Changing DNS drops WDTV from home network

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gedc

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#116533 1-May-2013 21:49

Hi folks

Have my WDTV LIVE streaming from my Readynas. Initially had it setup on network share and pointed the wdtv to individual folders on the nas. All good.

Then changed the DNS on the wdtv so i could use unblock us to access netflix. That worked fine and i watched a couple of shows. All good.

Then upon returning to the main menu on the wdtv its lost the shares and cant find the Nas. When i tell it to find the nas on the network it just sits hunting, trying to find the nas then gives up.

If i reset the wdtv and let it find the dns allocated by the router, all is fine again..

I thought the dns was for external lookup so why is it affecting my behind the router network?

Thanks for any advice

Ged

theEd

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#809815 1-May-2013 21:57

Is the WDTV accessing the NAS by IP address or hostname?

dontpanic42

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#809817 1-May-2013 22:15

I find exactly the same thing on my WDTV Live (Gen3). I have it set to Unblock-US DNS, and it quite often loses the Windows network shares I've pointed it to.

I never realised it may have been a DNS issue as I've pretty much had it set to Unblock-US's DNS from day one, but that could explain why it keeps dropping.

Can't offer a fix, sorry, but at least you know you're not the only one having the same issue.

gedc

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#809819 1-May-2013 22:20

theEd - It gets its IP auto allocated via the router in line with most of the rest of my networked kit. Ive also got it named as workgroup in line with my other gear

Ive been telling wdtv to access the Nas through Windows Shares.

In the interim im using the DLNA Function of the Nas to get it working

steve98

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#809977 2-May-2013 09:20

gedc: theEd - It gets its IP auto allocated via the router in line with most of the rest of my networked kit. Ive also got it named as workgroup in line with my other gear

Ive been telling wdtv to access the Nas through Windows Shares.

In the interim im using the DLNA Function of the Nas to get it working

I think TheEd was asking whether your WDTV is looking for your NAS via its IP address or via a hostname. If it's a hostname then that will probably be the problem as the unblock-us DNS server will not be able to resolve the name. Point it to your NAS's IP address if you can.

Question though -- why don't you program the Unblock-us DNS server addresses into your router, and then just set your router as the DNS server address in the WDTV. If you do this with all clients on your network (which is the default, usually) then they will all use unblock-us, no fuss, and will also be able to get to devices using a local host name. No reason to have to program the unblock-us DNS server addresses into every client individually...

gedc

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#810053 2-May-2013 11:01

Hi Steve98

I originally planned to do that in the router but the main concern I had was all my website traffic, sites i visited, online banking etc was being directed through a set of servers in Canada. I have no knowledge of what they store, view or indeed their security so made the call it was sensible to continue to use my ISP DNS for the router and point the single netoworked item - WDTV at the different DNS.

Am i being paranoid for no reason ?

Thanks again

Ged

steve98

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#810063 2-May-2013 11:13

Your traffic doesn't go through their servers, only DNS look-ups. The *only* risk (and it's extremely remote, considering they're a commercial operation) is that they could set their DNS server up so that when you go to, say, kiwibank.co.nz you are actually redirected to a fake site that then steals your info. I would say the actual risk is practically non-existant.

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gedc

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#811060 3-May-2013 23:50

The beautiful reliability of WDTV. !! Went to check if I could find the NAS using its IP address and for giggles clicked on network share again. All works fine !!!??!!??!

DNS still pointing at unblock us and media library now created. Nothing changed. No idea why but happy to leave it alone.

Thanks again