R7800 dns setting for the lan dhcp server

[Afterlife]

Hello,

I had an aging Asus N66U router on which the 5Ghz band was failing so after much research I bought the netgear X4S when it was on sale. I have a raspberry pi with Pi-Hole installed on it and I used the raspberry's IP address as my DNS on the lan DHCP server page on my asus N66U router to block adds at the router level, this worked very well for me.

Now fast forward to the Netgear X4S, I cannot find the DNS option under the lan DHCP server settings. I have the R7800-V1.0.2.46 stock netgear FW on it because thats what it came with, I did not bother to update because the router is very stable with the stock FW and the performance is good. I did contact netgear but sad to say they were of no help, they could not understand my problem statement and finally the level 2 support said that setting DNS for the local dhcp server is not supported and if I want to update the DNS I will have to go to each device connected to my network and update it in the device. Sadly I am out of the return period of this router and I am looking if flashing custom FWs like open-wrt or voxels will help here .

 

[Afterlife]

@Voxel ,@kamoj any help is appreciated.

 

[W1lliam]

check on this if it helps, https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r7800-wifi-router-login-dns-relay.50389/

William

 

[kamoj]

I'm away from keyboard and can't help you now.

You can get some information concerning pi-hole from the offical Netgear forum:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/fo...fi-routers-nighthawk&collapse_discussion=true

And there are some alternatives to pi-hole as well:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/h...ile-with-dnscrypt-proxy-v2.49803/#post-446156
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/l...ear-r7800-like-ab-solution.40729/#post-458097
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/s...ol-in-my-build-of-firmware.54815/#post-463038

P.S.
I advice you to use Voxel firmware.

@Voxel ,@kamoj any help is appreciated.

 

[percy3]

Isn't Advanced/Internet setup the right place?

Hello,

I had an aging Asus N66U router on which the 5Ghz band was failing so after much research I bought the netgear X4S when it was on sale. I have a raspberry pi with Pi-Hole installed on it and I used the raspberry's IP address as my DNS on the lan DHCP server page on my asus N66U router to block adds at the router level, this worked very well for me.

View attachment 16738

Now fast forward to the Netgear X4S, I cannot find the DNS option under the lan DHCP server settings. I have the R7800-V1.0.2.46 stock netgear FW on it because thats what it came with, I did not bother to update because the router is very stable with the stock FW and the performance is good. I did contact netgear but sad to say they were of no help, they could not understand my problem statement and finally the level 2 support said that setting DNS for the local dhcp server is not supported and if I want to update the DNS I will have to go to each device connected to my network and update it in the device. Sadly I am out of the return period of this router and I am looking if flashing custom FWs like open-wrt or voxels will help here .

 

[W1lliam]

Isn't Advanced/Internet setup the right place?

R7800 would set itself as DNS server in DHCP packets, so client device would not get any of DNS settings that you intend to assign.

/tmp/dhcpd.conf, created by /etc/init.d/net-lan, tells the reason as below -

option dns $($CONFIG get lan_ipaddr)

 

[Afterlife]

@W1lliam Thank you.

@kamoj Thank you. I went through the forums you posted and I did find an option to enable telnet. I was able to telnet into my R7800 and found the /etc/dnsmasq.conf file, will adding the line server=/localnet/<pi-hole IP address> work?

I know you suggested updating to Voxels FW, I have nothing against it but why fix something that is not broken and I dont care for the added features. With the stock 1.0.2.46 NG FW I get excellent performance and I have not rebooted the router in 2 months. I have Intels 9260 Wifi modules in my laptop and Desktop systems and I get excellent 5Ghz performance and not to mention I have had not problems with my gaming consoles or other smart devices (I have 13 devices connected right now), I love this router for the price of $155 its a steal and future proof too. The only thing bugging me is not able to set the DNS for the local DHCP server for my pi-hole.

 

[kamoj]

No 1 reason to use Voxel FW:
You get better support.
Netgear support is near to none.

I really think you shall follow the advice of W1lliam.
PS
I have an average of 23 devices connected. Also running 100+ Mbps OpenVPN client, Dnscrypt2, 100 MBs USB storage, Entware, and other things. None available in Netgear stock firmware.

@W1lliam Thank you.

@kamoj Thank you. I went through the forums you posted and I did find an option to enable telnet. I was able to telnet into my R7800 and found the /etc/dnsmasq.conf file, will adding the line server=/localnet/<pi-hole IP address> work?

I know you suggested updating to Voxels FW, I have nothing against it but why fix something that is not broken and I dont care for the added features. With the stock 1.0.2.46 NG FW I get excellent performance and I have not rebooted the router in 2 months. I have Intels 9260 Wifi modules in my laptop and Desktop systems and I get excellent 5Ghz performance and not to mention I have had not problems with my gaming consoles or other smart devices (I have 13 devices connected right now), I love this router for the price of $155 its a steal and future proof too. The only thing bugging me is not able to set the DNS for the local DHCP server for my pi-hole.

 

[W1lliam]

Voxel has many people with great knowledge to help people who stay with his build, it is not just another build but with very stable far out perform stock firmware.

William

 

[Afterlife]

@kamoj @Voxel @W1lliam
After your recommendations I updated to Voxels R7800-V1.0.2.50SF because that was the equivalent of the stock NG 1.0.2.46 firmware but I started having constant Wifi dropouts both on my 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. I then updated to Voxel's latest R7800-V1.0.2.64SF FW and still experienced Wifi dropouts so I hard reset the router and configured everything again but sadly I am still experiencing dropouts the Wifi just disappears from my devices and reappears after around 15 secs. I have disabled QoS and HT160 but kept MuMimo enabled , on my stock FW I had all these 3 enabled since I have Intel's 9260 wifi modules in my desktop and laptop systems.

I tried pinging google.com in my terminal thinking I could keep the connection alive by constant pings but this does not help and the wifi just drops. On a side note my Lan connection to the router is stable and experiences no connection issues. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[W1lliam]

@kamoj @Voxel @W1lliam
After your recommendations I updated to Voxels R7800-V1.0.2.50SF because that was the equivalent of the stock NG 1.0.2.46 firmware but I started having constant Wifi dropouts both on my 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. I then updated to Voxel's latest R7800-V1.0.2.64SF FW and still experienced Wifi dropouts so I hard reset the router and configured everything again but sadly I am still experiencing dropouts the Wifi just disappears from my devices and reappears after around 15 secs. I have disabled QoS and HT160 but kept MuMimo enabled , on my stock FW I had all these 3 enabled since I have Intel's 9260 wifi modules in my desktop and laptop systems.

I tried pinging google.com in my terminal thinking I could keep the connection alive by constant pings but this does not help and the wifi just drops. On a side note my Lan connection to the router is stable and experiences no connection issues. Any help would be appreciated.

Suggest you to get on latest Voxel release, 1.0.2.64SF, most of the issues were inherent from stock firmware and Voxel is trying to make it more stable with his own changes.

William

 

[Afterlife]

Suggest you to get on latest Voxel release, 1.0.2.64SF, most of the issues were inherent from stock firmware and Voxel is trying to make it more stable with his own changes.

William

I did update to the latest Voxel firmware but the issue persists. Is this a known issue with this FW ? if yes I might go back to an older FW pre .46.

 

[W1lliam]

I did update to the latest Voxel firmware but the issue persists. Is this a known issue with this FW ? if yes I might go back to an older FW pre .46.

have you done reset to factory default and reconfigure your R7800? What channel you set for 5GHz on R7800?

 

[kamoj]

Can you please give some empiric metrics about how often it disconnects?

See e.g.:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/netgear-r7800-x4s-firmware-1-0-2-60.49434/page-2#post-442061
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/dhcp-lease-time.54852/#post-465509

@kamoj @Voxel @W1lliam
After your recommendations I updated to Voxels R7800-V1.0.2.50SF because that was the equivalent of the stock NG 1.0.2.46 firmware but I started having constant Wifi dropouts both on my 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. I then updated to Voxel's latest R7800-V1.0.2.64SF FW and still experienced Wifi dropouts so I hard reset the router and configured everything again but sadly I am still experiencing dropouts the Wifi just disappears from my devices and reappears after around 15 secs. I have disabled QoS and HT160 but kept MuMimo enabled , on my stock FW I had all these 3 enabled since I have Intel's 9260 wifi modules in my desktop and laptop systems.

I tried pinging google.com in my terminal thinking I could keep the connection alive by constant pings but this does not help and the wifi just drops. On a side note my Lan connection to the router is stable and experiences no connection issues. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[percy3]

Do you use smart connect feature on the router?
Are all wifi clients affected?

I did update to the latest Voxel firmware but the issue persists. Is this a known issue with this FW ? if yes I might go back to an older FW pre .46.

 

[Bill K]

I run pihole as DHCP server and disabled on R7800. It works great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Voxel]

have you done reset to factory default and reconfigure your R7800? What channel you set for 5GHz on R7800?

Right.

Afterlife
Try to backup your settings, then factory reset and flashing to 64SF. Then restore settings from backup.

P.S. If I am not mistaken there was an upgrade of QCA firmware (i.e. QCA drivers) after stock .46. So it is highly recommended to perform reset.

Voxel.

 

[Afterlife]

Right.

Afterlife
Try to backup your settings, then factory reset and flashing to 64SF. Then restore settings from backup.

P.S. If I am not mistaken there was an upgrade of QCA firmware (i.e. QCA drivers) after stock .46. So it is highly recommended to perform reset.

Voxel.

I factory reset the router again, I did not back up my settings since they are just wireless ones and I could do them again and did not want to import any bad settings. My 5Ghz is set to channel 153. After factory resetting the router the Wifi drop outs reduced to like one disconnect per 5-10 mins before it was crazy like 3-4 times in a min. However my Lan connection has been rock solid.

 

[Afterlife]

Do you use smart connect feature on the router?
Are all wifi clients affected?

No I like to have separate bands for my 2.4 and 5Ghz. Yeah all Wifi just drops, my Lan connection is rock solid though.
Some settings I did change are turned off HT160, turned off QoS and enabled MuMimo. I have about 13-15 connected on an average and when the drop outs occur they all lose connection.

 

[percy3]

You can try in addition mtd erase netgear command and reinstall the fw. I recall it helped in my caac.

No I like to have separate bands for my 2.4 and 5Ghz. Yeah all Wifi just drops, my Lan connection is rock solid though.
Some settings I did change are turned off HT160, turned off QoS and enabled MuMimo. I have about 13-15 connected on an average and when the drop outs occur they all lose connection.