266647 - A NetBIOS NS lookup (instead of a DNS lookup) is performed when opening a new window

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, defect)

Description

[Christof Baumgärtner]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041026 Firefox/1.0RC1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041026 Firefox/1.0RC1

Every time a new window is opened (not when opening a new tab) a NetBIOS
Nameservice lookup is performed. This causes a long delay (timeout of the
lookup) before the windows can be used if the NetBIOS Nameservice is not
available any longer (for example because the VPN to the Windows Domain had been
stopped).

This seems to be the ONLY place where NetBIOS is used to name lookups. All other
lookups are DNS lookups as you would expect.

I can send a Ethereal sniff which demonstrates the problem.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Be part of a Windows Domain
2. Remove access to the NetBIOS naming service (by dropping VPN for example)
3. Open a windows in Firefox

Actual Results:  
Long delay (up to 5 seconds) until the window reacts on mouseclicks, keys etc.

Expected Results:  
Use DNS for lookup

Comment 1

[Christof Baumgärtner]

Attachment: This is the full network activity when opening a new window

pcap file for Ethereal

Comment 2

[Jo Hermans]

Reporter, it's the OS that performs the Netbios lookup, not Firefox.

Comment 3

[Christof Baumgärtner]

But why is NetBIOS NS lookup used if a new firefox windows is opened? It is not
used for ANY other IP communication (tested with several instant messenger, FTP,
SCP, SSH etc. clients). It is also not used for any other Firefox initiated name
lookup (clicking on links, bookmarks, opening a new tab etc.).
Seems there is something special when a new windows is opened.

Comment 4

[Christof Baumgärtner]

BTW, this behaviour was introduced with 1.0 PR and is still in with 1.0RC1.
It is not in 0.9.2 or any previous version. 

Comment 5

[Jo Hermans]

Are you using a proxy server ? If so, is it a SOCKS proxy ? OR are you using a
PAC file (proxy automatic configuration) ?

PS : Firefox isn't asking for a Netbios lookup at all. We just call
gethostbyname , gethostbyaddr or a similar function, and then it's up to the OS
to decide what to do.

Comment 6

[Christof Baumgärtner]

No proxy or PAC. But still the only NetBIOS lookup on the machine. 

Comment 7

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 8

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 9

[Piotr]

Hi,

in version 42.0 I observe still the same problem and delay of new tab open, after VPN disconnecting.
It seems also that it is somehow linked with Netbios used instead of DNS.
I see in packet sniffer, that Netbios is used even for www.google.com addresses, and DNS queries from Firefox are missing.
I have found several such bug reports, and none resolved, only expired.
That is why I decided to reopen that one.