preferred ISP for bandwidth purchases. How the hell Cybersmart comes into the picture in the first place, I have no idea. Any input from those in the know would be appreciated, also how to fix this if possible, given my limited networking knowledge...

 

[Tinuva]

Is your private ISP by any chance SAOL or someone that could be reselling cybersmart adsl accounts?

The name "[IP address]-get-oneprice-adsl-for-only-r169.cybersmart.co.za" that you see in the SSH session is actually the reverse dns of ips used by cybersmart adsl accounts. If you really dont like that to show up, you could always change ISPs but I would only do that if I actually had problems with the internet usage on that adsl account.

 

[mbs]

Thanx for your advices, T - you've confirmed what I thought was the case. As I see it, the deliberate prostitution of reverse DNS lookups for viral marketing purposes, is contrary to the spirit and intent of the facility, as a superficial reading of the various RFCs will confirm. But then again, we have so many money-grubbing, slimy quick-buck operators of all kinds in every sector of the economy, this is not surprising. The tragedy is that they pass themselves off as honest businesses, interested in the well-being of their clients - what a load of BS! Strangely enough, the viral marketing has now disappeared - I've just logged-in on multiple servers to check. No doubt, somebody has been reading this forum...

 

[Pyro]

Well, it sure doesn't hurt me if they assign a hostname to my IP that advertises their hosting packages.

Heck I can't even tell why this bugs you. For short-term IPs from a shared pool, I wouldn't expect the DNS to provide anything useful in any case.

 

[mbs]

As I see it, this is as bad as telemarketers, distracting billboards, being accosted by prozzies on the street, car dealers sticking their details on your intended vehicle purchase uninvited, and so the list goes on. As a matter of interest, this does affect network traffic reports that use nslookup - the reports are now littered with advertising bumph originating from a pathetic attempt to increase market share?! That's just not on, in my book...

 

[Pyro]

And even though reports are littered with it, it doesn't affect your reports. Sure you've got a few extra bytes to store, but if it should hardly affect you.

Seriously, it's a temporary hostname assigned to a shared IP. You shouldn't be making much use of it in the first place. If it bums you that much, do a regex replace on your precious reports.

 

[mbs]

@Pyro - clearly you have no idea of what large corporate user environments are like. And I'm not talking about local businesses either, not even those who decided to decamp offshore and now consider themselves multi-nationals. When you have literally tens of thousands of users accessing a network using multiple mechanisms that vary depending on location and infrastructure, an nslookup is very useful to consolidate and quickly identify what has originated from where, even though the information may not be entirely accurate and comprised of hostnames derived from a shared pool of addresses.

But that's not the point. The point I'm making is that it is inexcusable for this facility to be used for viral marketing, and any ISP doing this should seriously reconsider what it is doing - I'm sure that there are plenty who consider this to be unethical, like me. If you work for an ISP, then I understand your point of view, but that doesn't make the practice less unacceptable.

 

[Pyro]

I don't make much use of nslookups, they have very little use in my day-to-day activities. To me an IP address tends to be much more useful because of the way our network is arranged. The hostnames I do see don't help much in resolving any of our problems, unless it's an important central machine. Because of that, it won't affect me in any way if a fairly short string is appended to hostnames. I'll find it fairly entertaining if there's enough variation actually. The domain is still there, and still useful.

I don't think they'd be winning many customers with the practice, but it doesn't cost them anything either so any gains would be pure profit.