This is how to add a DNS Server to Solaris Box…

First of all, Open up your favourite text editor and add the name servers into /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 192.168.1.1

If you need to add more, just add another one in the next line…

Following the instructions below will walk you through the process…

bash-3.00# ping www.google.com
ping: unknown host www.google.com
bash-3.00# cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.1.1
bash-3.00# cd /etc/
bash-3.00# cp -p nsswitch.conf nsswitch.conf.org
bash-3.00# cp -p nsswitch.dns nsswitch.conf
bash-3.00# /etc/init.d/nscd stop; /etc/init.d/nscd start
bash-3.00# ping www.google.com
www.google.com is alive
bash-3.00#

As you can see, the Name Server is working!

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Adding IP address and default gateway is rather straight forward as long as the interface is loaded. To see whether the interface is loaded, issue the command ifconfig –a

You should see something like the following…


bash-3.00# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
rtls0: flags=1000842<BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2
inet 0.0.0.0 netmask 0
ether 0:6:4f:47:76:1e


In this case, we will be adding the IP address and subnet mask to rtls0 along with the default gateway.

IP Address: 192.168.1.60
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Here is how its done…


bash-3.00# ifconfig rtls0 192.168.1.60 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
bash-3.00# route add default 192.168.1.1
add net default: gateway 192.168.1.1
bash-3.00# ping 4.2.2.2
4.2.2.2 is alive


Success! We can now ping a WAN IP! and here is the new output of ifconfig -a


bash-3.00# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv 4,VIRTUAL> mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
rtls0: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 2
inet 192.168.1.60 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
ether 0:6:4f:47:76:1e


Popularity: 15% [?]

When a Name Server looks up a domain for the IP address, it stores the information into the cache so it doesn’t have to look it up every single time a request is made. For example, if someone looks for www.nishv.com the DNS server will look up the domain and stores the IP address 72.52.178.35 into the cache for a given time so it doesn’t have to look up that domain again for a given period of time.

DNS cache poisoning (also known as DNS cache pollution) is a maliciously created or unintended situation that provides data to a DNS Server that did not originate from authoritative DNS sources.

It happens when an attacker sends malicious data in response to a DNS query. For example, DNS query for www.nishv.com can be redirected to another website.

This method is taking the phishing scam to another level, you might be visiting your bank’s website but without you realising it, you will actually be putting in all the login information into some hackers servers which made it look exactly like the bank’s website. Yes, this is very serious!

How do you patch it?

On the client side (we are talking about Microsoft Windows here), your machines should have been patches automatically if you set the Auto-Update option. If not, I recommend you check the available updates and patch it as soon as possible.

If you use a DNS Server, my recommendation is to use the following command to figure out whether it has been patched or not. If it is not, STOP using it and have a look at this post on OpenDNS for more info.

Use the following DIG command on UNIX


dig +short @{name-server-ip} porttest.dns-oarc.net txt
dig +short @ns1.example.com porttest.dns-oarc.net txt
dig +short @208.67.222.222 porttest.dns-oarc.net txt


and you should get a result similar to this…


nishv@nishv.com [~]# dig +short @208.67.222.222 porttest.dns-oarc.net txt
porttest.y.x.w.v.u.t.s.r.q.p.o.n.m.l.k.j.i.h.g.f.e.d.c.b.a.pt.dns-oarc.net.
"208.67.217.8 is GREAT: 26 queries in 2.1 seconds from 26 ports with std dev 20119"

Or something like this…

nishv@nishv.com [~]# dig +short @4.2.2.2 porttest.dns-oarc.net txt
porttest.y.x.w.v.u.t.s.r.q.p.o.n.m.l.k.j.i.h.g.f.e.d.c.b.a.pt.dns-oarc.net.
"209.244.4.25 is GOOD: 26 queries in 1.9 seconds from 26 ports with std dev 3880"


If you don’t get GREAT or GOOD and gets something like POOR, you should immediately stop using it.

If you manage that DNS server, patch it or decommission it!

This is how to check on Windows

Open up command prompt by going Start –> Run –> CMD or on Vista typing CMD on the Start Search box


nslookup -type=txt -timeout=30 porttest.dns-oarc.net
nslookup -type=txt -timeout=30 porttest.dns-oarc.net ns1.your-isp.com
nslookup -type=txt -timeout=30 porttest.dns-oarc.net NS-SERVER-IP


You must see the GREAT or GOOD, if not your DNS Server is compromised.

You can see Dan Kaminsky’s presentation below…

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Setting multiple IPs on Linux or in this case Debian is rather straight forward… All the network info is stored in the file /etc/network/interfaces and you just need to add the info to the file…

Before making changes to this file, I recommend you check your values at least 3 times! If you have made a mistake and trying to do it from a remote location, YOU WILL LOCK YOURSELF OUT!

This is a sample configuration with device eth0 having the IP address of 192.168.1.2 on a Class C Network with 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway.

/etc/network/interfaces:

# /etc/network/interfaces – configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

address 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

In order to add multiple IPs to the same interface, In this case eth0 You need to add it in the following method…

auto eth0:0
iface eth0:0 inet static

address 192.168.1.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

Thats it, after you have made all the necessary changes, you need to restart the networking by issueing the following command…

# /etc/init.d/networking restart

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