Can someone tell me what these "applications" do?<br><br>-configd<br>-slpd<br>-host<br><br>The reason I ask is that the network whistleblower application 'Lil Snitch' constantly asks if I want to give permission to these applications to connect to "server". It varies constantly. Sometimes it is a server associated with my ISP, sometimes it will be 0.0.0.1 or something like that, and it can be TCP or UDP. I can easily assign a rule to allow it permanent permission, but I'm curious.<br><br>This question was raised before and I think nutty had something to say about what they were (sorry, can't remember), but the weird thing is that it makes no noticeable difference whether I let them do what they want or I deny them permission to do anything. I notice no change in my network permissions.<br><br>Also, since Lil Snitch has many default rules in place for OSX's applications (e.g. Safari, Explorer on TCP80, Quicktime TCP80, TCP554(rtsp), etc.) why wouldn't they include these system apps if they are needed for something important? I suppose I could ask them.<br><br>

I looked up the three commands, but was only able to find host. The host command is used in name resolution (look up host names using domain server).<br><br>As in host www.cnn.com which will return:<br><br>www.cnn.com is a nickname for cnn.com<br>cnn.com has address 64.236.24.4<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>cnn.com mail is handeled (pri=20) by atimail2.turner.com<br>.<br>.<br>.<br><br>

Thanks rman. So, if my machine is idle can you think of why 'host' would suddenly become active? There doesn't seem to be much of a rhyme or reason for when it pops up. Its not as if it happens while searching for something with Safari.<br><br>

some thing would have to activate it. Looking at the others commands. they maybe process that are running in the background. I checked and configd is running on my computer. configd, slpd, and lookupd maybe calling out host. I don't know for sure.<br><br>

linky<br><br><br>My Stuff

Cool link, Lori! Thanks guys.<br><br>

Thanks Lori. I figure what configd and host was, but did not know about slpd. Now I know. {smile]<br><br>

You're a jewel, Lori!<br><br> Alas, poor Yorick. -- Hamlet

I concur.<br><br>The truth is olnly elusive if we choose not to see it.

From the Developer of Little Snitch:<br><br>Thank you for using Little Snitch.<br><br>The slpd and confid are part of the 'Rendezvous' functionality. Under normal circumstances these Rendezvous functionality is covered by the 'any' defaults rule. However, if someone connects a Laptop to your network, which has configured a wrong IP address, then Rendezvous tries to communicate with this 'alien machine' and you receive an alert from Little Snitch. <br><br>To avoid this, please add the following rules to your ruleset:<br><br>slpd Allow UDP connections to your local network<br>slpd Deny UDP connections<br>(this limits communication from slpd to your local network)<br><br>for configd add the following rule:<br>configd Allow IPV6-ICMP connections<br><br>host is a unix tool to translate host-names in IP-addresses <br>you can add the rule<br>host Allow UDP connections to port 53<br><br>Be careful with deny rules on parts of the Mac OS X system.<br><br>These rules will be built in in the next version of Little Snitch. <br><br>Best regards,<br>Karl Schwarzott<br>--<br>Objective Development<br>http://www.obdev.at/<br><br><br>