logs.netflix.com contacted every 20 seconds by EETV Box Pro

[naylor2006]

Dont get me wrong, im not one of those tin foil hat wearing guys but I do have a Pi-Hole installed at home which helps prevent against tracking, there are many reasons why a Pi-Hole is useful which there is no need to go into now but I did find it crazy how often the EETV Box tries to connect to logs.netflix.com

Netflix is installed on various devices around the house and it can be seen trying to contact this logging URL when in use, Apple TV, mobile phones etc.....but when those apps arent open there is no traffic. The worst offender by some distance is the EETV Box pro which without fail tries to contact this URL every 20 seconds whether it is on or in standby, the Pi-Hole blocks this. I dont even have Netflix logged in on the EETV Box nor has it ever been opened.

Its a bit odd because there are many apps on the EETV box, I have an Apple TV in the same room so it is never used for apps at all, only live TV and live TV recorded, so why is Netflix so thirsty to report even though there is nothing to track and the app isnt even open? None of the other apps that arent used either do.

Like I said im not going crazy over it but wondering if it keeps trying because it cannot reach the URL....but at the same time considering the app has never been logged in or even opened it does seem odd.

[ptrduffy]

The Netflix app is (I believe) created by Netflix and not BT, so it's unlikely anyone here can say why it exhibits this behaviour.  I wouldn't be surprised if the periodic behaviour is due to the fact that you have it blocked - a timeout is causing a regular retry.

You could try unblocking it temporarily to see if the behaviour changes?

[naylor2006]

True, but the box is in standby, the app has never even been loaded or logged into, so thats a Youview thing allowing the app to stay persistent in the background on their OS where no other app on the box is doing the same.

The URL is just one of those blocked by the bog standard default Pi-Hole config, I could unblock it to test I guess but its blocked on my entire network and no other devices checks anywhere near this amount of times and further still those devices only check when they are actually on and the netflix app is open, so it is very specific to the youview implementation.

I'm not concerned, this is a curiosity post and I accept most people will not know as they are not seeing their traffic in details.

[DarrenDev]

You've said yourself that you never use the app, so why block its traffic? It's not using any bandwidth you'd notice, it's not reporting anything you care about (you said yourself - you don't use it), and it's not interfering with your experience.
Logs are an essential way to monitor the health of apps, infrastructure, user experience, etc. I've fixed many bugs in the last 20+ years by monitoring logs, without the user ever having to report it - often before they even noticed it was broken.

[naylor2006]

I think you've misinterpreted the post.

I havent blocked the traffic, Pi-hole is a cheap and easy way to setup your own DNS server, one of its main purposes is there to help avoid tracking and block ads, so you can browse the internet without any pop ups or imbedded ads or any ads that are targeted based on your activity. It is network wide, it is there for all my devices, Im not overly worried about it but it was a fun thing to setup. In addition if also allows you to have local DNS records so you can use that for your LAN which is nice.

When I set it up I just followed a guide and added the default settings, you dont see what is being blocked or not, its just a repository of blocked URLs 1000's upon 1000's deep that some nice folks maintain.

So to answer the original question, a more paranoid user might be worried that netflix having never been opened is trying to upload logs even whilst the box is off, I am curious and I say again, i've not specifically blocked it, I just noticed it in the activity as the top blocked URL in my LAN and its going on all the time, I thought it was a interesting discussion.

I support your theory in that logs are important, I work in IT, I need them, I was wondering why Netflix was doing this considering the app is closed and not even in use ever, maybe you dont find that curious like I do....but believe me I dont care.

Ive since done a little more googling, seems Netflix is generally a bad offender for this.

[DarrenDev]

Ah, fair enough. Bad that pi-hole sees this as a necessary site to block by default. I hope users of it don't ever need to get help with blocked services.
It really frustrates me that so many users say no when asked about sending diagnostics to help improve the service. It makes the product better, and makes the job easier for people like me when trying to work out why things are going wrong.

[naylor2006]

It’s not so much the Pi-Hole, it’s the community of volunteers who maintain the URL lists have decided that this is just one of the many URL’s to place onto one of the most widely used lists.

As far as I know this is not a diagnostics URL but more one to track your activity within the app to target you with other content, stuff like that is usually blocked, there are plenty of other Netflix URLS which safely pass through the filter, the community have spent years honing into what to block and what not to so that everything still works but you are still protected from tracking, like it stops the Alexa’s uploading stuff also, if you have a house full of smart devices it’s pretty interesting to see the Pi-Hole logs.

My sole curiosity around this on the tv box however was just why is Netflix trying to contact logs at all considering the app isn’t open or even logged into.

[majika]

I guess logs.netflix.com is part of how netflix (and their partners) gain insight into network performance,  trace, logging for their fully managed observability platform, event driven / push pull feedback .. I'm thinking Grafana and Prometheus, Loki on their backends with complete network overview and deep endpoint insight.

IMHO,  when things go wrong is when the fun starts. Can you blame users today after what we learned with mass surveillance and traffic interception etc.. I have the exact same issue as the OP.  On my DNS server the Top blocked domain is "logs.netflix.com" and that is by a massive margin when compared to other services trying to call home, Samsung is another culprit #2 in my Top blocked domains list however netflix is by orders of magnitude larger at making outbound requests that Samsung which makes one wonder (the same as the OP) why such persistence and why the high call counts, unless that the actual call() are for some other purpose than to simply call to "ping" home..

I don't feel like busing out wireshark and doing traffic inspection on those events maybe its to compliment part of their platforms AV over IP is some way.. Either way, my network is running fine with log.netflix.com blocks.. 😕 

For those curious, as a demonstration and if you have the kit laying around, pop a Erro behind a pi-hole / adguard and watch an Amazon Erro's and ZigBee / sidewalk (sidebus) auto feature its crazy what is going on there..

[naylor2006]

My main problem with it was that the EETV Pro Box contacts logs.netflix.com every 20 seconds 24/7......even when in standby. On top of that I have never once opened the Netflix app or logged into it on the EETV. We use Apple TV's for apps at home but if I was using the EETV and the entire family was to watch Netflix then the high numbers wouldnt bother me. Well...lets be clear, im not that bothered, was mainly curious and I only knew about it because I have a Pi-Hole DNS server running which has many benefits along with blocking lookups and sharing the information to the wider community who do not run their own DNS might be interesting to that community, it turned out not really.

But the point is that, never opened the app, never logged into it and its there running in the background looking up, on an Apple TV for example log look ups only occur when the app is open, same on iOS also. No other apps on the EETV are doing it such as Apple TV app, Prime etc....just Netflix is going crazy and I personally believe that whilst in standby it shouldnt be doing it. I accept that the box maybe never truly is in standby as it needs to wake to record stuff therefore be there to receive planner requests...but apps should be shut off during that time.

[Midnight_Voice]

@naylor2006 

I agree with @ptrduffy; I’ve seen blocked calls go into overdrive when blocked, that just settle down and go calm again when unblocked.

Can you try unblocking this call, and then monitoring its frequency when you allow it to be successful?