Setup Merlin and Skynet - Now only my Echo Plus is unable to access the internet

[andsoitgoes]

Hi all,

So I setup Merlin on my Asus router, all was going well and I blocked a few questionable countries from it using Skynet.

All is well, for all of my devices, EXCEPT for my Echo Plus.

I've searched the SysLog and I can't find any attempts of my Plus accessing the internet.

I disabled Diversion and that seems to have done the trick, but I would PREFER to have it on, and it seems very beneficial but I'm just.... confused.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Hi all,

So I setup Merlin on my Asus router, all was going well and I blocked a few questionable countries from it using Skynet.

All is well, for all of my devices, EXCEPT for my Echo Plus.

I've searched the SysLog and I can't find any attempts of my Plus accessing the internet.

I disabled Diversion and that seems to have done the trick, but I would PREFER to have it on, and it seems very beneficial but I'm just.... confused.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Yea sure, check out the section
Steps to enable the alternate blocking list for specified clients
on this web page.

Alternate blocking list - Diversion

diversion.ch

select an alternating block list. Pick the smallest blocklist option for your alternative blocklists, then use DNS director on the routers WebUI to assign that echo plus client to that smaller alternative blocklist IP.

Another option:
Or just use DNS director to point the echo plus to a custom DNS other than the router himself (e.g. 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, or 9.9.9.9) .
(the best time saver).

The final more challenging option:
Or you could follow Diversions log and figure out which domains are being blocked preventing your access to your Echo Plus. This could be many domains as amazon products tend to access a lot of different addresses (a much more longer involved process).

 

[andsoitgoes]

Well some new developments. The echo plus worked initially and then almost immediately it stopped working.

I don’t know what’s even happening now, I’m very confused. Even with diversion off.

The only thing I’ve gotten blocked is CN and RU for countries, a a few servers thst an IOT device was trying to access thst I certainly didn’t want to talk back to its home servers so I’d blocked those addresses.

I also don’t get why the plus doesn’t show up in the log files.

 

[Swistheater]

Well some new developments. The echo plus worked initially and then almost immediately it stopped working.

I don’t know what’s even happening now, I’m very confused. Even with diversion off.

The only thing I’ve gotten blocked is CN and RU for countries, a a few servers thst an IOT device was trying to access thst I certainly didn’t want to talk back to its home servers so I’d blocked those addresses.

I also don’t get why the plus doesn’t show up in the log files.

This is not a skynet issue. You should set your forum thread prefix to Diversion so users can help you better.

Diversion is the cause of your problem. The blocks are being done by a blocklist used in diversion.

Hence why:-

I disabled Diversion and that seems to have done the trick, but I would PREFER to have it on, and it seems very beneficial but I'm just.... confused.

 

[underdose]

Open Diversion and select "3 - follow dnsmasq.log", then select "4 - Blocked Domains, by device IP" and enter the IP address of the Echo there. Then restart your Echo to see which domains Echo trying to connect are blocked by Diversion, if there's any. Note the blocked domains somewhere, then add them to Diversion's/Skynet's whitelist.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Open Diversion and select "3 - follow dnsmasq.log", then select "4 - Blocked Domains, by device IP" and enter the IP address of the Echo there. Then restart your Echo to see which domains Echo trying to connect are blocked by Diversion, if there's any. Note the blocked domains somewhere, then add them to Diversion's/Skynet's whitelist.

As I noted above, this can be a long tedious process for Amazon devices. A quicker way to deal with problem is to add the device to dns directors list and specify to send the clients traffic to a different dns server other than the router.

 

[andsoitgoes]

This is not a skynet issue. You should set your forum thread prefix to Diversion so users can help you better.

Diversion is the cause of your problem. The blocks are being done by a blocklist used in diversion.

Hence why:-

I had thought that my disability of diversion was the issue but it does not seem to be. I would have initial internet access upon rebooting the echo, and then immediately it would drop its connection to the internet.

I think I was just too hasty in my assumption that things were working.