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Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

vajim
Master

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues


@archp wrote:
This is what the netgear engineer said:


We have identified that the traffic meter will cause problem while auto daylight saving time enabled. Since you turn off auto daylight saving time, the issue should be go away. Turn off traffic meter would also avoid the issue. We are working on a trial fix firmware. Will provide to you once it’s ready. Thanks.

trial fix firmware???

Message 76 of 135
archp
Star

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

Maybe he meant a beta firmware to test before they release an official one? That's literally all that was said.
Message 77 of 135
vajim
Master

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues


@archp wrote:
Maybe he meant a beta firmware to test before they release an official one? That's literally all that was said.

Thanks

 

That's what appears to be happening when they decide to put the newest and greatest firmware update on the server for all to use.  Then here comes the 'I gotta it have bunch', who in turn become our beta testers.

 

Go to be a better method.

Message 78 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

Hi, all,

 

A long-term fix for devices that absolutely need access is to explicitly set them to use DNS other than through the router-as-relay. I.e., set the DNS on your laptop, phone, whatever to something other than 192.1.6.1.1 (as provided by the DHCP of the RBR50 router).

 

It is possible to set the RBR50 DHCP to provide that information, but not to ensure the configuration is persistent across reboots (it would be nice if that were a configuration option, though!)

 

 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 79 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

Make that 192.168.1.1, below...

 


@l8nc wrote:

Hi, all,

 

A long-term fix for devices that absolutely need access is to explicitly set them to use DNS other than through the router-as-relay. I.e., set the DNS on your laptop, phone, whatever to something other than 192.1.6.1.1 (as provided by the DHCP of the RBR50 router).

 

It is possible to set the RBR50 DHCP to provide that information, but not to ensure the configuration is persistent across reboots (it would be nice if that were a configuration option, though!)

 

 


 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 80 of 135
childre9
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

Same issues as I see many others have in the community. The Orbi network seems to be working and I have internet connectivity on some devices and not on others. For instance, my computer and Rokus work but cell phones say there is no connection to the internet. Sometimes just the Rokus will work and the computers will have the same no internet message as the cell phones. This makes no sense to me. I have rebooted the main and satellites several times. 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 81 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

A little more information:

 

IPv6 DNS entries appear to be not working correctly.

If I leave the configuration to "get automatically from ISP", then there is no entry in /tmp/resolv.conf (i.e., no override).

If I put in a DNS entry "use these DNS servers", then the entry in /tmp/resolv.conf is NOT what I entered - it is the value the router gets from my ISP.

 

I don't know if this is related to the overall DNS problems we've all been seeing.

 

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 82 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

PS - ROKUs may work (some apps at least) because they have hard-wired IP addresses for DNS servers in the public Internet (e.g., Google 8.8.8.8).

 

Laptops, phones, and pads typically take the DNS info from their DHCP response and use that; the Orbi always tells them to use the Orbi as the DNS server (192.168.1.1). That works fine until dnsmasq crashes and fails to restart, at which point the Orbi no longer does DNS caching relay or DHCP.

 

You CAN login and restart dnsmasq. You can setup a cron job to do that automatically, at least until the system reboots (it loses that state). You can also reboot, which will start dnsmasq again.

 

 

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 83 of 135
hokey777
Initiate

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

childre9, do you have Traffic Metering enable?  If so, disabling that and a router reboot should fix it.

Message 84 of 135
childre9
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

That appears to have worked. Phones and computers are online. Netgear should pay you for your help here, but I thank you.

Message 85 of 135
hokey777
Initiate

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

I also wanted to say that while the advice Furry38 gave on doing a factory reset is a semi-valid solution, it is not a practial one in this case.  That would be like saying if my car had a flat tire, I should trade it in and buy a new one.  People come to this board looking for real help and viable solutions.  And as it turns out, those who did a factory reset would still face this issue if they did a config backup/restore.  And as we all see now, a simple workaround is to disable Traffic Metering which is what we all came here for.

 

 

Message 86 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

FYI - the only reason a "factory reset" works is because most users did that reset and DID NOT turn logging back on. That's why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

 

So far, @hokey777 had the best info. The detail is in a reddit thread.

 

I'll summarize as follows: do any of the following:

  • disable traffic logging
  • disable automatic DST for NTP (typically by setting your time zone one zone east, i.e., setting the clock for US mountain standard time if you live in US pacific daylight time

Netgear is aware of this issue. You CAN also edit the DHCP configuration file, but its contents in /tmp are rewritten each reboot. You have to edit the print statements in /etc/init.d/net-lan instead. Set the "option dns" to use whatever IP address you want instead of using the router's LAN address (I might end up doing this anyway - it gets around the fact that Netgear's API doesn't allow users to configure this directly).

 

FYI, the logging has been showing zeroes; if you use the second trick, apparently all the past logs are recovered and show up too. The downside of the second trick is that you have to change it when the time changes again, but that won't be for 8 months...

 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 87 of 135
719G2
Initiate

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

I opt for this method instead of factory reset and so far so good - crossed fingers. 

 

Message 88 of 135
alokeprasad
Mentor

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

The articles on dnsmasq were very helpful.  Netgear has been fixing this on various devices for quite some time.

Netgear support srticles on dnsmasq 

 

I guess the fix for the Orbi's introduced a bug in DST/NTP part of the revised firmware and got rolled out with the latest updates.

 

It also explains why I didn't have the problem (I had DST update and traffic meter disabled).

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 89 of 135
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

On mine I have DST enabled and TM disabled as I don't use TM ever. So may have been one reason why I didn't see any issues on my RBK50 using v104. However I did see 3 DNS errors on my Orbi AX system, DST was disabled and TM not used. After enabling DST on the Orbi AX system, which I though I had alredy enabled, I have not see any DNS errors since. I presume there is some forum of mishandling of Traffic Meter/DST/NTP/DNS when the time change starts happening at these two times here in the US region. Something I hope NG will finally get fixed. 

 

The downgrading of FW may have fixed it for some however I presume since the time changed even had already taken place, that if they were on the downgraded version of FM using DST/TM or not, would have probably seen this problem anyways. I presume that the use of DST and or TM now, since the time change even has past, there should be any more problems seen on any version of FW. Until next time change comes later this year. 

Message 90 of 135
vajim
Master

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues


@FURRYe38 wrote:

 

 

The downgrading of FW may have fixed it for some however I presume since the time changed even had already taken place, that if they were on the downgraded version of FM using DST/TM or not, would have probably seen this problem anyways. I presume that the use of DST and or TM now, since the time change even has past, there should be any more problems seen on any version of FW. Until next time change comes later this year. 


works fine with v2.5.2.4

Message 91 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

FYI - dnsmasq in V2.7.2.104 is 2.80; the updates to other firmware that mentions dnsmasq are over 2 yrs old (Jan 2019) and mention dnsmask 2.78.

 

It's interesting that the issue appears to kill the dnsmasq process but happens only when TM logging is active. The former suggests a bug in dnsmasq, the latter with TM - in either case, triggered by some date format error.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 92 of 135
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

I agree, something between the DNS and TM is causing problems. However I didn't have TM enabled on my RBR50, only DST was enabled. Have not seen any issues with that configuration. Ya, it's something NG seems aware about and hopefully will fix. 

Message 93 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

Hmmm - I turned off TM and left DST on and no problems. Others seem to be reporting the same...

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 94 of 135
tak1313
Luminary

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues


@l8nc wrote:

FYI - dnsmasq in V2.7.2.104 is 2.80; the updates to other firmware that mentions dnsmasq are over 2 yrs old (Jan 2019) and mention dnsmask 2.78.

Per the reports cited (dated Jan 2021):

 

The flaws are patched in dnsmasq version 2.83, which will be released Tuesday, January 19, and will be available in the repositories of most Linux distributions.

 

Note - the January 19 referenced is 2021.

Message 95 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

There are 7 reports linked above (Netgear support srticles on dnsmasq). Most of them cite 2.78; one (Nov 2020) doesn't mention a dnsmasq.

 

To which report are you referring that mentions 2.83?

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 96 of 135
tak1313
Luminary

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues


@l8nc wrote:

To which report are you referring that mentions 2.83?


This report states up to 2.82 is affected:

 

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/19/dnsmasq-vulnerabilities

 

Vulnerable versions, devices, and mitigation advice

The researchers confirmed that Dnsmasq versions 2.78 to 2.82 are all affected by the vulnerabilities. Whether a device/system is affected or not (or just partially) also depends on how it uses Dnsmasq.

They found that some Cisco VPN routers are affected by the DNS cache poisoning vulnerabilities, and so is the OpenWRT firmware available for hundreds of devices and models.

Devices that do not use Dnsmasq’s caching feature will be much less affected (but not completely immune) to cache poisoning attacks, Oberman told Help Net Security. Devices that don’t use the DNSSEC feature will be immune to the buffer overflow attacks

“DNSSEC is a security feature meant to prevent cache poisoning attacks and so we would not recommend turning it off, but rather updating to the newest version of Dnsmasq (v2.83),” he added.

 

Message 97 of 135
l8nc
Apprentice

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

That report is yet another security vulnerability patch. Nearly every version of dnsmasq has a similar patch note.

 

However, nothing in that note correlates with the interactions we see with NTP+DST and TM. If the vulnerabilities alone were the issue, disabling one of DST or TM would not provide relief - yet it does.

 

At this point, it's not clear that merely updating to dnsmasq 2.83 would help. AFAICT we're still waiting to hear what the root cause might be.

Model: RBK53|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System
Message 98 of 135
tak1313
Luminary

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

If you look at my past post, I never represented that it was THE issue - just a POTENTIAL issue, since the EXACT issue is really not known.  Additionally, not all individuals experiencing the issue has the specific combination of settings being attributed to problem.

Message 99 of 135
kevindubs
Star

Re: RBR50 intermittent DNS lookup issues

This seemed to help for me.

I had the problem when DST: enabled and TM enabled

After factory reset, DST enabled, but TM disabled. haven't had the issue since.

Message 100 of 135
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