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R7000 Thru 'admin' interface, can't find a way to change Router's own DNS target. Modem is Bridge
I have my modem in Bridge Mode (transparent, No DHCP, etc.) and feed it to the R7000 (AKA AC1900) router. I want to select a specific DNS such as OpenDNS or others. Using the 'admin' interface, ...
Thanks, Kitsap (Kitsap County, Washington State?)
My Modem is a Cisco model provided by (leased from) Comcast, my ISP. In a conversation with them, I said I wanted the modem to do nothing than be a modem: No DHCP, no DNS director, and they said, "Well, that's called Bridge mode: set it to that". I was using their definition, and all was well with the Netgear R7000 doing DHCP and, I presume, doing the DNS.
I was told by people who developed a local replacement DNS server that I should change the Router's DNS, and explicitly said, "Not on the WAN side, but on the LAN side". You carefully described just how my Netgear R7000 router's admin setup looks. I think you are pointing out the WAN side alternative to the choice the ISP would make (if it were handling the DNS). I thought that "bridge" mode made this entry irrelevant. Also the local DNS developer specifically said to change the router's designation of DNS, not the modem's (giving me the impression that the router would resolve names and there would be no need for the modem to do it).
I hope you can resolve what must be a misunderstanding.
Today I talked to Support at Netgear and they said that I could not change the router's DNS designation thru admin, but they would do it for me for a mere $100 per change. Since I am only experimenting, I might have to change it back, so this "solution" isn't at all attractive, not to mention that they seem to be trying to make money by designing-out the ability for the user to change it.
Clearly, all these ideas cannot all be true. I hope you can piece things together in a way that makes things consistent.
Thanks again for your understandable detailed response.
Python2k wrote:
My Modem is a Cisco model provided by (leased from) Comcast, my ISP.
That tells us nothing useful about your modem/router.
As Kitsap says, "bridge mode" is widely abused term. And some devices are not very good at achieving it. Your description of what you did is not convincing.
Python2k wrote:
Today I talked to Support at Netgear and they said that I could not change the router's DNS designation thru admin, but they would do it for me for a mere $100 per change.
Saying it twice doesn't make it any more useful.
Netgear does not post "toll free" numbers – or direct paid-for support – so I wonder if you just fell for one of those web search scams that exist to part people from their money and to wreak havoc on their hardware.
It might help if you explained what you are trying to achieve, and why, rather than your idea of the possible solution.
Did you read the manual for the R7000 and its stuff on OpenDNS?
Visit the support pages:
Support | NETGEAR
Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.
Is the Model: A7000|Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi USB Adapter - USB 3.0 listed in your footer involved in this in anyway? Or did you just click the first thing that popped up when you wrote your message?
Don't know where you got the phone number or who you are talking to on the phone that wants to charge you $100. If you have not figured it out by now, it is a scam.
The specific and full BRAND AND MODEL number of your modem would be very beneficial to all who are trying to help you. Look on the tags on the devices, do not guess. Take a picture if you have to. You are being helped here for free, it still takes somebody's time. Why waste it by being incomplete with your responses?
With your modem in bridge mode, your router is the default gateway for your LAN and it determines the path for your DNS requests to the internet.
Not sure what you are trying to accomplish with a DNS for your internal (LAN) requests vice a DNS for your external (WAN) requests. The devices on your LAN are identified by a local IP address and not a URL. DNS for your LAN is not required to translate between URL and a local IP. A better description of what you are trying to accomplish with your experiment would be helpful.
Kitsap wrote:
A better description of what you are trying to accomplish with your experiment would be helpful.
Yup. A clearer description of what I was trying to say.
Talk about "a specific DNS such as OpenDNS" is baffling. OpenDNS is a DDNS thing. It is not DNS.
Netgear routers have their own controls for Domain Name Server (DNS) Address. It is on the Internet Setup page. Take your pick of DNS servers.
Best free and public DNS servers in 2021 | TechRadar
Sadly, Netgear does have restrictions on DDNS. But I'd expect anyone to check that before they buy.
Fancier stuff may require third party firmware on the R7000, but that is not a topic for discussion here.
Heaven only knows where DHCP enters the picture.
michaelkenward wrote: Talk about "a specific DNS such as OpenDNS" is baffling. OpenDNS is a DDNS thing. It is not DNS.Should not be baffling at all. There are public IP addresses available for Open DNS just like Cloudflare DNS and Next DNS. They have nothing to do with Dynamic Domain Name Servers (DDNS).
Thanks, michaelkenward for your alert to me that I probably was having a conversation with a scammer, rather than actually Netgear.
I wasn't trying to convince anybody of anything, other than the Netgear router's model number and the modem brand. I have no idea what you mean by "Saying it twice doesn't make it any more useful.".
If it's important for understanding what Cisco means by "Bridge Mode", my Cisco Modem is DPC2941T, as best I can determine. I thought that giving my modem brand (yes, modem, not modem/router) would allow you to determine what Cisco means by "Bridge Mode". I also thought that my post included the router model. Again, it is Netgear R7000/AC1900, the former of which you mentioned in your response. Sorry if my footer included A7000. I must have selected the A7000 from the list since it has the same description on its box, and I wasn't paying enough attention. (Also, in your question about A7000, you used "anyway" when you meant "any way", if you want to be picky here)
What I am trying to do is use my own local (within my household) DNS server. I want to change the router's LAN side DNS to have the address of this local DNS server which is connected as a router's device. I don't know how to set things up so my local IP address is used, rather than changing the designation of DNS on the WAN side where it might search the world for it's often-used address.
OpenDNS is not really of interest to me. I imagine I could use that by designating it on the WAN side.
Do you really care why? I simply want to have control over my DNS with an easy-to-maintain Blacklist/Blocklist and Whitelist/Allowlist.
