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Forum Discussion
lack of DHCP-linked DNS view
Hi,
my old router (LInksys E4200) provided a DHCP-linked DNS view. When I added a local computer to my network, it responded to DNS queries for its name with its address. The AX4200/RBR750 I just bought does not :-(
I looked a little bit at its software. It seems to be running Busybox's udhcpd for its DHCP and dnsmasq for its DNS forwarding. I don't immediately see how they do that, though, as I can't spot how dnsmasq's DHCP server functionality is disabled.
dnsmasq is run as
dnsmasq -h -n -c 0 -N -i br* -r /tmp/resolv.conf -u root root
and udhcpd is run with this config:
# cat /tmp/udhcpd.conf
pidfile /tmp/udhcpd.pid
start 192.168.1.15
end 192.168.1.254
interface br-lan
remaining yes
lease_file /tmp/udhcpd.leases
option subnet 255.255.255.0
option router 192.168.1.1
option dns 192.168.1.1
option lease 86400
option domain
/tmp/udhcpd.leases contains the local client information, including their hostnames.
Question: has anyone debugged this further?
Is there a way to get the Netgear device to provide a DHCP-linked DNS view?
12 Replies
I would point out that if one mfr has one feature that this doen't mean it would be seen or should be seen with nother mfr.
Each Mfr may have reason why they don't have some or similar features in there products. You're basing your observations on a 9 year old router aswell. Older tech. I believe Orbi systems and probably other NG products are based on more simplistic designs for the common house hold user. Not much advanced or granular features as seen back then. Thus no deep dives into some features that seem missing. Just not used for the average home user.
This feature does come essentially free as it's perfectly implemented with dnsmasq - required would be a default local domain with the default config, the ability to change the default domain in a config field, and some better check of the hostnames provided by the DHCP clients (to avoid breaking dnsmasq). Every major consumer router has it, Asus, AVM/Fritz!, ..., ZyXEL ... for years of not at least a decade. One of many features proofing Netgear is unable and unwilling to change anything on these 1990 router specs.
It can certainly be requested here:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/idb-p/idea-exchange-for-home
FURRYe38 wrote:I would point out that if one mfr has one feature that this doen't mean it would be seen or should be seen with nother mfr.
Each Mfr may have reason why they don't have some or similar features in there products. You're basing your observations on a 9 year old router aswell. Older tech. I believe Orbi systems and probably other NG products are based on more simplistic designs for the common house hold user. Not much advanced or granular features as seen back then. Thus no deep dives into some features that seem missing. Just not used for the average home user.
Finding a hostname of a connected device is, if anything, something the "common household user" needs because they expect to find their computers on their network without needing to use/know their IP address.
Perhaps reply a little bit less often?
Maybe however again, your dealing with the average home user. NG tried to employ there own host name or device naming scheme of things so this is what is need in the UI or the Orbi app.
Good Luck.
To answer one of the questions I raised - why aren't udhcpd and dnsmasq conflicting; I learned that dnsmasq was built without support for DHCP:
# dnsmasq -v Dnsmasq version 2.78 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 Simon Kelley Compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt no-DBus no-i18n no-IDN no-DHCP no-scripts no-TFTP no-conntrack no-ipset auth no-DNSSEC loop-detect inotify This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. Dnsmasq is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or 3.
