NextDNS becomes unknown on router reboot

[redline122]

I am trying out NextDNS on the RT-AC5300. I perform the curl install and all things come up just fine. However, when I reboot - the NextDNS daemon does not start nor does it appear to be installed on the router other than the config file. I haven't done anything about setting up an external JFFS via USB and only leveraging as much "vanilla" on ASUSWRT-Merlin as possible. To be honest, this would be the first daemon I would be installing on top of the Merlin firmware. Thoughts?

 

[jackc88]

@redline122 : I have never tried NextDNS. It does sound interesting. I run unbound w/ my setup. Can you run nextdns after reboot, or execute 'which nextdns'?
install.sh#L294 - If you can't find anything, make sure your USB is mounting and linked properly, 'ls -l /tmp|grep opt'.
Good luck and let us know how NextDNS goes.

 

[MvW]

What is the output of

cat /jffs/scripts/services-start

?

 

[redline122]

What is the output of

cat /jffs/scripts/services-start

?

#!/bin/sh
/jffs/nextdns/nextdns.init start

 

[redline122]

@redline122 : I have never tried NextDNS. It does sound interesting. I run unbound w/ my setup. Can you run nextdns after reboot, or execute 'which nextdns'?
install.sh#L294 - If you can't find anything, make sure your USB is mounting and linked properly, 'ls -l /tmp|grep opt'.
Good luck and let us know how NextDNS goes.

Good suggestions. I will check these items out this evening. Currently, jffs is local to the router and not on USB. Should I consider moving my jffs out to an USB-mounted drive?

 

[New2This]

Running Unbound here along with DoT NextDNS servers. Havent had any issues

check your USB drive fir any errors. Might be time for a new one

 

[redline122]

Running Unbound here along with DoT NextDNS servers. Havent had any issues

check your USB drive fir any errors. Might be time for a new one

No USB attached. Using the memory on the router. Since I am only running the NextDNS CLI daemon, should I consider setting up USB storage?

 

[eibgrad]

No USB attached. Using the memory on the router. Since I am only running the NextDNS CLI daemon, should I consider setting up USB storage?

Last time I tried the NextDNS installer, it installed to JFFS (/jffs/...). So it should be persistent, and does NOT typically require USB.

 

[amplatfus]

Please notice that you are not the only one.
Below is a example where it was working and wihout any update or change it stopped working.

root@RT-AX88U:/tmp/home/root# DEBUG=1 sh -c "$(curl -sL https://nextdns.io/install)"
sh: .: line 994: can't open '/etc/os-release'
ERROR: Unsupported OS: Linux
ERROR: Unknown bin location for
INFO: OS:
INFO: GOARCH: arm64
INFO: GOOS: linux
INFO: NEXTDNS_BIN:
INFO: LATEST_RELEASE: 1.10.1
ERROR: Cannot detect running environment.

The DEBUG=1 sh -c "$(curl -sL https://nextdns.io/install)" is from their site. They said the output of this command helps them to debug.

Source:

AsusWRT Merlin​

https://github.com/nextdns/nextdns/wiki/AsusWRT-Merlin#troubleshooting

Some other reported issues:

NextDNS CLI stopped on ASUS router (why?)​

NextDNS CLI stopped on ASUS router (why?)

Today my MacBook Pro was totally unresponsive. Investigation revealed that the NextDNS CLI client had stopped on my router (so all DNS lookups failed). I have noticed the client being in "stopped"…

help.nextdns.io

Please share if you find how to make it work again.

Good luck!

 

[eibgrad]

NextDNS uses the services-start script to start its daemon. But I could imagine that being a problem for the installer if that script already exists. I wonder if that's the problem. Or maybe it's installing into /tmp for some reason. I just reinstalled NextDNS and had no issues. All the files where there in /jffs/nextdns, it restarted after a reboot, and I can see the services-start script is correct.

 

[archiel]

Running Unbound here along with DoT NextDNS servers. Havent had any issues

check your USB drive fir any errors. Might be time for a new one

Probably a dumb question, but if the purpose of unbound is to act as a router based recursive DNS server, and NextDNS is providing its own DNS solution, what is the benefit in having both together?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I haven't done anything about setting up an external JFFS via USB ...

Currently, jffs is local to the router and not on USB.

There is no such thing as "external" JFFS. JFFS is the name of the router's internal storage. USB is external storage.

 

[MvW]

USB is not needed for NextDNS, everything is stored on the router itself. If the binary is still available, try

nextdns install

to reinstall.

If not, re-download following the instructions on the website or with the DEBUG=1 prefix as mentioned above.
They have a support community (https://help.nextdns.io/), where you can post the DEBUG output. At least one of the founders is more or less active there.

You did not, by any chance, have 'Format JFFS on next reboot' set to 'Yes' prior to rebooting, did you?

 

[redline122]

Okay...lots of great feedback here.
1. Initially, when I SSH'ed onto my router I was in the tmp-root folder and performed the curl install for NextDNS - which on reboot, NextDNS would not start
2. On this most recent attempt, after SSH login, I moved to /jffs and then performed the curl install.
3. Later tonight (after WFH and SchoolFromHome is down to no/little activity), I will perform a reboot of the router to see if NextDNS does not come back to a "running" response when I run the nextdns status command. I will say that time before simply typing nextdns resulted in the command not being found.

 

[MvW]

Regardless of in which directory you are, the NextDNS CLI binary should be installled in /jffs/nextdns/ by running the curl install command.

 

[redline122]

Regardless of in which directory you are, the NextDNS CLI binary should be installled in /jffs/nextdns/ by running the curl install command.

Now that's interesting...I did install using CURL and I made sure I didn't clear JFFS, but the daemon failed to run at restart. For that matter, I was not even able to start it manually after a router reboot.

 

[redline122]

Okay...rebooted the router... here's what I got...

supauser@router:/jffs# nextdns status
-sh: nextdns: not found
supauser@router:/jffs# cat /jffs/scripts/services-start
#!/bin/sh
/jffs/nextdns/nextdns.init start
supauser@router:/jffs#

When I go to the NextDNS portal, I do see my endpoints appearing. However, there's no CLI feedback from NextDNS daemon.

When I go to "top" cmd...

PID  PPID USER     STAT   VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND
  433     1 adm S     6468  1.2   0  1.5 httpd -i br0
  382     1 adm S     5100  0.9   1  0.4 nt_center
  607     1 adm S     782m155.2   1  0.1 /jffs/nextdns/nextdns run
  457     1 adm S     6088  1.1   1  0.1 networkmap --bootwait
  409     1 adm S     2160  0.4   1  0.1 nas
  432     1 adm S     6040  1.1   1  0.0 httpds -s -i br0 -p 8443
  581     1 adm S     5864  1.1   1

I thought I would be able to use nextdns CLI commands, but they appear as not found... This is strange.

 

[MvW]

Strange, but apparently it is running and doing it's job.

Have you tried getting a status using the full path?

/jffs/nextdns/nextdns status

 

[Zastoff]

Is JFFS custom scripts and configs enabled?
In router gui /administration/system

 

[redline122]

Is JFFS custom scripts and configs enabled?
In router gui /administration/system

Yes, that is checked in the System panel.