Pace V5542 router returns its IP for all DNS queries

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Pace V5542 router returns its IP for all DNS queries - Is this by design?

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meow
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#792506 3-Apr-2013 16:46

Hmm, that's an interesting one - I've got a similar setup at home and will see if I can try to replicate this.

As a workaround for the moment you could try using dnsmasq on the Linux box to serve up the DNS / DHCP for the network - I know this is suboptimal but could bridge the gap until I find out what's going on (assuming the Linux box is a server)

Churs.

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clinty

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#792516 3-Apr-2013 17:00

michaelmurfy: Hmm, that's an interesting one - I've got a similar setup at home and will see if I can try to replicate this.

As a workaround for the moment you could try using dnsmasq on the Linux box to serve up the DNS / DHCP for the network - I know this is suboptimal but could bridge the gap until I find out what's going on (assuming the Linux box is a server)

Churs.

Thanks,
Have a workaround in place for my client ( used IP addresses, how quaint

) but can see this causing a few IT guys, and probably some help desk agents a whole lot of grief.

Even if the DNS server didn't append the suffix, or appended a blank suffix as most routers do, that should solve the problem

Clint

surfisup1000

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#792909 4-Apr-2013 08:46

clinty:
michaelmurfy: Hmm, that's an interesting one - I've got a similar setup at home and will see if I can try to replicate this.

As a workaround for the moment you could try using dnsmasq on the Linux box to serve up the DNS / DHCP for the network - I know this is suboptimal but could bridge the gap until I find out what's going on (assuming the Linux box is a server)

Churs.

Thanks,
Have a workaround in place for my client ( used IP addresses, how quaint ) but can see this causing a few IT guys, and probably some help desk agents a whole lot of grief.

Even if the DNS server didn't append the suffix, or appended a blank suffix as most routers do, that should solve the problem

Clint

Interesting that none of the telecom staff have piped in. Maybe it is a known issue?

JimmyDee

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#793389 4-Apr-2013 18:51

I have this problem too.
I think it's something to do with the default domain the router attaches to dhcp clients. Therefore it is the default domain name given to NS requests.

The IP address returned (64.99.80.30) points to the Tucows hosting servers. They have over 182000 websites registered to that address, one of which is pace.net

I was going to change the domain (or workgroup if you like) of my router, but I can't find where to set it. I'm sure I've seen it in there somewhere. Can anyone give me a pointer to where it is set?

Jim

LennonNZ

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#793401 4-Apr-2013 19:14

It is the search domain which the router gives out via DHCP

if you look up something which does not exist your computer will add the search domain on the end and try that as well.

ie somethingwhichdoestexist.com (doesn't exist)
ok.. lets try
somethingwhichdoesntexist.com.gateway.pace.net
which is
64.99.80.30

pace.net have a *.pace.net A 64.99.80.30

as pace.net doesn't look like it belongs to pace (the people who make routers) but to a free email account system i see it as a problem.

maybe it should be changed as pace.net can easily stuff people's browsing up very easily and make lots of $$

The router doesn't know about netbios names I presume so it will try netbiosname.gateway.pace.net and go to that ip address.

how to fix? there might be something in the router someplace.. Hard code your DNS Servers into all your machine instead of packing them up via DHCP? Get telecom to remove the search domain being send via DHCP?

I've noticed a number of routers do similar thing but with the search domains which they give out.. don't exist :-)

fastmikey

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#809803 1-May-2013 21:26

Has anyone had any luck with this yet? I'm seeing the same problem as everyone else myself - it's broken a few pieces of functionality on the network as a result and I don't seem to be able to work around the specific issues... while I can restore basic functionality via IP addresses etc it's broken some of the stuff that Windows 8 autodiscovered and really isn't happy as a result...

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mrrosh

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#810531 2-May-2013 22:48

Hi All,

I got this Pace V5542 of trademe today only coz it supports DDNS[and 2wire modems are pretty stable].
and I must admit, I am getting speeds at : 15940 kbps(down) , 1076 kbps(up), where as my previous 2wire modem got me 12xxx kbps(down) , 8xx kbps(up).

and the DDNS part works fine.

Dynamic DNS:
StateEnabled
Host hidden
Status OK: Success

----------------------IP Utilities & Tests  this works fine--------------------

IP Utilities & Tests               Select a test to run: select dnsquery, and query: www.google.co.nz

Name:      www.google.co.nz
Address 1: 2404:6800:4006:803::101f
Address 2: 122.56.115.38 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 3: 122.56.115.31 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 4: 122.56.115.53 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 5: 122.56.115.24 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 6: 122.56.115.59 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 7: 122.56.115.18 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 8: 122.56.115.45 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 9: 122.56.115.39 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 10: 122.56.115.46 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 11: 122.56.115.32 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 12: 122.56.115.52 cache.googlevideo.com
Address 13: 122.56.115.25 cache.googlevideo.com

but same issues around nslookup

C:\>nslookup
Default Server: home.gateway.pace.net Address: 192.168.1.254

> www.google.co.nz
Server: home.gateway.pace.net Address: 192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.google.co.nz.gateway.pace.net Address: 64.99.80.30

every result is returned with: .gateway.pace.net Address: 64.99.80.30

is there any way to hack the modem kernel config .

nunz

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#903602 27-Sep-2013 10:52

This is a snip from an email conversation I have had with TCom at their request regarding the Pace V5542 routers. Its worth a read if you have one.

It hopefully pulls together all the questions and problems shown above and answers them.

-----8<---SNIP START ----------8<-------

The Telecom Router, sent out by Telecom to commercial clients is manufactured by Pace. All routers have firm ware which is the internal programming / settings a router works with. In the case of the Telecom router, Pace V5542 there are faults in the firmware setup. So far there are two faults I have discovered.

Fault One. Internal DNS lookups are all routed to an external IP address. I'll simplify that with an example below.

Fault Two: Settings for wireless access cannot be completed owing to an incompatibility between the front end (gui) and the back end instruction set.

Fault One Explanation. If you have two PCs in the building attached to the router, called Client1 and Server1, and both automatically receive their network settings from the router, the following happens.

Both Pcs have the following settings:
IP address: 192.168.1.x
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.254 (the pace routers address)
DNS 192.168.1.254

This is as it should be.

If the PCs get the following IP addresses.
Server1: IPaddress 192.168.1.100
Client1: IPAddress 192.168.1.101

then pinging server1 from client1 should return a result of 192.168.1.100

However instead it returns a result of 64.99.80.30 ( server1.gateway.pace.net )

64.99.80.30 is an external network address, and also resolves to pace.net. Pace.net is a website called Hover, owned and run by Tucows and sells you email addresses, domain hosting etc. The external IP address is not even the routers external address.

On reporting this to Xtra, Teir 2 or Teir 3, they have conffirmed it is a known issue and some time in the future they may post a firmware update on the website.

From a business point of view this means PCs cannot connect to other PCs, servers, printers etc etc except by explicit IP address or by hacking the hosts file, hard coding IP address into the hosts file and hard coding IP addresses into the machines.

It also raises security issues. As an example, my clients run a batch file to map network drives from Pcs to server machines. The batchfile has commands similar to net use x: \\server1\Sharename /user:username password. If the router is sending us to pace,net for the server1 machine I am in effect sending highly confidential information out to the internet. This is a huge security risk and breach of privacy. Some may argue that the passwords are not sent for this connection until further in the process but if I was a cracker this would be a gold mine.

Secondly the delay in resolving server1 to an external IP address, routing it to wherever the pace.net network is and waiting for failure replies is hanging my PC for 30-90 seconds everytime a call to a mapped network drive is made.

These are not the only outcomes, potentially entire printer packets, private information, web requests, financial and database information via ODBC etc etc can all end up routed onto the internet.

If I was a cracker, I could find no better way to steal an entire companys worth of information.

Fault Two: Changing Wireless Lan settings. I put in all the settings, untick WPS as I dont want it and get told I need to put an 8 digit password / pin into the WPS field. Even after doing so it fails. No combination of turning it on, off , pin codes etc let me save wireles settings.

The reason for this is Telecom technicians have decreed a pin driven wps is a security hole and turned the functionality off in the firmware (leaving push button WPs running) However they have not told the front end this, so changing your SSID, password etc results in you not being able to save settings via the gui owing to a conflict between front and back end programming issues.

Summary: I would highly recommend to any person using the V5542 router to ditch it immediately. It is a security nightmare. Telecom know about both problems and their T2 / T3 techs have confirmed they will put a firmware update in place some time - date unknown. Whether they tell you they have done this is debatable as there is no process in place to do this.

There is evidence this has been known about since at lease April 2013 and no fix is in place. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=115480
The geekzone forums are monitored by TCom techs and the conversation I had with them yesterday shows they do know it is an issue.

Hope this explains things clearly.

-------->8----SNIP END -------->8--------

Inphinity

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#903606 27-Sep-2013 11:03

It seems to be expecting fully qualified domain names for all DNS lookups, which includes a terminating .
if you try to, say
nslookup test-server
it resolves to test-server.gateway.pace.net and returns the fubar address
if you instead try
nslookup test-server.
it appears to return the correct resolution

Now, I've only tested this within a controlled network, so if someone whose using the V5542 in a real-world environment (i.e. an actual internet connection for the WAN, not simply an uplink to another router) wanted to confirm, that'd be great. It's a stupid fault.

nunz

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#903874 27-Sep-2013 17:05

Inphinity: It seems to be expecting fully qualified domain names for all DNS lookups, which includes a terminating .
if you try to, say
nslookup test-server
it resolves to test-server.gateway.pace.net and returns the fubar address
if you instead try
nslookup test-server.
it appears to return the correct resolution

Now, I've only tested this within a controlled network, so if someone whose using the V5542 in a real-world environment (i.e. an actual internet connection for the WAN, not simply an uplink to another router) wanted to confirm, that'd be great. It's a stupid fault.

nslookup sever1 in my clients office returnss erver1.gateway.pace.net and the pace.net ipaddress.

Unfortunately, while it may be possible to put a . at the end of NSlookups it doesnt work for real world resolution for mappings of drives, odbc etc etc etc.

Shane

surfisup1000

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#913908 11-Oct-2013 23:08

nunz:
Summary: I would highly recommend to any person using the V5542 router to ditch it immediately. It is a security nightmare. Telecom know about both problems and their T2 / T3 techs have confirmed they will put a firmware update in place some time - date unknown. Whether they tell you they have done this is debatable as there is no process in place to do this.

-

I do wonder what is going at telecom -- they seem very slow to react to product and market issues. You'd think with their resource they'd have nailed this months ago.

Similarly, they are way behind on the UFB rollout too. I guess maybe they take the long term 'china' approach, where tomorrow/next year don't matter, it is more 10 years down the line that matters.

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Ragnor

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#914754 14-Oct-2013 12:54

Telecom (and most ISP's) have a history of supplying junk routers.

Put it in bridge mode as a dumb modem to something that doesn't suck (eg pfsense, mikrotik, gargoyle router, tomato usb mod) imo.

Ragnor

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#914757 14-Oct-2013 12:58

surfisup1000:

I do wonder what is going at telecom -- they seem very slow to react to product and market issues. You'd think with their resource they'd have nailed this months ago.

Similarly, they are way behind on the UFB rollout too. I guess maybe they take the long term 'china' approach, where tomorrow/next year don't matter, it is more 10 years down the line that matters.

Big ships, turn slow.

They've had UFB plans out for ages now, they but don't have voip (over the internet) solution, but that's because they have a vested interest in POTS/PSTN also because they still have some legal obligations for services that are hard to meet with voip (apparently).

nunz

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#915296 15-Oct-2013 11:23

surfisup1000:

They've had UFB plans out for ages now, they but don't have voip (over the internet) solution, but that's because they have a vested interest in POTS/PSTN also because they still have some legal obligations for services that are hard to meet with voip (apparently).

111 doesnt work with voip and neither does the location part of 111 services. Fax and similar are also notoriously dodgy with voip.

Inphinity

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#915300 15-Oct-2013 11:34

nunz:
111 doesnt work with voip and neither does the location part of 111 services. Fax and similar are also notoriously dodgy with voip.

111 'works' from a VOIP line, but there is less guarantee around the reliability of such (and some VOIP providers may not be able to route the call properly at all). But yes, in most cases, location services won't work for a VOIP call either.

But let's not get too off-topic :)

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