NFV4 -- can't address hosts by name

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frankv

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#243278 4-Dec-2018 10:41

Hi all,

I have an Orcon-supplied NFV4 router. The trouble is, I can't address machines on my LAN by name. Names are visible in the DHCP status screen, pinging or browsing or whatever by IP number works fine, but for some reason doing any of those by name doesn't.

I've tried addressing machines as "name" and "name.home" and "name.local" and such-like, but no joy.

There is a setting in the router config for the local network name (defaults to "home"), and I've tried fiddling with that, without success.

Netcomm NFV4 User Guide is useless. :(

Any ideas on how to get this working properly?

yitz

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#2139150 4-Dec-2018 11:05

Are those devices connected using wired or wireless and are they through any other network devices?

Oblivian

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#2139159 4-Dec-2018 11:21

Did you mess with DNS settings under DHCP?

If pushing clients to external DNS queries it'll likely bypass local. So you'll need to ensure DNS is set to the routers IP, or add a hosts entry for each.

an nslookup on the devices would help here to see if the resulting DNS responder was the router or an external one.

frankv

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#2139161 4-Dec-2018 11:26

Both wired and wireless. I have a Linux desktop and a Raspberry Pi, wired. Windows laptop, both wired and wireless. Also a couple (so far) of ESP8266 wireless devices to control Xmas lights. The Xmas lights is what finally brought this to a head. I could assign fixed IPs to each, but it would be a pain keeping track of which IP number is which, and that's what the router is supposed to do anyway. All devices are connected directly to the router.

I haven't tried all the combinations of in and out, but all the above devices are pingable by IP and not by name from the desktop. The laptop can only connect to the desktop by IP, whether connected by wire or WiFi.

yitz

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#2139200 4-Dec-2018 12:00

Double check you have DNS proxy turned on under Advanced Setup.

But LAN clients they should be able to use some sort of mDNS which is common, at least for LAN name resolution.

You don't have any complicated setup on the NF4V in terms of reconfigured interfaces, SSIDs etc.?

Could be worth a reset.

Tracer

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#2139386 4-Dec-2018 19:35

What you're looking for is dynamic DNS (RFC 2136), where the DHCP server daemon asks the DNS server daemon to update records when it issues and expires leases. Look for dynamic DNS or similar in the settings.

richms

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#2139388 4-Dec-2018 19:43

Generally things like ESP based things will either have their own app that does discovery, or for the roll your own type things you can include the mdns stuff to get that working. I had memory issues trying to use mdns and a whole lot of other libraries when I last tried, but that was on some really cheap modules with the tiny sized flash chip.

Richard rich.ms

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frankv

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#2139419 4-Dec-2018 21:16

I did a factory reset of the router.

It's quite weird... I can ping the router by name, with or without the domain. But it doesn't work for other devices.

The user guide says:

The Host Name and Domain name are combined to form a unique label that is mapped to the router IP address. This can be used

to access the user interface of the router with a local name rather than by using the router IP address.

which to me hints that these settings are only useful for accessing the router :(. Interestingly, pinging from the router itself (in the Diagnostics screen) also doesn't find devices by name, but does work by IP number.

Does anyone out there have an NF4V which does actually allow DNS lookups of local devices? Or is this thing a P.O.S? (I mean, surely it's rational to combine DHCP and DNS information for resolving local names?)

Can I use a RPi (I have several laying around doing nothing, and wouldn't want to rely on the Desktop or laptop being on all the time) as a DNS for local devices on my LAN? I'm out of my depth with DNS configs, so would need cookbook instructions. Or do I need to go out and get a new router?

Spyware

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#2139420 4-Dec-2018 21:24

https://blogging.dragon.org.uk/dns-bind9-dhcp-ubuntu-16-04-2/

linw

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#2139514 5-Dec-2018 07:32

I am with Orcon with the NF4V and I can ping my devices by name.

Very conventional setup with no fiddling! ONT-NF4V-switch.

Pinging Jan [192.168.20.13] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.20.13: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.20.13: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Pinging Godzilla [fe80::b1f8:bffe:d2f5:f380%7] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fe80::b1f8:bffe:d2f5:f380%7: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::b1f8:bffe:d2f5:f380%7: time<1ms

Spyware

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#2139562 5-Dec-2018 08:43

Yours are Windows devices though doing their own name resolution.

frankv

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#2139756 5-Dec-2018 12:05

I had a play with nslookup last night, and Ubuntu also has its own name resolver, but that doesn't seem to work for local machines. Probably it goes to the router, and then fails, but I don't know how to check that out.

I can't ping by name from my Windows laptop to other local machines, although none of them are Windows.

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Spyware

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#2139763 5-Dec-2018 12:15

Because the non Windows machines don't run the Windows debauchery that does name resolution. The router really doesn't do what you think it does either.

EDIT: You need to study DNS, NetBIOS name resolution, mDNS, hosts file. All different mechanisms.

xsiv

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#2145298 14-Dec-2018 12:32

Try flushing ur DNS

open cmd and run ipconfig /flushdns

Prob wont work but worth a shot