Stats question

michaelbierman · ‎02-06-2020

I had been using OpenDNS for a long time. But a while back I switched to 1.1.1.1 for a test. I wanted to reevaluate our options and maybe switch back to OpenDNS so I logged into our portal. Much to my surprise, I found:

DNS-O-Matic wasn't working for any of the 3 Services I had configured. One can no longer authenticate, one just says, "UNKNOWN" status whatever that means and the third was using a very old IP address (probably because we have not been running any DDNS to update for a while.
And yet, the dashboard has all kinds of data on it. So I wonder... how can that be if the IP wasn't ours? Are we seeing some one else's data ? Since one only has to verify the IP when you set it up I could see how that would happen.
The Mac DDNS client no longer works because of Apple's new restrictions. Will there be a new version?

I have to say it is creepy to either be seeing other people's DNS or that OpenDNS has our data somehow even though we have been using a different DNS provider.

rotblitz · ‎02-07-2020

For sure, to work correctly with DNS-O-Matic, you must run an update client against it. DNS-O-Matic has no way to obtain your IP address information by other means.
You may need to set up the services from anew which do no longer work.
Yes, sure. The IP address you had ions before became inherited and assigned to other users (both of your ISP and of OpenDNS) probably many times, because you didn't keep your IP address information updated, and you didn't delete your dashboard network when not using it. And now other people are bound to your dashboard settings and log against your stats. You are the one to be blamed for this.
And no, this is not a privacy issue, because you never ever would find out who is logging against your stats, same as other people did not if you logged against their stats. OpenDNS has all DNS data traffic through their systems anyway, regardless if you have an account or not, but only if you used their DNS service, not if you used another DNS service as you did.
The Mac Updater has been updated recently (64-bit) and should be signed, as can be seen from other threads here.

michaelbierman · ‎02-07-2020

I have recreated the Services in question in DNSOMATIC and still it didn't work. So that's problematic.
It isn't a question of blame. This is creepy poor design. True, I don't know whose data I am seeing but still. Moreover, it still doesn't make sense because I did update my IP and we weren't making any DNS calls to OpenDNS yet data are being shown post the update. No data should appear since we are pointing to another provider.
At lest some links to the Mac Updater point to an old version because that's what I downloaded yesterday and the Mac promptly blocked installation.

rotblitz · ‎02-07-2020

As you are not specific, we other users here cannot help. Raise a support ticket, link "Submit a request" above.
Poor design? Fine, I'm confident that you come up with a better technical solution. Thank you!
Again a question of raising a ticket. We other users definitely cannot help with OpenDNS software.

michaelbierman · ‎02-07-2020

Thanks. I’m not sure how I can be more specific.

no need to be snarky. My hope is that like all good companies, OpenDNS employees monitor forums looking for issues. If you can’t help, then no need to reply.

rotblitz · ‎02-08-2020

With specific I meant what exact services have issues in which way, and what the exact error messages are. And what update client you are using with what problems if any.

I am not aware of companies monitoring their forums. I seem to live in a different world.

michaelbierman · ‎02-10-2020

Actually, I think I was pretty specific about the errors. I mean I agree it would be nice if there were more specifics but DNS-O-MATIC doesn't provide them.

DNS-O-MATIC wasn't working for any of the 3 Services I had configured. One can no longer authenticate, one just says, "UNKNOWN" status whatever that means and the third was using a very old IP address (probably because we have not been running any DDNS to update for a while. That is all that the error information OpenDNS provides.

Now it does make sense that the one that simply didn't update was because I had stopped running the OpenDNS update client (which no longer works with MacOS). So that one can be ignored. The other two not so much as they seem to be supported by DNS-O-MATIC.

With regard to the data... I'm guessing that because of the DHCP and DDNS, there are simply no safeguards built in so I was seeing someone else's data (combined with my own!) Yes, it is somewhat anonymized but creepy nonetheless.

I didn't go through all forum threads. I simply clicked on the download button in DNS-O-MATIC which apparently they didn't update. That's just sloppy.

And yes, indeed we must live in different worlds. Companies often monitor forums even if they don't jump in on every discussion. It is a way of researching what their customers are saying, what their pain points are, and of keeping ahead of PR disasters and technical issues that may be first communicated in forums. Users helping users is great but sometimes Users can't know how to respond to every issue. So yes, great companies pay attention to what their customers say in forums.

rotblitz · ‎02-11-2020

Try this download address for the Mac Updater: https://www.opendns.com/download/mac
On DNS-O-Matic there is no Mac Updater to download, except ddclient. The other is a Windows Updater.

Regarding DNS-O-Matic, you can see more information when clicking the notepad icon (detail) beside each service. Setup the service from anew which no longer authenticates. and also the UNKNOWN one. The one with the very old IP address doesn't need an explanation. You provided it yourself.

"I was seeing someone else's data (combined with my own!)"

No, not combined with your own, or not someone else's data. This cannot be at the same time. If you have any ideas for improvements which are technically feasible, come up with them! It only happened because you didn't keep your IP address updated or because you didn't delete your dashboard network. Again, it's your fault.

And my experience with forums for free services are that these are user-to-user forums, rarely and randomly monitored by staff.

michaelbierman · ‎02-11-2020

I’m certain that the data included mine and someone else’s.

1. Some pretty unique sites listed that I recognized the combination of which is statistically small.

2. Other sites from before the time period I updated my IP that I don’t recognize.

The simple explanation is that until open DNS saw an IP update, it kept recording traffic to the old IP. When I updated, it treated it as an IP change and merged the data.

Since neither of us is as to fix this I’m not going to debate it with you. I’m certain this is an edge case they simply decided not to deal with or missed.

We obviously have different experiences and expectations for support and mine aren’t changing. If OpenDNS doesn’t recognize the value of monitoring forums they will fall behind other providers. For now I will stick with Cloudflare which is more responsive and doesn’t have this issue.