From: Randall Parker 

John Beckett wrote:
> I don't think anyone has mentioned the possibility that something on your
> Linux system is doing a reverse DNS lookup - i.e. given the IP that it is
> talking to, look up the name for that IP. Some systems do that as an extra
> (thin) layer of checking.

But that is not consistent with various of my symptoms:

1) The first message I load comes in very quickly, a second maybe.

2) Successive messages then take 30 seconds each.

3) Other news servers provide fast responses to first and later messages.

If Thunderbird was doing a look-up of that sort and it really then the
look-up would be slow on the first message from Barkto and for all messages
from other news servers. But all those are fast.

What could cause that pattern of performance?

One idea: Reuse of a socket that has been closed on the Barkto side (but
not by other news servers) followed by a timeout before it decides to open
a new socket?

> Since you are now a (potential) Linux guru, you should install Wireshark
> (the new Ethereal) and sniff network traffic to see exactly what is
> happening.

Would I need a second Linux box to watch this one's traffic?
>
> Hosts file is /etc/hosts
> Make sure each line (that is, the last line) has an Enter at the end -
> newline).

Yes, I did that. I saw there was a carriage return after the existing last
line and figured I better do the same. But the entry in etc/hosts did not
see up Thunderbird.

>
> John
>

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