HubOne firmware issue with DNS

[#1]

Log extraction requires access to the CLI, so you can't pull them yourself. I could grab a WAN capture too if I get the opportunity to jump on a device that's suffering the issue.

[#2]

@ritz1: Sounds like this has been much worse for you than it ever has been for me. The worst I've experienced to date is probably a few times in a day and sometimes a week or more with no problems. When it does happen it always seems to be at really inconvenient moments, however...

My impression (and it's only that - I only started logging these events since the hub was replaced) was that the the frequency of events increased over time with my first hub. No problems initially then averaging perhaps once a day by the time it was replaced two months later. Second hub has been better but frequency seems to be increasing. Very puzzling.

[#3]

@bobpullen, @IanDL: Fair enough, if router goes back into the 'bad state' I will notify through this thread.

@Milopita's theory is also a plausible one:

https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/DNS-Routing-issues/td-p/1491569

Makes one wonder if there is any routing configuration peculiarity at your end. I don't have a record of my WAN IP when the problem first occurred back in Jan, but I can report I'm on the 143.159.x.x subnet since 11 Feb without issues.

@bobpullen, is the IP retrievable from Jan? Happy to have you reconnect me to another subnet, in an attempt to reproduce the issue...

Regards.

[#4]

Yes could be the same as my issue. Try using a VPN to see if that resolves DNS and routing issues. If it does then it's a fair bet that the issue is the PlusNet subnet that you are on and nothing to do with hardware or routing on your side.

[#5]

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@ritz1 wrote:

@bobpullen, is the IP retrievable from Jan?

You've always been in the 143.159.0.0/16 subnet, apart from a couple of hours during the first week of January.

[#6]

@bobpullen So I've had a couple on instances over the last few days but just reset the router. It's now "gone bad" again. I've edited my resolv.conf to specify DNS servers directly so can probably put up with this for a few hours if you get a chance to extract the logs you need from my router. Will leave it for as long as I can but I'll need to restart before too long as I have other devices on my network for which the workaround isn't as easy.

[#7]

@bobpullen Don't know if you got a chance to download anything from the router, but I've had to reset it. The problem was still there up to this evening if I didn't specify DNS servers on a per-device basis. If you didn't get a chance to download logs, let me know here and I'll try to keep it available for you in the fault state next time its convenient to do so.

[#8]

@IanDL, didn't get the chance unfortunately.

I'll drop you a PM.

[#9]

@IanDL

I have the older Draytek 2860 (one of the WiFi models) and I can highly recommend it. I've little doubt that the 2862 is fine as well (I previously had a 2820 which I upgraded to get a one box fibre solution).

For other reasons I use OpenDNS which is fine with the Draytek.

[#10]

@markhawkin Thanks - that's a very timely post! After dithering for weeks about whether I really wanted to spend £200 on a 2862, I managed only yesterday to pick up a new-in-box 2860 on Ebay for £80. Was yours easy to get up and running on Plusnet? I might be back here before long looking for advice!

[#11]

@IanDL There are setup instructions on the Draytek website for BT fibre service.

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/vigor-2860-vdsl-setup

this requires a (harmless) registration.

As I recall, following these instructions it worked first time.

[#12]

@ritz1 & @IanDL, would either of you be adverse to reverting to an earlier firmware for a while, so we can establish whether or not htis problem is specific to the latest build?

@IanDL, I meant to drop you a PM about grabbing some diagnostic data from your device but I've been a bit pushed this week. Will try and pick up early next.

[#13]

@bobpullen no problem here, happy to change f/w if it helps your debugging. Do you have any indications, or any other input, it might be related to the latest f/w?

FYI, unlike @IanDL, I have yet to get into the bad state since last boot. Hub one been up and running for quite a while now.

[#14]

@bobpullen @ritz1 Also happy to change firmware at some point if it helps narrow down the issue although it won't be for a week or so as I'm pretty busy at present so don't really either have the time to do it or want to run the risk of borking my connection until I can afford to do without for a while.

I'm currently seeing this problem about once a day at present but just restarting the router. Again, I'm pretty busy and going over to locally-assigned DNS on individual devices is somewhat time-consuming and also seems to make resolution slower. I'll post here if it happens again at a point where I think I can leave the router in the fault state for several hours at least.

As mentioned above, I'm planning on moving to a DrayTek modem/router at some point in the next few weeks (probably over Easter) so I'll try to give you a chance to fault-find the existing one before I do, as once the change has been made (hopefully successfully) I don't want to conflate the DNS issue with any side effects of repeated router changes.

[#15]

@IanDL

While the Draytek 2860 has masses of settings and stuff you can do, if you factory reset it and enter your Plusnet username and password it will safely "just work" like a "normal" router as far as I can remember. The default options are sensible.

You could create a Wireless LAN on the Draytek with the same SSID and password as your Plusnet router and rather than reset your Hub One, just swap the units when the Hub One needs a reboot next.