[vox-tech] Fwd: Very slow off net

[Bill Broadley]

Bill Kendrick wrote:
>    When I use my laptop without a network connection, it becomes very, very
>    slow launching applications. I've done some tracing and apparently it
>    sends

Very strange.  Operating system?  Distribution?  Anything unusual?  What does
hostname report?  What is in /etc/hosts?

My best guess (with very little info) is that you are trying to find localhost
and failing.

>    some kind of request to a DNS server. Not just any DNS but openDNS in

Apparently?  Strace?  Wireshark?  How you tracked it down would be helpful.

>    particular. When its off net, it waits for the time-out before continuing.

Ugly.  Try adding your hostname to the /etc/hosts entry for 127.0.0.1

>    So two quesions Why contact DNS for any app launch? (This includes
>    apps that have no possibility of using the net)

Anything that displays X (or runs inside of a new xterminal) needs to find the
$DISPLAY, which might well do a hostname lookup to set/check the display.

>    2nd. Why openDNS? I had never heard of them before and certainly
>    haven't signed up for their service.

I'm a fan, certainly much faster on average than what pacbell provides.  Where
does your laptop/router get it's IP?  Static?  DHCP from your network
provider?  If it's dhcp then you are getting the DNS servers from your dhcp
provider, if not then someone likely followed the opendns directions for your
router/laptop.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if say a linksys router installed with a
community linux distribution like openwrt defaulted to using opendns as a server.