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Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

You can see many people on this community as well as Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/orbi/comments/m5l3vk/orbi_dropping_dns/

posting about their problems relating to recently losing Internet connectivity. The posts are specualting several issues:

  • this happened because of a firmware update (usually 2.7.2.104 is mentiioned)
  • this happened because of the DST change (many people, including me, started loosing connectivity after the DST change)
  • DNS is broken (clients are reporting that they cannot resolve DNS, and setting the client's DNS server mannually resolves the issue)

Some people are reporting potential fixes, but they are premature, as a reboot fixes the issue for a few hours, then the problem reappears. I have yet to see a resolution that lasts more than a few hours.

 

I manage thousands of users and devices on a network with hundreds of access points, so I know what I am talking about here reasonably well and can report the following observations personally:

  1. I have had my Orbi system for years and not had an issue prior to this
  2. I observed the problem after the DST change
  3. A reboot of the RBR resolves the issue for a few hours
  4. I had been running 2.7.2.102 at the time I first experienced the issue, so this problem is not only affecting 2.7.2.104
  5. I updated to 2.7.2.104, but the problem reappeared several hours after the reboot
  6. I tried toggling the NTP DST setting on and off as well as changing the server to time.apple.com - it did not resolve the issue
  7. If I manually change a client's DNS server to a valid DNS server other than the RBR router's address, the problem is resolved and it lasts for days

To me, this indicates the problem lies in the RBR's implementation DNS proxy/masking, and partially with the limitations of the RBR's DHCP server. Orbi's DNS proxy is broken, and Orbi's limitation of not beinag able to configure the client's DNS server to a preferred setting (other than the RBR's IP) using DHCP is preventing us from (easily) avoiding the bug.

 

While manually setting clients' DNS servers resolves this issue, it is not a practical solution:

  • My house has more than 50 connected clients, I am not going to go around to all of them and manually confiugure DNS settings, that is what the Orbi is for
  • Several of the devices on my home network do not even support manually setting the DNS server
  • It does not work for guests

People have reported in other forums that older versions of firmware exhibit this problem as well. As it stands now, it appears that our options are to:

  1. Wait for NetGear to resolve this issue with a firmware update
  2. Reboot our RBR system several times a day (which can cause issues requiring rebooting other devices in eth house as well)
  3. Install another device to handle DHCP

PS: I know there are options to telnet into the router and mess with DNSmask, or hard-code the DNS server that DHCP sends by editing the config files, but I don't think that is a viable solution here for NetGear and their customers.

 

Please NetGear, change your DHCP implementation to actually configure the client's DNS server(s) to our preferences (and not the RBR IP), AND fix your bug!

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Message 2 of 17
vajim
Master

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken


@FURRYe38 

Is 2.7.2.104 your firmware of choice?

 

 

Message 3 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

How I got to v104 is all this this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Circle-Smart-Parental-Controls/Missing-parental-controls-on-firmwar...

 

Something I chose to do. And it's working for me. Smiley Very Happy

 

Message 4 of 17
vajim
Master

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken


@FURRYe38 wrote:

How I got to v104 is all this this thread:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Circle-Smart-Parental-Controls/Missing-parental-controls-on-firmwar...

 

Something I chose to do. And it's working for me. Smiley Very Happy

 


So if it works for you will it work for the rest of us?

Message 5 of 17

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

@FURRYe38 :

I don't really know what you are telling me to do with your response which links to a thread that is 4 pages long.

Message 6 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

You'll need to contact NG support for help on this and let NG know what your seeing. 


@r0b0tvampire wrote:

@FURRYe38 :

I don't really know what you are telling me to do with your response which links to a thread that is 4 pages long.


 

Message 7 of 17
vajim
Master

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken


@r0b0tvampire wrote:

@FURRYe38 :

I don't really know what you are telling me to do with your response which links to a thread that is 4 pages long.


That's part of the @FURRYe38 primo trouble shooting process.  

Message 8 of 17

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Message 9 of 17
vajim
Master

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Message 10 of 17
Blanca_O
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Hi Orbi Community,

 

The issue has been forwarded already to engineers.

 

If you are willing to work on the issue, please send me a private message by clicking on this link and I will PM you requesting for more information. We appreciate your help working on this issue.

 

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

Message 11 of 17
haverdude
Tutor

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

@r0b0tvampire, thanks for all your efforts on this problem

 

Y'all can add me as another user with the same problems, but on a RBR20/RBS20(x2) system.  Running a SB6183 Surfboard cable modem (replacing an SB6141), with Spectrum as an ISP.

 

As far as firmware, I was not even on 2.7.2.104, I was still on 2.3.5.36, and only upgraded after I started having the DNS problems, so either the problem is not in the router or has been a latent problem just waiting until Pi day to surface.

 

I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out what went haywire, even bought a new cable modem as all signs pointed to that being the problem (it may have been, and was just a coincidence).

 

I don't have Circle enabled, but I do have Armor running - but seeing the number of people having the same problems as I have and not having Armor running, I don't think that's an issue either way.

 

I even called out a tech from my ISP - and even though he found water intrusion / corrosion in one of their connections on the pole outside my house, them fixing that problem and the new cable modem made things better for connectivity but did not resolve the DNS issue.

 

I'd like to do a full reset, and even do one periodically, or after a firmware update, but I have a LOT of nodes and a lot of customized names, Armor configuration, etc., and I do NOT relish the thought of having to set that all up again, especially when no one can tell me for certain that will fix the problem.

 

@ChristineT  can you pass this on to the engineers?  HEY NETGEAR - SAVE THE CONFIGURATION AS AN XML FILE!  Yes, the password stuff could be encrypted / omitted / saved off separately for security.  That way we could cut out the bad bits or stuff unique to a particular model before reloading. Also, there's no indicator of which settings have been changed from default, so the odds of missing something on a factory reset are kinda high.  Getting the router to dump config files in XML would allow us to do diffs on them too.  Finding out what you changed would be easy if you could compare your XML config against a dump after a factory reset.

Model: RBR20|Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 12 of 17
jrgoal22
Aspirant

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

I factory reset my system this morning and so far so good even with the latest firmware.  All of my satellites are wired via cat 6.  I connected them all one by one wireless first and afterward connected the cat 6.  So far so good.  Prior to this my router was offline since Sunday.  

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 13 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Good to hear. Be sure to make a backup configuration to file for safe keeping. Helps save time if a reset is needed. 

 


@jrgoal22 wrote:

I factory reset my system this morning and so far so good even with the latest firmware.  All of my satellites are wired via cat 6.  I connected them all one by one wireless first and afterward connected the cat 6.  So far so good.  Prior to this my router was offline since Sunday.  


 

Message 14 of 17
Blanca_O
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Hi Orbi Community, 
 

Engineering was able to discover the cause of this issue and they are working on a fix in regards to the disconnections. 

 

The issue comes from Traffic meter while daylight saving is enabled. The quick workaround is to disable the traffic meter. 

 

To disable traffic meter:
Access orbilogin.com > go to ADVANCED Tab > Advanced Setup > Traffic Meter and uncheck Traffic Meter

 

We appreciate all your cooperation and patience working with us. We will provide update once we have the fix firmware.  

 

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

Message 15 of 17
Blanca_O
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken

Hi Orbi Community,

 

In our engineers investigation, the cause is identified as the incorrect behavior on traffic meter which will constantly do some setting on router DNS while daylight saving is turned on. And this could possibly make the DNS query unstable. 

 

Workaround solution: Turn off traffic meter. 

Access orbilogin.com > go to ADVANCED Tab > Advanced Setup > Traffic Meter and uncheck "Traffic Meter"

 

Fix firmware is now available to resolve the issue even if the traffic meter is enabled. Kindly let me know or send me a private message by clicking this link if you would like to test it. 

 

Regards,

Blanca

Community Team

Message 16 of 17
vajim
Master

Re: Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken


@Blanca_O wrote:

Hi Orbi Community,

 

In our engineers investigation, the cause is identified as the incorrect behavior on traffic meter which will constantly do some setting on router DNS while daylight saving is turned on. And this could possibly make the DNS query unstable. 

 

Workaround solution: Turn off traffic meter. 

Access orbilogin.com > go to ADVANCED Tab > Advanced Setup > Traffic Meter and uncheck "Traffic Meter"

 

Fix firmware is now available to resolve the issue even if the traffic meter is enabled. Kindly let me know or send me a private message by clicking this link if you would like to test it. 

 

Regards,

Blanca

Community Team


What's the version number of this 'fix'?

Message 17 of 17
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