im getting an error in my console

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Level 1

1 points

im getting an error in my console

Mar 11 18:24:44 kodys-imac-g5 mDNSResponder: ERROR: getOptRdata - unknown opt 4
so this error popped up like i dont know how many times in my console today till 19:38:23 can anyone tell me what this means? i have no idea should ignore it or should i do something about it?

Imac G5 power pc, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2.0ghz processor 2 gig DDR SDRAM

Posted on Mar 11, 2011 9:44 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Niel

Level 10

726,749 points

Mar 11, 2011 9:47 PM in response to Kody8912

Unless you're having trouble, ignore it. Console messages are typically intended for software developers.

(57224)

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Answer 2

WZZZ

Level 6

13,220 points

Mar 12, 2011 6:32 AM in response to Kody8912

But you do want to keep an eye on it to make sure it's not being repeated so often -- I mean hundreds of times in a short period -- as to start filling up your logs and begin eating up drive space. Otherwise, forget about it.

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Answer 3

Sep 9, 2011 1:12 AM in response to WZZZ

I've been getting this same error: approximately 1300 times in the past 12 hours. Is that frequent enough to be concerned?

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

Sep 9, 2011 10:02 AM in response to Zeta Aspect

That is Bonjour causing the problrm, you can disable it or we could try to fix it if yiu start another topic...

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050707222434355

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Answer 5

Sep 9, 2011 11:56 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the response!

There did not appear to be a com.apple.mDNSresponder.plist file in my library, but Console noted that the mDNSResponder stopped after I entered "sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist". I'll see whether or not that works over the next few hours.

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

Sep 9, 2011 12:11 PM in response to Zeta Aspect

There did not appear to be a com.apple.mDNSresponder.plist file in my library

Well, there isn't one in the Users Library, just in...

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/

There are at least 3 Library folders, one each in...

Root of the Disk /Library/

System/Library/

Users/YourUserName/Library/

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Answer 7

Sep 12, 2011 3:19 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks. I haven't been getting the error message since my last post, but the plist file is sitting right where you say it should.

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

Sep 12, 2011 3:35 PM in response to Zeta Aspect

Great to hear, thanks for the report. 🙂

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Answer 9

Dec 5, 2011 10:47 AM in response to Kody8912

A workstation or server entering sleep mode does a lookup for a _sleep-proxy._udp DNS record to find a sleep proxy to answer Wake-On-LAN requests on its behalf (using the EDNS0 Owner option (4)) in case an important packet is sent to the sleeping machine.

Older versions of Mac OS X Server don't know how to handle opt 4 requests coming from workstations running newer versions of Mac OS X, so the bizarre packet is logged but no action is taken. The more Snow Leopard machines you have, the more your log will fill with "mDNSResponder: ERROR: getOptRdata - unknown opt 4 " messages. You may have noticed that these messages get more frequent during times when workstations are heavily used, and that they mysteriously disappear outside of business hours - the reason, of course, is that all your workstations go to sleep and aren't being woken up until a human presses a key or mouse button the next day. Laptops running on battery are usually set to sleep more frequently, so large numbers of mobile users will fill your 10.4 server logs.

As has been already stated, you can safely ignore this message...or upgrade to Snow Leopard or Lion Server to eliminate it completely.

The Wikipedia entry for Bonjour Sleep Proxy is a good place to start your reading on this issue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Proxy_Service

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