using hosts file on network I've been looking at exo server logs from the last 24 hours. After getting rid of genuine sites, i'm left with almost 2500 entries that go along the lines of "ad.doubleclick.net" etc, basically stuff with "ad" somewhere in the entry. I plan to get the modified hosts file worship installed on all the machines....since this ad stuff will no longer be able to get into our machines, will the exo server logs not have all these entries? I want to be able to go to the boss and say...look what i did.. Also - modified hosts file on the servers? yay or nay? or just not needed since they dont handle web traffic.... muchos grazias amigos.
the hosts file is updated regulary. your best bet is to download it yourself say, once a month - then put something into the start up scripts of the PCs thats copies off the server on the same day can't see it being a problem, HOWEVER you'll have to put any of your own entries into it each month....
Yeah I just checked the orignal and theres 2 entries (our servers) that I had missing in the new file. Thankfully, I've only put it on my pc. I've put them in now though. The site tells you to put em in, but it doesnt say why....maybe you can tell me why they need to be in?
it's so on your local network, your server can find other servers, otherwise it's faffs about... taking ages... i think. it's a local address book thats how it fudges spyware - it looks there first, b4 going out. the hosts file points it to itself - rendering it harmless.
Right, i've not noticed any slowness....i've added the lines that were in to the modded file.....it can't do any damage I presume? And presumably it would only affect me anyway? Won't need to add any of our own entries very often, theres only 2 servers. Will update every month or so though. Shouldnt there be one for the exoserver? SO will they still appear in the exoserver logs?
Oh also, aswell as ensuring our own entries are in, which is now sorted, is there anything else? I don't want to cause any problems!
if ALL machines have ALL the entries in their host files - then no - cause they won't be trying to get out!
Well i've done it on a few machines, the ads are still showing.... It does say on the site that it may not work properly when on a LAN...our servers do the DNS so it will look at that before its own hosts file.. Is it advisable to put the modded file on the server too?
Actually...this is a bit strange. When I look at the exoserver logs, there arn't any entries for me. Funnily enough, my hosts file DOES block the ads....but on the other machines it isn't working. This is a bit strange...I get the impression that I am somehow not even going through the Exo Server at all....because even if I log out, I can still get on the net!! If others log out, they get grief off the server.... Weird.... Comments?
It's really weird.... My machines default gateway wasn't set to the exoserver - that explains the ability to go on the net without logging in AND the reason why there were no logs for me. HOWEVER. Several other users default gateways were also not set to the exoserver but they DID have logs and net didnt work when logged out... My machine is now consulting the hosts file. The other machines seeminly are not, despite configs being the same! I'm totally puzzled. If i add the entry "127.0.0.1 www.google.co.uk" to my hosts file - when i try to go on google, as you would expect, it points to this machine and doesnt load. do it on the other machines, and it works as normal! Not even looking at the hosts file...... :wtf: :bonkers: :computer: :lecture: Fck it, its friday.
Well i got to the bottom of it (HERO). Ads are getting blocked on the machines now, but the logs still show the ad requests.... When I think about it though this is probably normal is it not? The site name remains the same, but the IP address is what is different, as it tries to load it from the loopback address....so surely regardless of this it would still show a request to the ad server? Doesn't really matter, I was just hoping to be able to go to my boss and give him results in black and white!
yeah - it doesn't get rid of the ads or the spyware - it just stops it working - it still tries to get out - but gets the local IP loopback
