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Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Well this has happened to my Hub, for the first time and I have had it for over a year. Took me a while to realise what was happening because I had 2 clients working fine over a VPN and my server was fine too. But then I checked and saw that the server was set to manual DNS.

 

I am a PlusNet business customer but that doesn't seem to have helped with customer support. I left the phone on hold for possibly up to an hour but nobody answered. I raised a ticket and have had no response, but to be fair its only been about 18 hours. I haven't reset my Hub yet, I want to have a formal response from PlusNet first. if a reset solves it then I shall be following up for a proper fix.

On the positive side I have learnt a bit about how to manually configure DNS on a variety of devices - some are not so easy to do!

10 REPLIES 10
dvorak
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Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Moderators Note.

Split post and moved to correct area
Customer / Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
Gandalf
Community Gaffer
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Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Hi there,

 

Apologies for the delay in our response. I can see you're in discussions with our business support team about this problem. They'll reply to your open ticket on your account shortly.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

I have a new Hub One but the problem is still there, although possibly less frequent. I have checked my network and can't find anything wrong. Setting my clients to fixed DNS avoids the problem, including if the addresses are PlusNet's servers. Traffic seems to be routed fine, it just seems that the router gets itself into a state where it won't handle DNS requests until it is rebooted. Based on comments from other customers on the original thread I'm convinced this must be a Hub One firmware issue and PlusNet has no intention of accepting that fact and doing something about it. It was clear from my last ticket that the next step in support would be for an engineer to check my line, but it is obviously fine and no doubt I would be charged for that.

The solution of setting manual DNS on all clients is unacceptable in a business environment, so I think I have no option but to replace the brand new Hub One with a third party modem/router. Can anyone recommend one?

Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive


@Dippy wrote:

it just seems that the router gets itself into a state where it won't handle DNS requests until it is rebooted.

Exactly what are the symptoms?

Do you get no DNS response?

What do you get if you try nslookup queries?

There has been a history of spoofed IP addresses being returned with a combination of TG582n and Win8/8.1/10, in which the DNS produced an IP address which does not route anywhere leading to resource not found messages.


 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Thanks for the response. When the issue occurs I usually notice it when browsing and I get the following:

This site can't be reached

www.google.co.uk's server DNS address could not be found

Try:

  • Checking the proxy, firewall and DNS configuration
  • Running Window Network Diagnostics

DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_CONFIG

 

If I ping an IP address then I get the expected response. However if I ping by URI I get either a timeout or a cannot resolve message (I can't remember which). If I then configure manual DNS on my LAN configuration it works again. Set it back to auto (so it reverts to my Hub One gateway IP for DNS) then it stops working again.

 

Since I have lived with this for a while I have many clients set to manual DNS (I usually list PlusNet's and also Google's) and they are totally unaffected by the problem. I leave my primary client on auto DNS so that I know when the problem occurs.

I did try nslookup once but didn't record the results but I noted that it times out when using a URI alone, but worked fine if I added the address of one of the PlusNet DNS servers. If you can advise me on how I can get better diagnostics with nslookup then I;d appreciate the help.

 

I did see those comments about spoofing but I couldn't see how to relate the advice given to the Hub One.

Townman
Superuser
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Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Hi,

Essentially (at the simplest level) run up a "DOS" prompt and type "nslookup" (no quotes).  You can then test the DNS resolver by typing a URL...

C:\Users\xxxx>nslookup
Default Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.1.254

> google.co.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    google.co.uk
Addresses:  2a00:1450:4009:814::2003
          216.58.198.163

> bbc.co.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    bbc.co.uk
Addresses:  2001:41c1:4008::bbc:4
          2001:41c1:400c::bbc:3
          2001:41c1:4008::bbc:1
          2001:41c1:4008::bbc:2
          2001:41c1:400c::bbc:2
          2001:41c1:400c::bbc:4
          2001:41c1:4008::bbc:3
          2001:41c1:400c::bbc:1
          212.58.246.79
          212.58.244.23
          212.58.246.78
          212.58.244.22

> exit

C:\Users\xxxxx>

Give it a poke, the HELP option is fairly good, see what you get and we'll review it from there.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Thanks. With DNS working correctly now I get the info below which seems similar. I'll repeat next time the failure occurs.

In the meantime I have a possibly wild theory. When I set all my clients to manual DNS (and I chose static IP too) the fault stopped, or at least the failure rate dropped so I didn't get one. So I decided to put them all back to full auto DHCP and still the failure did not occur. That is until I remembered one client and set it to auto. Not long after that the failure occurred again and it did so a day or two later. Now I have had the Hub One for over a year and these problems only started recently. I had considered if there had been changes to my network and discounted that this same client was the newest, and indeed the problems started after it was connected. It is a high-spec Win 10 laptop connected by ethernet to the main switch and most of the time it is running a VPN. So now I have left it with manual IP/DNS to see what happens. I also forced it to do a Windows Update (why it had not done so is unclear - I am not a fan of Win 8-10 because all those clients are constantly reporting WU service not running). So I'll see if the fault occurs again. If not I'll switch this client back to DHCP and see again.

 

C:\Users\xxxx>nslookup
Default Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

> google.co.uk
Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.co.uk
Addresses: 2a00:1450:4009:810::2003
216.58.210.35

> bbc.co.uk
Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: bbc.co.uk
Addresses: 2001:41c1:4008::bbc:2
2001:41c1:400c::bbc:2
2001:41c1:4008::bbc:3
2001:41c1:400c::bbc:3
2001:41c1:400c::bbc:4
2001:41c1:400c::bbc:1
2001:41c1:4008::bbc:4
2001:41c1:4008::bbc:1
212.58.246.78
212.58.244.23
212.58.244.22
212.58.246.79

>

Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Yesterday, having not had any DNS problems for a while, I decided to experiment. I took the "suspect" Windows 10 laptop off static IP/DNS and set it for DHCP/dynamic. Now, approximately 24 hours later, the DNS issue has occurred. My nslookup is as below. My router is set for 1 day DHCP leases but the laptop in question shows as having had the IP address lease for just over 21 hours. That doesn't add up but it suggests that the DNS failure did not coincide with renewal.

 

I'm not 100% sure this is a "smoking gun" but it heavily implies that this laptop and the DNS failure are connected. The good thing is that I can put it back to static IP/DNS because it is very rarely used as a mobile device and more importantly it is mine so I can handle the necessary reconfiguration should I need to use it on another network (although likely I'll just use the wifi anyway).

 

In the meantime does anyone have any information about Windows 10 causing this sort of network corruption?

 

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Dave>nslookup
Default Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

> google.co.uk
Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to dsldevice.lan timed-out
> bbc.co.uk
Server: dsldevice.lan
Address: 192.168.1.1

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to dsldevice.lan timed-out
>

Dippy
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-01-2012

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

Actually I may be unfairly blaming Windows 10. The laptop always has a Cisco AnyConnect VPN active at the time the problem occurs.

Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Hub One DNS request unresponsive

That is interesting - VPNs can be funny beggars - depending upon how they are configured, the can inhibit access to the local network services - especially a DNS server - to enforce control over what can and cannot be accessed.

Suggest that you run the same local DNS test with the VPN up. If it fails simply (only) drop the VPN session and repeat the test.

You could even attempt a simpler test - attempt to ping a device on the local network with the VPN running.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.