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Check for Updates Failing

PWS442
Guide

Check for Updates Failing

Check for updates still failing in 6.10.1 with the communication/DNS error message. Seems to be this way all year. Have to go directly to the site and download it directly (Started with 6.9.5 as previously reported and closed.)

Model: RN31400|ReadyNAS 300 Series 4- Bay (Diskless)
Message 1 of 11

Accepted Solutions
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

(Started with 6.9.5 as previously reported and closed.)


I'm not seeing this reported earlier in your post list.

 


@PWS442 wrote:

Check for updates still failing in 6.10.1 with the communication/DNS error message. 


This sounds like either the network is misconfigured (so the NAS can't reach the internet), or that the DNS server you are using isn't able to resolve update server name.

 

Are you using a static IP address in the NAS?  Or DHCP?

Is the NTP service that syncs the time working?

View solution in original post

Message 2 of 11

All Replies
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

(Started with 6.9.5 as previously reported and closed.)


I'm not seeing this reported earlier in your post list.

 


@PWS442 wrote:

Check for updates still failing in 6.10.1 with the communication/DNS error message. 


This sounds like either the network is misconfigured (so the NAS can't reach the internet), or that the DNS server you are using isn't able to resolve update server name.

 

Are you using a static IP address in the NAS?  Or DHCP?

Is the NTP service that syncs the time working?

Message 2 of 11
PWS442
Guide

Re: Check for Updates Failing

It was not my post (I searched for "Check for updates failing"), but I saw that you contributed to it. Yes, I have a static IP address, and everything else on my system seems to be working fine regarding internet access, but that message has been pretty consistent. I am set up to use the Comcast/Xfinity DNS servers at 75.75.75.75 and 76 as far as I can tell. (Note: Perhaps I mis-spoke on the DNS. Looking at the Eth1 settings, it is the same as my router at 192.168.1.254, but the router is really at 192.168.1.1. More knowledge is required I am afraid!)

 

YOU ARE INDEED A GOD! The .254 had to be changed to a .1. All is well! Thank you

 

My NAS is displaying the system from "time-e.netgear.com" just fine, I assume that is what you mean by the NTP service.

Message 3 of 11
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

 

My NAS is displaying the system from "time-e.netgear.com" just fine, I assume that is what you mean by the NTP service.


Yes.  Though if DNS was set incorrectly, you also wouldn't have been able to sync with the time server - so the NAS time would gradually drift off of the actual time.  You might not have noticed - certainly it's easy to miss.  However that should also be fixed now that the NAS has the correct DNS.

Message 4 of 11
PWS442
Guide

Re: Check for Updates Failing

However, it wasn't until the Router address was fixed that the Updates were able to be checked. So many settings! Thanks again.

Message 5 of 11
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

However, it wasn't until the Router address was fixed that the Updates were able to be checked. 


I think you are talking about the "gateway" setting.  You're correct in saying that if that is wrong you will also lose internet connectivity.  That will also block NTP (and any other service where the NAS needs to send something out over the internet).

 


@PWS442 wrote:

 So many settings! Thanks again.


Personally I don't use static addresses in my devices (including the NAS).  Instead I use the DHCP ("automatic") mechanism, and reserve the IP address in my router.  That has the same effect of giving me a persistant/predictable IP address - but it's more robust (and the setting is simpler/more bulletproof).

Message 6 of 11
PWS442
Guide

Re: Check for Updates Failing

Router address was .254, not .1 when it did not work in the settings as attached. (Maybe it is something else, but this made it work!)

Message 7 of 11
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

Router address was .254, not .1 when it did not work in the settings as attached. (Maybe it is something else, but this made it work!)


Right.  Usually this setting is called "gateway" not router - I'd forgotten that Netgear called it router in OS-6.

 

What happens is when you send an IP packet is this:

  1. The NAS (or network device) first tries to find the MAC address of the destination device.  It uses a protocol called ARP to do this - and that only works on the local network.
  2. If the NAS finds a MAC address with ARP then it will send it locally - using the destination MAC in the wifi or ethernet header.
  3. If the NAS can't find a MAC address, the packet is sent to the router (which then routes it to the appropriate destination).

 

In your case, the internet packets were sent to 192.168.1.1 (step 3) - which isn't the router.  Since they never reached the router, they weren't delivered.

 

If you have port forwarding enabled in the router, then inbound traffic from the internet would reach the NAS (since the router knows how to send the packets to the NAS).  But any return traffic or requests from the NAS wouldn't be delivered, since the NAS was configured to send those packets to the wrong place.

 

DNS from the router (192.168.1.254) would have worked, because the NAS would find the mac address of the router in step 1.  But you wouldn't be able to reach the other two DNS servers.

 

There are people who intentionally want to prevent their NAS from reaching the internet. Deliberately misconfiguring the router address is one of the easier ways to do that.  Misconfiguring the subnet mask is another way - since subnet mask is also used as part of the ARP process.

 

 

Message 8 of 11
PWS442
Guide

Re: Check for Updates Failing

Thank you VERY MUCH! I did slightly mispeak. My old ATT gateway was .254, my new Comcast/Xfinity is (now) .1, and the NAS had both the Router/Gateway and DNS address as .254. I only changed the NAS to match the modem (at .1). I will play some more just to see how much I can prune the settings.

 

But thanks for the tutorial!

Message 9 of 11
StephenB
Guru

Re: Check for Updates Failing


@PWS442 wrote:

 I will play some more just to see how much I can prune the settings.

 


You'd be better off switching to address reservation in the router - you'll be much less likely to set something incorrectly.

 

That said, the only thing wrong in your screenshot is that the first DNS server should also be 192.168.1.1 (the router address).  Or you could replace it with 8.8.8.8 (google's public DNS server).

 

On the router side, you do want to make sure that 192.168.1.77 isn't in the DHCP address pool.  For instance, set DHCP in the router so  it starts at 192.168.1.100.  Otherwise the router might assign .77 to another device - and duplicate IP addresses can create lots of problems.

Message 10 of 11
PWS442
Guide

Re: Check for Updates Failing

Once again, thank you. (Tough working with Dorian around!) I agree that the .254 in the DNS should be .1. I added the 75s and 76s because that is what my Gateway uses, and should be changed to .254, and it certainly cannot hurt to add the 8s.

 

Regarding changing the DHCP range, mine runs from .2 through .253, and the NAS and my Denon (serves web pages) are the only two I need to stay where they are, and have a dozen or two devices using DHCP which don't seem to change.

 

However, I KNOW that you are correct!

Message 11 of 11
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