I have decided to use www.swreg.org to sell DomainWatchDog(TM). Unfortunately SWREG has a "keycode" based system and my app currently uses a license file base system. The end result is that I'd planned on finishing up the docs this weekend then have the app up for sale with updated docs, but instead I've had to spend the weekend implementing a KeyCode license system into which I smoosh all the license data. So I'm hoping to have a new version posted sometime today and I'll post a free KeyCode to extend the unlimited license out until I get the docs updated (probably next weekend).
Ok, License code now complete. This will make future updates a lot easier as you no longer need to reinstall the application. When the current license runs out the ABOUT window will again prompt for a new license code.
You will need to download the Beta_4 version from:
This code will provide unlimited domains until June 1, 2004
Changes in this version:
Code:
1) Added License Code system
2) Modified ABOUT window to handle License Code
3) Removed License file from distribution. You *MUST*
enter a license code to be allow unlimited domains.
4) Fixed Archive syncronization issue which was causing
the error window to display. No data was ever lost or
damaged buy this bug, just created an annoyance.
*I HAVE* been working on the docs, etc., but I've been trying to just do this work on the weekends to prevent interfering with my other projects.
In contriving a very large domain list (about 3500 domains) for my docs and image shots I ran into some issues related to the block editor and bugs in the Import function. These have now been addressed and fixed.
Importing large lists without using the populate function now happens 250 times faster since I'm now only updating the windows every 250 entires. And Block Edits are similar in the speed improvment in that I've written special code to speed that process up in the cases I could. Oh, and the Importer now selects just the domain imported to allow you to easily use the block editor to manipulate the newly imported domain list.
Assuming I do not find any other areas that need fixing or improvement I expect to have some updated docs this weekend but they will not be finished this week end (probably take another weekend).
As before a license keycode is available on the site and provides unlimited use until July 1, 2004.
Some key updates to this version:
1) Now runs on Windows NT
2) Window flashing that some experiance should be fixed
3) I have been told that my Blowfish Implementation *DID NOT* satisfy US export laws and so had to reduce the key lenght to 64 bits or less, which is basically 8 characters or less. This one really bothers me but I've little choice. In the future I will tie the key length to the license file and so those located in the US or Canada will once again have access to the full 512 bit (= thought to be impossible to break at this time) Blowfish encryption.
Other of updates and changes from Beta 4:
Code:
1) Fixed export bug that exported entire block even though some
records may not be selected
2) Changed Main Window status bar to give a clearer description
of the current sort order
3) Put Whois retires back in. In some cases the makes things
slower but fewer false failures now occur.
4) Lots of BlockEditor tweeks to speed up various operations
including Importing and Exporting
5) SelectAll was not allways available when in BlockEditor mode,
this is now fixed
6) Updated Whois parser to support 18 more registrars Whois
date formats
7) Fixed a number of Date parser bugs
8) Exposed Database Stats Debug window and is now available
under "TOOLS" in main window
9) Fixed a number of BetterWhois(TM) parsing bugs
10) Changed Archive menues in DomainEditor so the Time Stamp
of the "current" archives are shown.
11) A buddy was having DNS problems. End result of helping him
was the addition of "Ping HTTP" & "Ping DNS" & "IP" to
BetterWhois(TM)
12) Updated HTTP version of BetterWhois to support the new
functions.
13) Added "Processing time" line to HTTP BetterWhois(TM)
14) Believe I have Fixed DVDRip's "flashing" problem
15) Believe I have Fixed hanogl NT problems
16) Finally found a problen with the FONT settings that I've been
looking for for well over a year!
17) Fixed Typo in Main Window View Menu
18) Made a window update change that I'm hoping fixes a GPF
problem one user infrequently reports having
19) Fixed some more DNS parsing problems
20) DNS functions now traverse CNAME resource records. When
"DNS Trace" is run, and a CNAME is encountered, and new
CNAME table will appear at the top of the Trace report
and lists each and every Name Server that returns a CNAME
redirection.
21) Use of BetterWhois(TM) and HTTP BetterWhois(TM) while
running in WATCH mode is now supported. This means you no
longer have to stop running a WATCH in order to perform
Whois lookups or use the various debug functions.
With DVDRip's help I now find that the installer is not allowing people to update their previous versions. Sorry about that.
OK, I'm totally fed up with InstallShield installer! It may be the most commonly used installer in the world and used by the biggest companies but I have not got the time or paitence to to spend the endless hours needed to get it to do what I need. DomainWatchDog(TM) is a pretty trivial setup however InstallShield "Express" [sic] makes it rediculiosly complex to setup my trivial install.
I've therefore switched back to SetupBuilder whos only known problem is that it seems to sometimes hang when you start it. Be patient with it as I don't think it's really hanging but it just takes a long time to "discover" your OS settings it needs to properly install DomainWatchDog.
I've also made some changes to the license code to make it a bit more obvious when you are being required to update your license code. Currently new license codes are avialable at www.DomainWatchDog.info and are displayed at the very top of the page -- Just cut and paste into the license window's entry field at the bottom of the license window.
I have just uploaded the above updates and this Beta Version 6 is available at:
Mole just reported to me that DomainWatchDog(TM) asked to open all ports on his PC. This *IS NOT* part of DomainWatchDog(TM) and must be due to firewall software. DWD does use 1 port *LOCALLY* for a number of features which are accessed via your web browser (Search, Reports, BetterWhois(TM)'s HTTP and it's optional API if desired).
If this happens to you just say "NO" and I think DomainWatchDog(TM) should work as expected since the accesses are local to your machine (ie I ASSuME the firewall software sticks itself between your PC and the the LAN thus allowing local network traffic on your PC -- ie it operates at the device driver / kernal layer).
And yes, BetterWhois(TM) was designed to optionally be used for remote debugging. However the SEARCH and Report features *CAN'T* be accessed remotely and BetterWhois(TM) does not reveal anything of the various databases. In my case I use hardware firewalls and do not open the ports so none of DomainWatchDog(TM) is accessable at all. If this does not work when using firewall software just let me know and I'll try to adjust the code to work with firewall software (please let me know which software and URL). Thanks!
I and my buddy have used BetterWhois(TM) for remote debugging (mostly DNS debugging) several times. In fact the new DNS PING function was written just because we needed to do remote performance testing of some DNS servers to divide and conquer why some server were not resolving. For those of you more technical types try it yourself and I think you'll find it's very nice!
To avoid this issue in the future I have changed the install default to *DISABLE* the HTTP server which is the way I had originally released DomainWatchDog(TM) (I changed it so I did not have to deal with support issues of why certain feature did not work - catch 22 ). So now new users must manually enable the HTTP server themselves. I also improved the error / help windows to now more clearly alert you as to functions that are not available when the server is disabled. Also note that if you have allready installed DomainWatchDog(TM) and have the HTTP server enabled then the new installs will keep your current setting.
DomainWatchDog(TM) now checks the IP of the HTTP client and makes sure it matches the local IP for all non BetterWhois(TM) requests. In other words this further insures that only BetterWhois(TM) can be remotely accessed *IF* you open up that port in your firewall -- To see which port needs to be opened just go to,
Main Window > Edit > Settings > HTTP Server
and DomainWatchDog(TM) will clearly tell you where it has setup it's server and it tries to use that same port each time it runs. If that port is in use next time then a different "sticky port" will be selected.
The above security update will be in the next release. This update it not something I feel is neccesary but it came to my mind so I put it in as one more extra security layer.
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PS: Since I'm so far behind in the docs I'll state this feature here. To place the HTTP server at a specific IP:PORT just specify it on the DWD command line,
DWD 192.168.1.1:12345
If that IP:Port is available then it will be used otherwise the server will be disabled. The server supports multiple NICs as well as NICs that have multiple IPs. So long as you specify an IP that is defined on your system the server will use that IP regardless of the resouce it's on. Using this command line option allows you to absolutely lock the server in place so it matches your firewall setting (and firewall/gateway if you have more than one) each time DomainWatchDog(TM) is run.
Ultimately the only way to really give you all the "warm fuzzies" about DomainWatchDog's HTTP server is to provide complete source ... Ain't going to happen of course. That said I understand the concerns so I will post the source code for the HTTP server function and it is attached to this post.
DomainWatchDog(TM) has several levels of hacker prevention so providing the source code does not really empower anyone to hack DomainWatchDog(TM).
There are enough programmers around here to be able to see if anything seems wrong or unacceptable.
Today's the day for me to upgrade the license for the next month. I'm up to my neck in another project for the next couple months (maybe a little longer) so I've again given up hope on finishing the docs anytime soon.
I do have a short list of updates and fixes that I'll be implementing today. If anyone has any wish list item for DomainWatchDog(TM) today's the day to ask as I'll be working of it.
After a lot of aggravating debugging the latest DomainWatchDog(TM) update is avialable.
I was aware of an Archive (WhoWas and DNSWas) bug but had not been able to duplicate it. This new update include the ability to search though the Archives as well as the Domain list. This basically broke the Archive system big time -- The bug was now easy to duplicate, in fact in took a very long time to isolate and fix ... It was actually several different bugs. End result is that you current WhoWas and DNSWas archive has some missing entries. You'll most likely see this in the DNSWas archive and might see it in the WhoWas archive -- The problem occured in the DNSWas archive much more often. These bugs are now fixed and the Archive errors will work eventually be overwritten with time.
Complete list of updates:
Code:
1) Disabled bidirectional sorting in main window. Now
you may only sort from low to high. I did this to
prevent the long pauses that occured when accedently
hitting a heading after it was sorted.
2) Double clicking a main window header no longer
launches EditorWindow or RegistrarEditor.
3) Fixed some more block editor features that were too slow
4) Block Editor is now Block Operations window
- Import and Export window has been merged into
the Block Operations Window
- Added new Block Report system which allows you to
select a block (contigious or non-contigious) of
domains and just create a report for those selected
domains
- To some up: The block features have been cleaned up
significantly and are much more intuitve and user friendly.
5) Major rewrites of Search function to make it faster
and added the ability to search the archives. Also now
the columns without results are not displayed thus
lowering the required browser width. Archive reponses
are fully interactive, click on one and DomainEditor
will pull up the selected Archive.
6) Totally "seperated" the BetterWhois(TM) function with
its own enable checkbox. This checkbox is disabled
every time you startup DomainWatchDog(TM) therefor
protecting you from unintended remote accesses. The
Report and Search functions have their own common
Checkbox and so can be seperately enabled and
disabled.
7) Made some changes to BetterWhois(TM) HTTP server
to limit what information will be sent. I have some
additional constraints that I'll be adding in the future.
The contraints added this time were preventing the
auto compare function from running, it still runs locally
but will not run over the HTTP server.
8) DomainEditor notes was flashing and this has been
eliminated.
I *DID NOT* have time to breakout BetterWhois(TM) into a standalone EXE as I had hoped to do, this is primarily due to the time taken to fix the above noted Archive bugs.
Current version has again expired and I've been working on adding domain metrics features (same as DomainState "All In One" plus a lot more) to the BetterWhois utility. I probably have another day or two to release the next update.
Sorry all, had a bit of an emergency unexpected project I had to attend to today that will extend to tomorrow. I'm very close finishing new version and hoping to finish up tomorrow evening (fingers crossed).
Ok, latest version is up. Primary change is the addition of a Metrics feature and links to BetterWhois. Those that I showed this feature to before release seemed to like it. Also note that BetterWhois(TM) caches Metrics lookups. This cache is cleared once per day. A cache is used to minimize the burder on the server from which data is drawn and also to provide a snappier response for recent lookups if you repeat them.
All Changes:
1) Added .UA TLD support
2) Changes disabled tests from whote to dark red in DomainEditor window
3) Fixed another window flashing issue affecting all windows
4) Added metrics to BetterWhois as well as links
5) App now uses your selected default browser rather than allways calling IE
6) Moved around the TOOLS menu in main window
7) Added space to left side of BetterWhois widow to make text easier on the eyes
NOTE: BetterWhois(TM) clearly identifies itself (via request header) to the various servers from which it draws it's metrics data. In other words I've made it easy for these resources to disable the Metrics feature if they are abused. So please do not abuse the metrics feature!
Thanks for trying the DomainWatchDog(TM) and BetterWhois(TM)
DomainState member ActNow recently demonstrated he lives by his name when he sent me a PM giving me a good stiff kick in my motivation to finish off DomainWatchDog for final distribution. Therefore I'm am finishing off the documentation and have completed my first pass though the Window Referance document available here:
Adobe Acrobat is required to view all application documents
Other documents covering some DomainWatchDog(TM) in more details are now being worked on.
Expect full release without time limit at the end of this month. When managing more that 5 domains you will be required to purchase a perpetual license for $99. Once perpetual licensing starts you will find that windows are much "snappier" due the the licensing code no longer operating.
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And Block Edits are similar in the speed improvment in that I've written special code to speed that process up in the cases I could. Oh, and the Importer now selects just the domain imported to allow you to easily use the block editor to manipulate the newly imported domain list.
Sorry about that. 