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Yeti Many Mirror Verifier

This is the ymmv utility. It is designed to make it easy and safe for a DNS administrator to copy their resolver IANA root DNS traffic to the Yeti root.

The program is designed to be able to take several styles of input. Something like dnstap will be the best source of input, but since pcap files (produced by tcpdump and other programs) are very common, that is the first input that has been implemented. The ymmv format can be found in ymmv-format.md.

For each query and answer that the resolver has made to the IANA root servers, a version is be sent to the some Yeti root servers. By default the Yeti server is chosen using a smoothed round-trip time (SRTT) algorithm, modeled after the BIND 9 algorithm, but other options such as round-robin or random are also possible.

The Yeti answer that is returned is compared to the IANA answer, and if there is a difference this is logged. Later, administrators will have to ability to opt-in to having their logs periodically e-mailed to the Yeti project.

Installation

The software is written in the Go language, with some optional Bourne shell scripts.

To build the binaries yourself, you need to have Go installed, and you probably want to also have git installed to fetch libraries. Because of the dns library dependencies, Go version 1.4 or later is required (for Debian "jessie", the current Debian stable, you can get this from the "jessie-backports" repository).

The best way to get the source and build it is to use go itself:

$ go get github.com/shane-kerr/ymmv/pcap2ymmv
$ go get github.com/shane-kerr/ymmv/ymmv
$ go build github.com/shane-kerr/ymmv/pcap2ymmv
$ go build github.com/shane-kerr/ymmv/ymmv

This will give you two programs in your working directory, pcap2ymmv and ymmv. The binaries are statically linked, so you can just copy them to any system that you want to run them on.

Running

The simplest way is with the compare.sh script, which will be in the $GOLANG/src/github.com/shane-kerr/ymmv/script/ directory. This requires tcpdump on the system (although this can be changed easily to tshark if preferred). A sample invocation looks like this:

$ sudo sh scripts/compare.sh eth0

This will compare all answers from the IANA root servers with answers to the same queries from the Yeti root servers. Differences are displayed on the terminal.

Customization

You can specify only a specific set of Yeti root servers by passing them on the command line. For example, to replay queries and send them only to the TISF server you could use:

$ ymmv 2001:559:8000::6 < file.ymmv

You can use an set of servers. For example, to compare with the IANA A and J servers, you could use:

$ ymmv 198.41.0.4 2001:503:ba3e::2:30 192.58.128.30 2001:503:c27::2:30

Likewise, if you are using the pcap2ymmv program, you can specify which servers to mirror traffic from by specifying them on the command line. So if you only wanted the IANA F root server answers, you could use:

$ pcap2ymmv 192.5.5.241 2001:500:2f::f < infile.pcap > outfile.ymmv

The easiest approach is probably to update the compare.sh script to suit your needs. It is fairly short and hopefully easy to modify.

ymmv Command-Line

Whether you customize compare.sh or use some other means to run ymmv, you have some command-line options available.

You can see these options via ymmv -h:

Usage of ymmv/ymmv:
  -a string
	    set server-selection algorithm, either rtt, round-robin, random, or all (default "rtt")
  -alsologtostderr
	    log to standard error as well as files
  -c	use non-obfuscated (clear) query names
  -d string
	    base file name to store difference details in (default none)
  -e uint
	    set EDNS0 buffer size (set to 0 to use original query size) (default 4093)
  -log_backtrace_at value
	    when logging hits line file:N, emit a stack trace
  -log_dir string
	    If non-empty, write log files in this directory
  -logtostderr
	    log to standard error instead of files
  -mail-pass string
	    SMTP password (default none)
  -mail-port uint
	    SMTP server port (default 25)
  -mail-server string
	    SMTP server name (default "mxbiz1.qq.com")
  -mail-to string
	    report e-mail address (default "[email protected]")
  -mail-user string
	    SMTP user name (default none)
  -p string
	    base file name to store performance comparison in (default none)
  -r	send daily reports
  -s string
	    secret for obfuscated query names, hex-encoded (default random-generated)
  -sendmail
        use sendmail to send reports
  -sendmail-prog string
        path to sendmail executable (default "/usr/sbin/sendmail")
  -stderrthreshold value
	    logs at or above this threshold go to stderr
  -v value
	    log level for V logs
  -vmodule value
	    comma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging

Comparing Query Times

The ymmv program can be used to compare performance between IANA root servers and Yeti root servers.

Using the -p flag tells the program to log each query times to a file. The file name contains the date added to the name. So if we used -p ymmv-perf for the flag, we would get files like:

ymmv-perf.2016-10-09.log
ymmv-perf.2016-10-10.log
ymmv-perf.2016-10-11.log

The contents of each file look something like this:

#              time, iana_rtt, yeti_rtt,            iana_root,                           yeti_root,       qtype, qname
2016-10-11T00:31:23, 0.022854, 0.192096,          199.7.83.42,                2001:e30:1c1e:1::333,           A, wlan1.
2016-10-11T00:32:55, 0.001481, 0.009405,          192.5.5.241,              2a02:990:100:b01::53:0,           A, be.
2016-10-11T00:32:57, 0.110079, 0.255293,         192.112.36.4,                  2001:e30:187d::333,           A, be.
2016-10-11T00:32:58, 0.001709, 0.011197,        192.58.128.30,            2001:1608:10:167:32e::53,           A, me.
2016-10-11T00:32:58, 0.001919, 0.015572,        192.36.148.17,            2001:1608:10:167:32e::53,           A, us.
2016-10-11T00:32:58, 0.085999, 0.011112,        198.97.190.53,                  2001:67c:217c:6::2,           A, us.
2016-10-11T00:32:58, 0.206600, 0.010914,       192.203.230.10,                  2001:67c:217c:6::2,           A, me.
2016-10-11T00:33:02, 0.080698, 0.023102,          199.7.91.13, 2001:4b98:dc2:45:216:3eff:fe4b:8c5b,           A, ch.

The file contains comma-separated values (CSV), one per line. You see the time the query was made, the time it took for the IANA root server to reply, the time it took the Yeti root server to reply, and finally the query type and name.

Recording Differences

The ymmv program can record the differences in the answers that the IANA root servers and the Yeti root servers give.

Using the -d flag tells the program to log each query times to a file. The file name contains the date added to the name. So if we used -d ymmv-diff for the flag, we would get files like:

ymmv-diff.2016-10-09.log
ymmv-diff.2016-10-10.log
ymmv-diff.2016-10-11.log

The contents of each file look something like this:

================================================================================
2016-10-11T10:06:17
qname: example.net
qtype: A
IANA IP: 199.7.83.42
Yeti IP: 2001:e30:1c1e:1::333
----------------------------------------
SOA only for Yeti:  . 86400 IN SOA www.yeti-dns.org. hostmaster.yeti-dns.org. 2016101100 1800 900 604800 86400

The '====' line starts each set of differences, and is followed by information about the query. The '----' line starts the section of differences, which are one per line. There may be any number of differences discovered in a single query.

Server Selection Algorithm

The ymmv program will choose one of the Yeti root servers to send queries to, based on the server selection algorithm.

  • rtt: The default algorithm is "rtt", which uses a smoothed round-trip time (SRTT) to pick which server to use. This is based off of the BIND 9 algorithm, where it prefers the fastest server, but will periodically try other servers so that if the network or server performance changes and those become faster that those are used. This mimics the behavior of real resolvers the most closely.

  • round-robin: This algorithm cycles through all of the servers, in-order. It is useful to insure that all of the Yeti servers are tested relatively equally.

  • random: With "random" each time we pick a server we choose one at random. This also selects all of the Yeti servers approximately equally, but is less predictable. The randomness may help avoid some artifacts that may result from the "round-robin" algorithm.

  • all: It is also possible to send each query to all of the Yeti root servers. This will increase the load on the Yeti system, and provide a clear view of the performance of each Yeti server. It does not act like a real resolver however.

Obfuscated Query Names

By default, ymmv will obfuscate the query names (QNAME) that it sends to the Yeti root servers.

The obfuscated query is generated via a hash function so that we consistently send the same random query for the same actual queries. There is a secret mixed in, so that it is not possible for the authoritative operator to use a dictionary attack to figure out the original query.

Here we see a basic obfuscation:

DEBUG 13:07:26.699347 obfuscated fugazi.org. to ymmv.7ffc968b471b6cb0.org.

We use the same obfuscated string for a different QTYPE. We could mix the QTYPE into the hash input to avoid this property, but this is not done now.

You can specify the obfuscation secret on startup, otherwise it will be generated randomly. Use the -s flag to set this secret. This is useful if you want consistent values across different runs on the same machine, for example. If the secret is generated randomly, ymmv will log the result when it starts, something like this:

2016/10/04 15:02:18 using obfuscation secret 99DF398E70D5462B

To disable obfuscation completely and send the original, clear QNAME, use the -c flag.

EDNS Buffer Size

By default ymmv uses an unusual buffer size, 4093. This should make it easier to spot use of ymmv on the authoritative side. You can use the -e flag to set this to some other value. A value of 0 means to use the EDNS buffer size of the original query.

Mailing Reports

You can tell ymmv to send e-mail reports every day by using the -r flag. By default, no reports are sent.

You can control the details of how the mail is sent with any of the flags starting with "-mail". By default the software tries to connect directly to the mail server used by BII and deliver the mail to a role account.

If the -r flag is used, you can also use a local MTA for sending mail with the -sendmail option. The -mail-to option may be used in combination with this. If you wish to change which executable is run, you can specify that with the -sendmail-prog option.

Logging Details

The following flags control details about the logging output:

  -alsologtostderr
        log to standard error as well as files
  -log_backtrace_at value
        when logging hits line file:N, emit a stack trace
  -log_dir string
        If non-empty, write log files in this directory
  -logtostderr
        log to standard error instead of files
  -stderrthreshold value
        logs at or above this threshold go to stderr
  -v value
        log level for V logs
  -vmodule value
        comma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging

These are all added by the Go glog package, and most have the expected usage. The -v flag may be confusing, as the normal practice of adding just -v or multiple -v is not supported. Instead you specify the debugging logging level, like -v 1 or -v 2. Higher numbers mean more logging output.

By default log files are placed in /tmp and are named something like ymmv.${hostname}.${login}.log.INFO.${date_time}.${pid} and ymmv.${hostname}.${login}.log.WARNING.${date_time}.${pid}. A symbolic link is made from ymmv.INFO and ymmv.WARNING to the latest version.

Limitations

There are several limitations right now, being worked on:

  • IP fragments are not handled by the pcap parser.
  • TCP streams are not reassembled by the pcap parser.

The PcapParser can be used to perform IP fragment reassembly and extract DNS queries and answers from TCP streams. It will be further integrated in the future.

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