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Forum Discussion
Is it possible for the R6400 to provide local DNS service (not forward requests; answer them)?
I finally realized today that I have lost days of work over the last 3-4 years maintaining tables and software for something that my router should do: provide local DNS service. I see from variou...
OK. I can see that you have a task that needs fixing. Whether or not the only solution is getting "the R6400 to provide local DNS service" is another matter.
It may be that someone has other suggestions on performing the task in hand. But be warned that the R6400 is a pretty basic, and now slightly aged, router.
Specialist operations like that might also benefit from one of the third party firmware installations out there.
As to the question from whitelynx , Orbi technology is not much like standard Nighthawk technology discussed in this section, and isn't something that the router hackers seem to have got into.
Good Morning, Michael,
Well, the first question is: could I have set up email among local hosts without having an external domain name and the maintenance that goes with that, or could I have had my local hosts use their /etc/hosts files.
If the answer is "no, you really need a local DNS service", as I think it is, then either the router provides the service using the table I already maintain, or I set up a (redundant) table on another system, install DNS server software on that system, and point my other local hosts to it for DNS service. Having the router provide the service avoids a whole bunch of extra work.
When I last replaced my router (an old Linksys) with the 6400, it did not occur to me how much work it would save me if the router provided local DNS service. I now know. My next router will.
I'm not willing to risk my wife's work, which relies on Internet access, experimenting with router software. So I'm not eager to install third-party firmware on an otherwise standard commercial router.
I'd consider an easily-removable add-in if there is such a thing. I'd welcome any suggestions you or others might have. I understand from Google searches that other router softwares have the option of installing dnsmasq, which is what I installed on a Pi for my network, and I'd be happy to install that on my 6400 if that were an option, but it seems not to be.
Yes, the 6400 is now 4-5 years old, I suspect, maybe more. I won't replace it because of this issue (though I'm sure annoyed!), but when the time comes, local DNS service will be a requirement for my next router.
David
hdtodd wrote:
Well, the first question is: could I have set up email among local hosts without having an external domain name and the maintenance that goes with that, or could I have had my local hosts use their /etc/hosts files.
I do simple.
With email logs, I set up the sender to us the appropriate SMTP server. I have no idea how Pis handle their email protocols.
I have a bunch of different devices and programs that email out logs. (They may be nothing like your devices.) It is all in the hands of the SMTP settings and the addresses I send to.
When I can be bothered, I can then set up something like gmail to interpret and forward those emails.
I avoid anything and everything that requires messing around with network hardware.
Start with what you want to achieve, not your idea of how to achieve it.
My D6400 – there is no such thing as a "6400" – may not be quite the same as your R6400, but it has the same engine and just isn't that capable.
Yes, the 6400 is now 4-5 years old, I suspect, maybe more.
Make that 2015, seven years.
postfix is one of the SMTP servers available for the Pi, and the one I chose to use because it's simple to install and configure. It doesn't seem to have the ability to reference the individual host's /etc/hosts file, hence the focus on using a local DNS server -- in the router if possible but in a separate local DNS server if necessary. It seems that the latter is necessary.
It turns out that the Asus RT-AX86U has local DNS service built in, in conjunction with DHCP service. I think I looked at the RT-AC86U as an alternative when I bought my R6400, and it also has that service.
From lack of responses, it seems that the R6400 doesn't offer that service, and I'm happy enough with the dnsmasq service I set up on one of my Pis to just leave this alone for now. But when it comes time to replace my R6400, I've identified at least one alternative that appears to better suit my needs.
hdtodd wrote:
From lack of responses, it seems that the R6400 doesn't offer that service, and I'm happy enough with the dnsmasq service I set up on one of my Pis to just leave this alone for now. But when it comes time to replace my R6400, I've identified at least one alternative that appears to better suit my needs.
Like I said, the R6400 is an ageing and not very capable basic router. I am not surprised that there are more versatile devices out there. The challenge can be in finding one that provide all the features you need. Netgear's data sheets are often thin on useful technical details.
In general, this probably isn't the best place to get help with Pi hardware. It has its own lively community of experts. There are Pi users here, but not that many, and not enough to have a core team of experts.
I'd guess there are more Netgear experts in the Pi community than Pi experts here. Hence the lack of response. There might be a bit more feedback during the working week.