Evan Rempel did thus speak on 4/9/2008 2:39 PM:
Christopher Cashell wrote:
It appears that Syslog-NG 2.0.x (tested with 2.0.9) will mangle originating source hostname when it begins numerically hostnames, and this also causes errors with date/time handling.
The RFC specifies that host names can not start with a digit. If you have control over these host names, you should change them. If not, then you have to rely on applications handling invalid data, and thankfully syslog-ng is fairly good at accommodating vendors shortcomings.
That was actually amended in a later RFC (RFC1123): 2. GENERAL ISSUES This section contains general requirements that may be applicable to all application-layer protocols. 2.1 Host Names and Numbers The syntax of a legal Internet host name was specified in RFC-952 [DNS:4]. One aspect of host name syntax is hereby changed: the restriction on the first character is relaxed to allow either a letter or a digit. Host software MUST support this more liberal syntax. Host software MUST handle host names of up to 63 characters and SHOULD handle host names of up to 255 characters. Whenever a user inputs the identity of an Internet host, it SHOULD be possible to enter either (1) a host domain name or (2) an IP address in dotted-decimal ("#.#.#.#") form. The host SHOULD check the string syntactically for a dotted-decimal number before looking it up in the Domain Name System. Personally, I still think it's a good idea to avoid them, but in this case, it wasn't my call, and they are legal hostnames.
Evan.
-- Christopher Cashell