ddrgen

ddrgen dynamically generates forward and reverse DNS zone files based on information obtained from SMB (Windows File and Printer Sharing) servers. It additionally creates a web based index of all active shares on the network, and also some game servers. This is the first Python script I ever wrote, so the code is a bit ugly.

A huge issue I find at such events is that most of the time I’m not running Windows, and someone gives me a server name to play Quake 3 (or something else), and I cannot connect. Many LAN Party administrators are under the false impression that this is a “real” DNS setup - when infact this is because of Windows’ broken DNS resolver, that allows one to substitute NetBIOS names as if they were real DNS records. If you’ve ever had a Mac or Linux user at a LAN whinge that they can’t access your game server by hostname, or have the problem yourself, then this script is for you.

Unlike using a dynamic DNS system over DHCP, it does not require that all users have an IP address given by a DHCP server. This is desirable particularly where some users are running network servers, and don’t want to loose their IP address after a reboot, or between parties.

It also provides a stable alternative to the “Network Neighbourhood” (aka “My Network Places”) in Windows, showing you every share on the network in one location, without having to worry about workgroup names or broken master browsers. It will also try to “guess” the operating system version installed, which maybe useful for statistical purposes. For example, you can use it to find out how many people are running Windows Vista, so that you know wether you should play some Vista-specific game next LAN, and the chance of people running that operating system.

The script presently runs on Linux, however should also run on Mac OS X, if the appropriate requirements are met. It doesn’t run on Windows yet (without trying to install samba in cygwin) - however a portable SMB client is in the works, so that there is no longer a dependancy on Samba, thus allowing the code to easily run on Windows. However this isn’t a great priority for me.

What this will generate (1.2.0 Development Version):

• A forward zone file, ie: so you can resolve “laptop” to “192.168.0.43”.
• A reverse zone file, ie: so you can look up “192.168.0.43” and get “laptop”.
• An optional report, formatted in XML, which is fed to a PHP script to generate HTML stats. This PHP script is included for your convienience, and works with PHP4 (and possibly PHP5).

What this won’t work with:

• Machines without a running SMB server. All Windows boxes using Microsoft Networking will work, as well as other boxes using Samba or something similar. This was chosen as it is a fairly standard way to give out names and get names, and not all DHCP clients give out the machine’s hostname.
• Giving you a free laptop with the IP “192.168.0.43” ;)

There’s an example use of the stats available.