[ANN] Namecoin DNS server (and more) with NMControl

[khal]

Here is the first release of NMControl 0.4 !

Description

nmcontrol is a python software that will provide services on top of namecoin like DNS, proxy, name (domain, alias, etc) registration and renewal.
It is composed of a daemon (nmcontrol) that communicates with namecoin and provide services, and a GUI (nmcontrol-gui) that manages the daemon.

It will allow you to :
- create domains, alias and auto renew them
- listen for dns requests
- listen for socks requests
- publish your services (in a namecoin record/namespace, services could announce themselves in the blockchain)
- etc

It is multi-threaded and designed with plugins, to enable each person to activate only what they need and what they want to share (for example, you will be able to share your DNS server with other people if you want).
Aim of this software is to allow people to easily build things/services on top of namecoin.

Current version supports :
- a flexible plugin system
- an rpc client/server to manage commands
- communication with namecoin

TODO :
- a GUI [edit: to manage domains, alias, dns server, etc, but not your coins. Coins can be managed with a bitcoin GUI using RPC]
- make required modifications for it to work on windows and mac
- advanced services like DNS and proxies
- automatic configuration of the OS
- provide binaries and install software

Links :
- sources
- archives
- README
- INSTALL
- TODO

Now that the base structure is done, I can focus on advanced services
Which one would you want first :
- windows support ?
- dns server
- name auto-renew ?
- gui ?
- other ?

[Greedi]

windows support + gui

[smoothie]

windows support + gui

+1 the last nmc client was all command based....not exactly user friendly.

[markm]

If as it sounds it does not actually do anything yet, having a GUI for it seems premature; might as well first have it able to actually do at least one thing, so that a GUI will actually have something it can tell it to do.

DNS sounds good, then the GUI which, to have something to do (since there would be no point running the daemon if you didn't want to be able to look up .bit domains on the local machine), maybe make a GUI that will let you toggle whether to let other machines use that DNS, or even let you configure exactly which machines to permit to use it or something like that.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I got a definite impression the thing doesn't actually do anything yet but is just a framework ready to have something to actually do added, so to me it seemed hilarious how windows folks immediately jumped to the idea that most important thing to have would be a GUI that doesn't actually do anything.

("I know it doesn't actually *do* anything but the point is, it should not do things graphically instead of not doing things textually dammit!" )

-MarkM-

[smoothie]

If as it sounds it does not actually do anything yet, having a GUI for it seems premature; might as well first have it able to actually do at least one thing, so that a GUI will actually have something it can tell it to do.

DNS sounds good, then the GUI which, to have something to do (since there would be no point runnign the daemon if you didn't want to be able to look up .bit domains on the local machine), maybe make a GUI that will let you toggle whether to let other machines use that DNS, or even let you configure exactly which machines to permit to use it or something like that.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I got a definite impression the thing doesn't actually do anything yet but is just a framework ready to have something to actually do added, so to me it seemed hiliarious how windows folks immediately jumped to the idea that most important thing to have would be a GUI that doesn't actually do anything.

("I know it doesn't actually *do* anything but the point is, it should not do things graphically instead of not doing things textually dammit!" )

-MarkM-

When I say this I'm not talking about me: Not having a GUI limits its user base my like at least half on this forum. I'm sure most people dont want to be tinkering on the command line. Make it easy/simple!!

[khal]

nmcontrol is designed to be simple, so building a gui that manage the daemon should be "simple" (rpc call + forms to fill required fields per namespace :p).
One thing i've added to my original post is that this GUI will not allow you to manage your coins, because a standard bitcoin GUI using RPC can already do that.

Also, pertinent remark from markm about the GUI :p

Windows support shouldn't be difficult too (because i've already coded with it in mind).

Other comments ?

[smoothie]

nmcontrol is designed to be simple, so building a gui that manage the daemon should be "simple" (rpc call + forms to fill required fields per namespace :p).
One thing i've added to my original post is that this GUI will not allow you to manage your coins, because a standard bitcoin GUI using RPC can already do that.

Also, pertinent remark from markm about the GUI :p

Windows support shouldn't be difficult too (because i've already coded with it in mind).

Other comments ?

If it is simple then where is it?

[khal]

Any help is appreciated, for example by :
- reporting if it is working ok or not (with which os/config)
- testing the current behavior on windows or mac
- giving ideas/feedbacks/comments
- python programmers are welcome to write some code

[khal]

NMControl 0.5 :

- now starts on windows
- better support of other os

To use it in Windows, you currently need to install python :
- 32 bit
- 64 bit

* Then, to launch the application use :

Code:

cd nmcontrol
c:\Python\python.exe nmcontrol start

* Start namecoin.

* Open another terminal and :

Code:

cd nmcontrol
c:\Python\python.exe nmcontrol data getValue id/khal

* If the daemon cannot contact namecoind :
- configure the path of your namecoin.conf file in 'conf/plugin-data.conf', example :

Code:

update.namecoin=C:\Users\xxx\Application Data\Namecoin\namecoin.conf

- restart nmcontrol (stop first terminal and relaunch it)


Does it work for you ?

Next step : adding the DNS server.

[smoothie]

So how many domain name squatters do we have in existence for this system? Expecially at the current price of nmc domain names....

[markm]

So how many domain name squatters do we have in existence for this system? Expecially at the current price of nmc domain names....

Probably few squatters but squatting many domains.

-MarkM-

[smoothie]

So how many domain name squatters do we have in existence for this system? Expecially at the current price of nmc domain names....

Probably few squatters but squatting many domains.

-MarkM-

Not very even playing field to new comers huh...

[Bitcoin Oz]

nmcontrol is designed to be simple, so building a gui that manage the daemon should be "simple" (rpc call + forms to fill required fields per namespace :p).
One thing i've added to my original post is that this GUI will not allow you to manage your coins, because a standard bitcoin GUI using RPC can already do that.

Also, pertinent remark from markm about the GUI :p

Windows support shouldn't be difficult too (because i've already coded with it in mind).

Other comments ?

If it is simple then where is it?

So they can reg all the possible domains and squat them of course. 

[khal]

Namecoin has no central authority (it is its aim), so, of course there are squatters. Do they annoy you ?

Fighting with squaters is like fighting with Bitcoin speculants. You think they do evil, I think they bring popularity to system. Bitcoin possibly never rised without speculants. And so may be true for NMC and squaters.

Let the squaters to be, let the NMC to circulate. They will rise the circuation volume. Circuation is life.

You can also participate in those topics if you have some constructive ideas about a "right" name price :
- Registering is too cheap
- Increasing the size of the value field

[smoothie]

Namecoin has no central authority (it is its aim), so, of course there are squatters. Do they annoy you ?

Fighting with squaters is like fighting with Bitcoin speculants. You think they do evil, I think they bring popularity to system. Bitcoin possibly never rised without speculants. And so may be true for NMC and squaters.

Let the squaters to be, let the NMC to circulate. They will rise the circuation volume. Circuation is life.

You can also participate in those topics if you have some constructive ideas about a "right" name price :
- Registering is too cheap
- Increasing the size of the value field

I think it's a bit too late for people to register anything with any remote value in terms of domain names at this point. They have had over a year to squat all the good names.

Plus undoing the registered names or trying to find a fair price and method for others to join will not work because you will piss off the early adopters if you take their "cookie" away...

Seems messed up. Perhaps a restart?

[khal]

I think it's a bit too late for people to register anything with any remote value in terms of domain names at this point. They have had over a year to squat all the good names.

Are you interested in names only for their value ?
If people still register .com, .net, etc, you can guess there are still a huge number of interesting names in namecoin (less than 65K domains are registered).

Plus undoing the registered names or trying to find a fair price and method for others to join will not work because you will piss off the early adopters if you take their "cookie" away...

So, only squatting has some interest for you ?
People knew that name price will decrease (50NMC at the beginning, 0.01NMC at the end). If we adjust the price (due to merged mining), people won't suffer from it.
And, it's not about "trying to find a fair price and method for others to join", but setting a fair price :
- to be not too expensive (no need to empty your wallet),
- to be not too cheap and (there is no need to be able to register 100000 domains with 1 cent),
- not to need to change it again in 3 months (price may be adjusted like bitcoin fees have been adjusted).

Seems messed up. Perhaps a restart?

And squatters will fight again for most "valuable" names ? What problem would it solve ?


Other than that, did you try the above software ?
Do you find some interest in namecoin or only in the website selling domains in your signature ?

[khal]

A release with a DNS server and a first .bit support will arrive soon !
Thanks to the pymds library (DNS server) and the previous work done by sonicrules12324

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.6

Changelog :
- Added DNS client : lib to resolve non .bit domains
- Added DNS server : lib to reply to dns queries, connected to the data plugin to resolve .bit domains
- Added DNS Service : to configure,start and stop the DNS server
- Fix : don't try to stop an already stopped plugin
- Improved start/stop log messages

Todo :
- It has only a first support of .bit (spec v1) that needs to be improved/tested/commented
- No IPv6 yet.

To update from sources (git) :

Code:

cd nmcontrol
git pull

To update from archive :
https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags

The DNS server is auto-started. If you don't want it, edit the 'plugin-dns.conf' file and put :

Code:

start=0

You can also configure host on which it will listen to share it on all your network (default is 127.0.0.1), port (53) and DNS servers that will be used to resolve non .bit domains and .bit domains configured with 'ns' records (defaults are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
Note : to listen on port 53, you will need root privileges under linux (at least), so you will need to launch it as root or with sudo.

Once nmcontrol is launched, change your DNS server to first use 127.0.0.1.

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.7

Features :
- DNS server
- .bit support (spec v1)

Changelog :
* Improved thread support (CTRL+C should now work everytime)
- Program now stops immediately after a stop command or a CTRL+C
- No more infinite loop in main program :p

* Improved DNS server management
- DNS server can now restart properly
- Name resolution from .bit to IP has been moved to a dedicated plugin (pluginNamespaceDomain)

* Add filter to load less data from namecoin
- Only domain names from the 'd/' namespace are loaded if the dns server is started.
- Other namespaces will be loaded if a plugin require it.

* Add IPv6 support in DNS replies
- Replies from DNS requests now support IPv6 addresses

* Fixed some bugs & added debug infos

Download :
Source : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol
Archives : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags

[khal]

Release of NMControl 0.8

New Features :
- Added "services" (see below)
- Improved .bit support

Changelog :
* Improved .bit support for "ns" records
* Split plugins between plugins and services
* New service "DNS"
* plugin NamespaceDomain has been modified to use the DNS service
Plugins can now depend on a service that will be autostarted if needed.
For each service used in a plugin, it can filter which requests to catch.
For example, the plugin NamespaceDomain will use the DNS service to catch only requests for .bit domains and leave other DNS requests to the DNS service itself.
This will allow other plugins to catch only what there are interested in.

Download :
Source : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol
Archives : https://github.com/khalahan/nmcontrol/tags