dnsping: output with timestamps needed

[webernetz]

Hey Babak.

While using dnsping to troubleshoot a DNS server I really need a timestamp (date + time with even milliseconds) to verify at what time the server failed or came back again. Could you add such an option to display a timestamp for every response?

Cheers
Johannes

[thomasmerz]

Why don't you use ts from linux package moreutils?

$ dnsping -c 4 -w 1 -s 185.253.5.9 github.com|ts
Mar 07 17:23:35 dnsping DNS: 185.253.5.9:53, hostname: github.com, proto: UDP, rdatatype: A, flags: RD
Mar 07 17:23:35 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=1   time=27.269 ms
Mar 07 17:23:36 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=2   time=21.999 ms
Mar 07 17:23:37 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=3   time=24.639 ms
Mar 07 17:23:38 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=4   time=19.659 ms
Mar 07 17:23:39
Mar 07 17:23:39 --- 185.253.5.9 dnsping statistics ---
Mar 07 17:23:39 4 requests transmitted, 4 responses received, 0% lost
Mar 07 17:23:39 min=19.659 ms, avg=23.391 ms, max=27.269 ms, stddev=3.289 ms

Or this:

$ dnsping -c 4 -w 1 -s 185.253.5.9 github.com|awk '{now=strftime("%Y-%m-%d %T "); print now $0}'
2023-03-07 17:24:06 dnsping DNS: 185.253.5.9:53, hostname: github.com, proto: UDP, rdatatype: A, flags: RD
2023-03-07 17:24:06 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=1   time=21.522 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:07 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=2   time=20.262 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:08 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=3   time=21.523 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:09 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=4   time=19.022 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:10
2023-03-07 17:24:10 --- 185.253.5.9 dnsping statistics ---
2023-03-07 17:24:10 4 requests transmitted, 4 responses received, 0% lost
2023-03-07 17:24:10 min=19.022 ms, avg=20.582 ms, max=21.523 ms, stddev=1.198 ms

Might this help and solve your "problem"?

[webernetz]

Nice approach, thx.

(Though I would like a direct option within dnsping, similar to "ping -D ".)

[farrokhi]

@webernetz would you please point me to your reference ping implementation? Unfortunately ping has no "standard" implementation and I see -D doing different things on different platforms. But I like adding this feature seamlessly. Just want to see how others are implementing this, from a UX perspective.

[edeka-spatt]

Hi Babak,
this would be a nice and needed addition to the dnsping.py script. I tried it myself using the logging module.
Here is some sample code I used for adding timestamps and Log File output quick & dirty:

import logging
...
    # Logging
    current_datetime = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S")
    logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s',
                        encoding='utf-8',
                        level=logging.INFO,
                        handlers=[
                            logging.FileHandler(str(current_datetime)+'_'+dnsserver+'_'+qname+'.log'),
                            logging.StreamHandler()
                        ])

...
    logging.info("%s DNS: %s:%d, hostname: %s, proto: %s, type: %s, flags: [%s]" %
          (__progname__, dnsserver, dst_port, qname, proto_to_text(proto), rdatatype,
           dns.flags.to_text(request_flags)))

[webernetz]

Hey Babak. I don't have a "reference ping implementation" to be honest. I sometimes use the "normal" ping out of Ubuntu for example with the -D option to show at least some timestamps. This gives (note the very first [column with the Unixtime output]:

weberjoh@h2877111:~$ ping -D heise.de PING heise.de(redirector.heise.de (2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:302::)) 56 data bytes [1710770512.119462] 64 bytes from redirector.heise.de (2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:302::): icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=11.3 ms [1710770513.119322] 64 bytes from redirector.heise.de (2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:302::): icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=11.4 ms [1710770514.123749] 64 bytes from redirector.heise.de (2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:302::): icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=14.8 ms [1710770515.124475] 64 bytes from redirector.heise.de (2a02:2e0:3fe:1001:302::): icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=14.5 ms ^C --- heise.de ping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3002ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 11.286/12.982/14.782/1.641 ms

However, to my mind, it would be even better if a timestamp would show the date and time, such as @thomasmerz proposed it

Or this:

$ dnsping -c 4 -w 1 -s 185.253.5.9 github.com|awk '{now=strftime("%Y-%m-%d %T "); print now $0}'
2023-03-07 17:24:06 dnsping DNS: 185.253.5.9:53, hostname: github.com, proto: UDP, rdatatype: A, flags: RD
2023-03-07 17:24:06 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=1   time=21.522 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:07 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=2   time=20.262 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:08 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=3   time=21.523 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:09 55 bytes from 185.253.5.9: seq=4   time=19.022 ms
2023-03-07 17:24:10
2023-03-07 17:24:10 --- 185.253.5.9 dnsping statistics ---
2023-03-07 17:24:10 4 requests transmitted, 4 responses received, 0% lost
2023-03-07 17:24:10 min=19.022 ms, avg=20.582 ms, max=21.523 ms, stddev=1.198 ms