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Forum Discussion
GS308T DNS and Time configuration and other issues
It has not been explained well in Netgear documentation what DNS setting are for and why we would need it. I know what DNS is but fail to understand why we need it on this switch. Can someone explain...
Well, I am not convinced. I tried using R7000 and this new Netgear switch GS308T configured to use pool.ntp.org. Both devices have the same issue trying to use it. If you say it is standard - I would say that netgear needs some work to make it right. pool.ntp.org is a standard NTP service. All my devices, Smart TV's LG,Sony, my Mac and Asus Router use it without any issues. Only Netgear devices have a problem. What is that telling you?
As for DNS setting. It would make more sense that this setting is inside Time configuraiton so people would know. It is more intuitive. Hope Netgear is watching this and think about the interface. Not helpfull. The Help menu is not mentioning anything about DNS setting being related to time resolution only -as you pointed out. These little things are really bugging me about the Netgear devices and software.
DNS is a part of the system configuration, along with the IP stack configuration, for whatever feature(s) it's used internally on a device. So this is where it belongs to in an UI ... not cluttered somewhere along with the time service because it might be the only usage there. It's part of a standard feature used all over on many different switch models here with Netgear and various feature sets. NTP and SNMP work nicely with an IP address, if the user does define a hostname or FQDN with a service, it requires some kind of name resolution, here DNS. Just like on any computer.
markster wrote:I have Asus router that provides central NTP services to all my devices. It intercepts all traffice on port 123 and provides NTP service. Whatever I try, my local NTP server IP or pool.ntp.org it does not work and netgear switch complains with error Resource Time-Out. It is flaky implementation.
If this description is appropriate, and the router does intercept the NTP traffic on port 123 nothing will ever go to another device configured server - well possible SNTP might not work on this NTP relay service (just like some other ntpd implementations).
No idea where your R7000 issue is coming now from - a complete different story. undefined firmware, undefined configuration, ... would not wonder if these devices have limitations e.g. in AP mode. These consumer routers make use of a simple ntpdate (like many of the systems you claimed workable - ways off from a real NTP functionality. On the protocol side, there is nothing that should stop it here.
I finaly soved the issue with the GS308T switch. When I purchased the switch the first thing I did was upgrading the firmware to latest version. It did complete without any issues. From there I started doing the config and noticed issues with NTP. Also, I had issues later when applying chnages in GUI I was immeditely kicked out back to login page. I could only perform one change at the time. I tried multiple resets but the issues would persist. Finaly, I was getting tired of this all and decided last night to see if I can downgrade the firmware. This is what happened.
Downgrade completed without error and GUI would show downgraded version. The first thing I did was NTP and sure enough it worked like a charm. As I am performing the configuration and went back to System page and what I see - the version number has chnaged back to newest.
Ok, I said to myself lets see if everyting works. Yes, finaly all works and I dont get kicked out to login page on every change. I think that upgrading to latest version of firmware mocked something up. But more interesting is that fact when I downgraded and suddenly the firware displyed went back to latest. Strange. Anyway I emiled support so they are aware of the issue.
Thank for your help. Ultimetly I am not able to use the switch in my home network as it does not offer me what I really need - segmenting my internal network.
markster wrote:
... From there I started doing the config and noticed issues with NTP. Also, I had issues later when applying chnages in GUI I was immeditely kicked out back to login page. ...
Can the community please have this in a little more detail, e.g. firmware version numbers, Web browsers affected (especially if support says it's a known issue)'
markster wrote:
Finaly, I was getting tired of this all and decided last night to see if I can downgrade the firmware. This is what happened.
Downgrade completed without error and GUI would show downgraded version. The first thing I did was NTP and sure enough it worked like a charm. As I am performing the configuration and went back to System page and what I see - the version number has chnaged back to newest.
These switches have two firmware flash sections, if nicely manged (requires some time reading and learning I admit) you can place the newer firmware on the in active partition, and boot from there if required.
markster wrote:
Ok, I said to myself lets see if everyting works. Yes, finaly all works and I dont get kicked out to login page on every change. I think that upgrading to latest version of firmware mocked something up. But more interesting is that fact when I downgraded and suddenly the firware displyed went back to latest. Strange.
Firmware version don't change randomly nor update automatically - it's under the switch admins full control.
markster wrote:
Ultimetly I am not able to use the switch in my home network as it does not offer me what I really need - segmenting my internal network.
Of course these switches allow segmentation by creating VLANs .... of course, this does add a lot of other constraints and requirements you can't blame the switch or Netgear for.
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