DNS Problems with VPN

[jmacc1]

Hi.

I have a Netgear R7960P wireless router (firmware  1.4.2.84). I have enabled VPN on the router, and I have installed OpenVPN on an Android device and two Windows (1 Windows 10 and 1 Windows 11) devices. All three devices are using the TUN protocol. 

All of the devices can connect to the VPN, and I am able to access LAN devices by IP address, but DNS name resolution does not work. I have seen reports of this dating back years, but none of the posts seem to have a resolution.

The Netgear router serves as the DHCP server and DNS server for my LAN. It appears that the DHCP address given to VPN clients does not include the DNS entry that is given to LAN clients. I am using a DDNS domain provided by NoIP.

Is there a port I need to open or a static route I need to configure between the VPN subnet and the LAN subnet for DNS to be accessible by VPN clients? For now, I have had to configure static IP reservations for the devices I need to access remotely over the VPN, but that really is not ideal. 

BTW, I have tried rebooting the router, stopping and starting the VPN, and I have tried both OpenVPN and OpenVPN Connect clients on the windows devices (using both TAP and TUN) with the same results. I have tried disabling/enabling DNS Fallback on the clients with no change, and I have tried all three VP connection options (access local network only, access Internet and local resources, and auto) with the same results.I have checked the router log, but there is nothing relevant there.

Is there any way to resolve this?

[nnagreg]

DNS requests happen on Port 53

However,   I've been chasing multiple DNS problems over the past couple months,   I'd suggest enabling IPv6.

I believe there is a deeper issue related to FW configurations (we cannot see them - only NG can)   that maybe resolved by apply the simple change.

Let everyone one know if this resolves you issues as well.Thx!

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My solve/resolve tied back into ENABLING IPv6 under the advance settings.  See my thread below

Hope this helps you!

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/DNS-Hijacking-R8000P-presenting-errors-requi...

[FURRYe38]

Try newer FW as well for the R7960P before enabling IPv6:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/New-R7900P-R7960P-R8000P-Firmware-Version-1-...

Couple of users seem to seen better DNS experiences here on this version of FW so far. 

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@jmacc1 wrote:

Hi.

I have a Netgear R7960P wireless router (firmware  1.4.2.84). I have enabled VPN on the router, and I have installed OpenVPN on an Android device and two Windows (1 Windows 10 and 1 Windows 11) devices. All three devices are using the TUN protocol. 

All of the devices can connect to the VPN, and I am able to access LAN devices by IP address, but DNS name resolution does not work. I have seen reports of this dating back years, but none of the posts seem to have a resolution.

The Netgear router serves as the DHCP server and DNS server for my LAN. It appears that the DHCP address given to VPN clients does not include the DNS entry that is given to LAN clients. I am using a DDNS domain provided by NoIP.

Is there a port I need to open or a static route I need to configure between the VPN subnet and the LAN subnet for DNS to be accessible by VPN clients? For now, I have had to configure static IP reservations for the devices I need to access remotely over the VPN, but that really is not ideal. 

BTW, I have tried rebooting the router, stopping and starting the VPN, and I have tried both OpenVPN and OpenVPN Connect clients on the windows devices (using both TAP and TUN) with the same results. I have tried disabling/enabling DNS Fallback on the clients with no change, and I have tried all three VP connection options (access local network only, access Internet and local resources, and auto) with the same results.I have checked the router log, but there is nothing relevant there.

Is there any way to resolve this?

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