DNS server on AC68U possible?

[mlai]

I understand that the AC68Us are running dnsmasq as pseudo DNS server/responders. But is it possible to use it for local fixed IP clients? Or is it possible to run BIND9 on the AC68U?

 

[RMerlin]

I understand that the AC68Us are running dnsmasq as pseudo DNS server/responders. But is it possible to use it for local fixed IP clients? Or is it possible to run BIND9 on the AC68U?

Can't really run bind as it would conflict with dnsmasq, which is used for more than just DNS services on the router. You would have to completely reconfigure everything on your own.

What do you want to do exactly with the router's DNS server? By default clients should already be using it as a forwarder for name resolution.

 

[ZaphodBoy]

The AC68U I'm running with Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.37 isn't resolving local hostnames. In /etc/dnsmasq.conf suggests to me that it would. Even pinging from the AC68U itself doesn't resolve local hostnames.

/etc/dnsmasq.conf

pid-file=/var/run/dnsmasq.pid
user=nobody
resolv-file=/tmp/resolv.conf
no-poll
min-port=4096
bind-dynamic
interface=br0
interface=ppp1*
no-dhcp-interface=ppp1*domain=local.lan
expand-hosts
no-negcache
cache-size=1500
dhcp-range=lan,192.168.1.100,192.168.1.199,255.255.255.0,86400s
dhcp-lease-max=253
dhcp-authoritative
dhcp-option=lan,15,local.lan
dhcp-option=lan,3,192.168.1.1
dhcp-option=lan,6,192.168.1.1,0.0.0.0
dhcp-option=lan,44,192.168.1.1
read-ethers
addn-hosts=/etc/hosts.dnsmasq

Below is a Windows 8 client that can't see it:

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : local.lan
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::ecbc:5469:eb48:9602%3(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.60(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 11, 2014 5:58:49 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, January 12, 2014 5:58:46 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 268193236

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
192.168.1.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Any help would be appreciated. My goal is to resolve local names using the AC68U.

 

[RMerlin]

The AC68U I'm running with Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.37 isn't resolving local hostnames. In /etc/dnsmasq.conf suggests to me that it would. Even pinging from the AC68U itself doesn't resolve local hostnames.

/etc/dnsmasq.conf


Below is a Windows 8 client that can't see it:



Any help would be appreciated. My goal is to resolve local names using the AC68U.

Works fine here.

By any chance, are you using OpenDNS's servers? Their servers are breaking RFCs by not properly returning NXDOMAINS on resolution failure, which interferes with LAN name resolution.

 

[ZaphodBoy]

Thanks for the quick response @RMerlin! Nope not using OpenDNS. I was using my ISP's but toggled over to Google's (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4) and still had the same issue. Local DNS lookups fail, even with a FQDN for the local domain (machine.local.lan).

That said, I was able to narrow it down to having Asus WRT PPTP VPN Server enabled. When router VPN service is enabled (no active sessions, just server enabled), local DNS resolution fails. After disabling, rebooting the router, and fully disabling/enabling my Win 8 network interface, local DNS lookups work again.

Could there be a bug causing this?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the quick response @RMerlin! Nope not using OpenDNS. I was using my ISP's but toggled over to Google's (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4) and still had the same issue. Local DNS lookups fail, even with a FQDN for the local domain (machine.local.lan).

That said, I was able to narrow it down to having Asus WRT PPTP VPN Server enabled. When router VPN service is enabled (no active sessions, just server enabled), local DNS resolution fails. After disabling, rebooting the router, and fully disabling/enabling my Win 8 network interface, local DNS lookups work again.

Could there be a bug causing this?

It's possible, the PPTP server requires some changes to the dnsmasq config file. Asus recently did some changes to that part of the code, I will have to take a look and see if I can reproduce the issue.

 

[kaiguy]

I too am having name resolution problems. I made a post in the 374.38 thread.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=98603&postcount=212

It started for me when dnsmasq was updated in .37. In dnsmasq.conf, it appears that certain settings are being combined on the same line (in my case, domain. If I don't have a domain set, it ends up happening to no-negcache). My attempts to correct it manually via editing the file or running dnsmasq manually has not solved my issue.