[X4U] Leopard Issues

[John Douglass - User]

On Dec 5, 2007, at 8:39 AM, Jon Warms wrote:

>
> One poster asked about the 10.5 installation. It was a clean install
> from the Leopard DVD onto a just-formatted HDD.
>
> On Dec 5, 2007, Robert Ameeti <Robert at Ameeti.net> wrote:
>
>>> I went to the Westell modem site (192.168.1.1). The connection
>>> summary shows a primary DNS of 71.250.0.12, and a secondary DNS of
>>> 71.242.0.12. I couldn't change them. In any case, since both
>>> computers use the Westell, these DNS can't be reason for the
>>> different results.
>>
>> Look at the DNS settings of each computer in the System Preferences,
>> not on the router. The DNS of the computer overrides the routers.
>>
>
>>> In any event, when I type "chevrolet", in the MacBook I get the
>>> Verizon-Yahoo search program
>>
>> Does that really pass the smell test?
>
> Huh? WTF does that mean? (Why do you add that garbage into
> otherwise-helpful-postings?)
>
> I used "chevrolet" because I hadn't used it before on either computer.
>
> Thanks for the DNS explanation. Earlier, you suggested changing the
> DNS in my computer. I did that on both computers. The 10.4.11 machine
> added the ".com" (and the www). On the MacBook, there was a
> delay of several seconds, and then the Verizon search page came up.
> I assume it tried the changed DNS, which failed, and then tried the
> DNS in the router, which didn't fail, but routed the address to  
> Verizon.
> So domain guessing never got applied.
>
> But it's still not an answer. Whatever is going on has changed from
> 10.4.11 to 10.5.1. a) I'd like to understand what has
> changed, and b) I'd like to know how I can undo the change.

Apple does not control all the portions of their OS as the underlying
Unix implementation is built upon a myriad of open source components  
(as all
Unix variants are).  I'm not sure this can be "undone" as the underlying
change may be completely outside of their control.

I have been researching the RFCs a bit more and have found several  
interesting
discussions regarding this type of problem.  The fact of the matter is  
the DNS
server that Verizon has is breaking the RFC by returning NOERROR  
instead of
NXDOMAIN.  Most interestingly is some information referenced at  
Wikipedia
regarding VeriSign's Site Finder (which I had forgotten about).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_Finder

Note the "See Also" section regarding site redirects and ISP (Comcast,  
Earthink, etc.).
Now google "Verizon DNS site redirect" -- and well, you'll get lots of  
interesting
information -- here is a good one:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/11/verizon_search.html

Note the "opt out" procedure in the article.

Sorry for all the external references but it is worth the reading if  
you are interested
in what is really happening.

Now, again -- I agree the behavior has changed, but I stress I believe  
that
change is in fact beyond Apple's direct control.  Apple does NOT want to
be in the game of forking private copies of underlying open source  
tools in
order to maintain what in fact is incorrect behavior.  The new  
behavior from
Apple in your case is the correct behavior, the bad player here IS  
Verizon
not Apple.

I would look into using either opting out of Verizon's <sarcasm>great</ 
sarcasm>
  DNS feature or using OpenDNS (https://www.opendns.com) as your DNS
servers.  Should solve your problems (you may need to clear your DNS  
caches/reboot
after making changes because at this point you'll have bad data cached).

-- John