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[gerrym]

Thanks PT, always good references to review, pointers and follow up challenges.  That is much appreciated.    I hope to capture a couple different sessions over this weekend.   Good point that since this is broadcast it should be everywhere.   My comment about 'knowing' how the 868L is configured... perhaps a wishful thought.  Short of Dlink sharing the configuration specifics or someone finding a way to access the 868L's OS, this is the technique we are left with for the moment.

Having OS level access to the Dlink-321 NAS boxes and 2 other NAS boxes on this network has been quite beneficial when issues/questions arise.   Given the 868L is relatively new on the scene and Dlink home consumer targeted... frustrating might be a bit harsh but certainly challenging is not.         

Dlink should add documentation on items you have expanded on like the NetBIOS parameters in the 868L dhcp server.   Also its inability to direct dhcp clients to explicit DNS servers and not having to tolerate dovetailing the defaults given the 868L by my ISP's dhcp source.    Sorry... off thread topic.   Will get 2 more out of this at some future point.   :-D

Gerry-

[FurryNutz]

You might task Ivan over on the DNS threads to have a look at this and see if he has any recommendations.

As for DNS, you can use custom DNS addresses and then turn OFF DNS Relay. Then all connected clients will get the DNS addresses you specified.

[gerrym]

You might task Ivan over on the DNS threads to have a look at this and see if he has any recommendations.

As for DNS, you can use custom DNS addresses and then turn OFF DNS Relay. Then all connected clients will get the DNS addresses you specified.

Thanks for the pointer to the DNS threads.  Definitely could see if anything over there clears up and issue I am seeing with DNS.   

Don't want to morph/hijack my thread, but would like you to know that setting DNS relay to disabled does not work exactly as above for me.   Unless there is something I am missing...

And reading the 'HELP' inside the router's webgui is a bit ambiguous and does not tell all of what goes on with DNS Relay disabled.

DNS Relay enabled works as stated in the HELP, i.e. connected dhcp clients receive lookups courtesy of the 868 going out and querying my ISP's DNS servers. 

With DNS Relay disabled, the 868's dhcp server will assign each connecting dhcp client its primary and secondary DNS based on the manual configuration settings you place in DNS under the  "Internet Connection Type".  Not a clearly labeled 'custom' location for passing settings to the 868's dhcp server, but if it stopped there perhaps I would find it a bit more tolerable.

But with DNS relay disabled and the 868's Internet Connection Type configured as dhcp (as many are), then the 868L continues 1 additional step.  It adds DNS servers from the ISP's dhcp server setup as as tertiary and quaternary for dhcp assigned clients.   

These dhcp assignments being tertiary and beyond... ah well... likely not getting hit often.   Likely and not often is not what I desire.       I subscribe to a DNS service that does blacklists/whitelists/filtering, my ISP does none of that.

It would be helpful for dhcp's DNS server settings to be on the dhcp server setup screen and labeled as such.   As it is they are somewhere else and not clearly labeled as applying to clients connection to the 868's dhcp server.  The 868's dhcp setup screen has places to configure Primary and Secondary WINS so it would be good to have explicit DNS entries there as well.   Just my thinking. 


 

[FurryNutz]

What FW version are you using?

I'll have a look at mine this evening. We saw a similar issue like this with DNS Relay disabled and seeing additional ISP DNS in addition to the custom selected addresses making it a total of 4 addresses being seen on client devices. I believe I'm not seeing this with my router...

There was just a recent post here in the forums where the user said he saw the same thing however he was able to stop the extra DNS from showing up while using custom DNS by going to his ISP web site and disabling something about DNS. I'll try and find the post. Found it:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=60932.0

[gerrym]

Thanks.   Firmware is 1.08.   But I just looked and there is a 1.08B07 dated 7/30/2014.   Hmmm... could have sworn when I looked a few weeks ago just 1.08 from May 29, 2014 was there.   Strange.   

The release note for 1.08B07 does have an entry that says:

- Fix WAN DHCP Renewal bug

More info/specifics on that 'bug' would be appreciated.   Blindly jumping from my 1.08 to 1.08B07... not my preference.  Interesting also is that 1.08 is no longer listed on the support page.

And.. looking at my current setup, today I am getting 5 DNS servers in my IP config.   2 from my custom entries and 3 from my ISP. 

UGH.   I have been unable to find a way to configure dhcp differently to retain just the 2 from my custom config.   Well, shy of manually configuring DNS at each client.

Will watch for another post if you find it... I am not aware of my ISP providing a way to configure how my router's ethernet port connected to the cable modem can have its dhcp connection's DNS settings changed.   But that could work I suppose.

At this point today I have made some progress, but am in the middle of constructing the post.

[gerrym]

A quick review of the issue:

My initial issue was that the DIR-868L 'appeared' to be confusing the NetBIOS browser announcements and election process on my local network.  By confusing I simply mean network shares did not browse correctly and consistently across multiple clients, when the 868L had its status as MASTER.   I was not able to easily disable this, but could pull the cable feeding my local network at the back of the 868L.

With it abruptly offline for a few minutes, one of my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes would win the MASTER browser status, and all browsing was then apparently 'fine'.

So I looked for a quick/simple way to disable the 868L's participation in NetBIOS 'host announcements' since it was a new device (at that time) on my network, and I just needed it excluded from the process.  Longer term I needed a better solution.

My first attempts at 'longer term' involved trying to disable the DIR-868L's participation in this process by using the WebGUI and disabling Media Server features for each service listed ( DLNA, Itunes, USB 3.0 ).  Disabling all of these did not prevent the 868L from participating in NetBIOS 'host announcement' transactions on my local network, leaving it 'available' to compete for master at future times. 

A quick update from efforts over this past weekend:  ( quick read / workaround = remove any USB connected media and reboot 868L )

1.  In the Media Server screen of the 868L's WebGUI, the USB 3.0 port has settings of 'Enabled' and 'Disabled'.    These merely change the flavor of the USB port from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 (per the latest documentation)  These settings do not control the USB port being a member of the devices shared by the media server.    Inside the WebGUI built in  "HELP" for the 868L, this USB port is not addressed.

2.  If any media is plugged into the USB port on the rear of the 868L, the 868L will start a process for sharing this media, and begin NetBIOS host announcements for that device.   The 868L will not stop advertising these even if they are pulled from the USB port. I waited for over an hour to see if this would change.  It did not. 

3.  The 868L will stop the host announcements if, after you remove any USB media from the USB port, you warm boot (or cold boot) the 868L.   

4.  IF  you just remove the USB media and do not reboot the 868L, it will still participate in host announcements, and it will attempt to gain Master Browser if an election is started.  Its election process packets indicate it has a OS Level 20, and competes with my 2 Dlink DNS-321's which are also OS Level 20.   The winner will be the device with the longest uptime.

5.  For the moment the work-around is = no media attached to the USB port.

6.  Another workaround is likely just putting the 868L in a different workgroup.  Not one I'd prefer but at this point that would suffice.

[FurryNutz]

Thanks.   Firmware is 1.08.   But I just looked and there is a 1.08B07 dated 7/30/2014.   Hmmm... could have sworn when I looked a few weeks ago just 1.08 from May 29, 2014 was there.   Strange.   
Looking back at the forum history, There was a EU B03 build of v1.08 that was never intro'd here in the NA region. We went from v1.07 to v1.08 B07 for the NA region. I'll look at my repo at home as see what I have. I don't recall at the moment.

The release note for 1.08B07 does have an entry that says:

- Fix WAN DHCP Renewal bug

More info/specifics on that 'bug' would be appreciated.   Blindly jumping from my 1.08 to 1.08B07... not my preference.  Interesting also is that 1.08 is no longer listed on the support page.
I'll try and get specifics however I don't know if I can. I have B07 currently loaded and it's working very well.

And.. looking at my current setup, today I am getting 5 DNS servers in my IP config.   2 from my custom entries and 3 from my ISP. 

UGH.   I have been unable to find a way to configure dhcp differently to retain just the 2 from my custom config.   Well, shy of manually configuring DNS at each client.

Will watch for another post if you find it... I am not aware of my ISP providing a way to configure how my router's ethernet port connected to the cable modem can have its dhcp connection's DNS settings changed.   But that could work I suppose.

At this point today I have made some progress, but am in the middle of constructing the post.

I found it and posted the link. Apparently on Charter, they have some option to stop DNS redirects. Seem to fix the one users multiple DNS addresses appearing on his DIR-645.

[FurryNutz]

So to get around this Master Browser conflict, you have to disable Media Server on the router and remove the USB drive from the router and reboot is all?

A quick review of the issue:

My initial issue was that the DIR-868L 'appeared' to be confusing the NetBIOS browser announcements and election process on my local network.  By confusing I simply mean network shares did not browse correctly and consistently across multiple clients, when the 868L had its status as MASTER.   I was not able to easily disable this, but could pull the cable feeding my local network at the back of the 868L.

With it abruptly offline for a few minutes, one of my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes would win the MASTER browser status, and all browsing was then apparently 'fine'.

So I looked for a quick/simple way to disable the 868L's participation in NetBIOS 'host announcements' since it was a new device (at that time) on my network, and I just needed it excluded from the process.  Longer term I needed a better solution.

My first attempts at 'longer term' involved trying to disable the DIR-868L's participation in this process by using the WebGUI and disabling Media Server features for each service listed ( DLNA, Itunes, USB 3.0 ).  Disabling all of these did not prevent the 868L from participating in NetBIOS 'host announcement' transactions on my local network, leaving it 'available' to compete for master at future times. 

A quick update from efforts over this past weekend:  ( quick read / workaround = remove any USB connected media and reboot 868L )

1.  In the Media Server screen of the 868L's WebGUI, the USB 3.0 port has settings of 'Enabled' and 'Disabled'.    These merely change the flavor of the USB port from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 (per the latest documentation)  These settings do not control the USB port being a member of the devices shared by the media server.    Inside the WebGUI built in  "HELP" for the 868L, this USB port is not addressed.

2.  If any media is plugged into the USB port on the rear of the 868L, the 868L will start a process for sharing this media, and begin NetBIOS host announcements for that device.   The 868L will not stop advertising these even if they are pulled from the USB port. I waited for over an hour to see if this would change.  It did not. 

3.  The 868L will stop the host announcements if, after you remove any USB media from the USB port, you warm boot (or cold boot) the 868L.   

4.  IF  you just remove the USB media and do not reboot the 868L, it will still participate in host announcements, and it will attempt to gain Master Browser if an election is started.  Its election process packets indicate it has a OS Level 20, and competes with my 2 Dlink DNS-321's which are also OS Level 20.   The winner will be the device with the longest uptime.

5.  For the moment the work-around is = no media attached to the USB port.

6.  Another workaround is likely just putting the 868L in a different workgroup.  Not one I'd prefer but at this point that would suffice.

[gerrym]

So to get around this Master Browser conflict, you have to disable Media Server on the router and remove the USB drive from the router and reboot is all?

Browser conflict, perhaps a bit harsh since this 'workaround' was a step in troubleshooting the 868L's arrival on my network.  The workaround is the only thing I have found that will disable any NetBIOS host announcements from the 868L, the first step in assessing if it is causing the situation I was seeing.   

Now that I know I can turn its participation off,  I feel comfortable taking another step, i.e. letting it keep Master Browser for a bit and seeing what shakes out next.   

I have the DLNA and ITunes options on the Media Server page of the 868L's WebGUI config set to disabled.  I have not tried them in other settings to see if that impacts this particular problem.

Removing any device attached to the USB port and warm booting the 868L ( from the WebGUI ) seems sufficient to keep the 868L NetBIOS host announcements completely quiet.      The 868L still responds to nbtstat packets from other devices, but does not reply with a host announcement, indicating (to me) that the shared devices are no longer being hosted by the 868L.    Since no shares are being hosted by the 868L it has nothing to advertise, and will not compete for master browser/backup etc.

Of note is that with the packet captures, I clearly saw the 868L runs at OS Level 20, so perhaps is configured similar to the Samba servers on my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes.   It's host election participation packets seem to indicate no component in its configuration that would push it to a higher priority.   A good thing to know.

Thanks for all the help to this point, it is much appreciated.

You mentioned posting a link for the Charter DNS setting adjustments.   Must be missing that post, or not seeing it in your posts above?   Argh.... 

Thanks again!

[gerrym]

I'll try and get specifics however I don't know if I can. I have B07 currently loaded and it's working very well.

Oh so very strange.  EU and NA releases,   I am certain I saw only 1.08 'vanilla' in the past, not any B03 though.  And the appearance of 1.08B7 was like.... ugh, now where did 1.08 go, and 1.08 is not in the release history.   ??

http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DIR-868L   is where I look for updates.   Nothing to lead me to believe anything for EU specific application.

I have downloaded 1.08B7 but would prefer to see if you can get further info regarding what was in the release note about WAN dhcp renewal bug.   


Thanks again.   :-)

[FurryNutz]

I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.

[gerrym]

I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.

Interesting and perhaps understandable because of configuration control.   Dlink must consider the 1.08x chain as current, and updated increments between that and 1.07x are purged from customer downloads.   Same with prior versions inside the 1.07x chain.  Understand.

My 868L was purchased in late Feb 2014 came with 1.07B02 which was released 01/02/2014.   

In early June I found 1.08 dated 05/29/2014 on the support site and updated.   

My 868L is listed inside the WebGUI as  Hardware Version A1 and Firmware version 1.08 (dated 05/29/2014)

Will await your quest for added info on the 'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' listed in the current 1.08B07 variant release notes.

[gerrym]

Just wanted to thank Packet Tracer again for the earlier assistance.   All your information was very good, informative and much appreciated.

Packet captures definitely yielded solid information regarding the 868L's smb/samba server configuration.   Analyzing those captures also added some good knowledge to the pool here about the browser election process.   Yep!

Thanks again PT!!

Gerry-

[FurryNutz]

Yes, They may have removed it for safety reasons.

That is the same date code I have for B03 so it's probably the same.

I presume that the  'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' was a fix that they found in the behavior in the route communicating with some ISP modems is all. I have never had a problem or saw this issue. The FW is safe and stable to upgrade. It's what I'm using currently.

 

I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.

Interesting and perhaps understandable because of configuration control.   Dlink must consider the 1.08x chain as current, and updated increments between that and 1.07x are purged from customer downloads.   Same with prior versions inside the 1.07x chain.  Understand.

My 868L was purchased in late Feb 2014 came with 1.07B02 which was released 01/02/2014.   

In early June I found 1.08 dated 05/29/2014 on the support site and updated.   

My 868L is listed inside the WebGUI as  Hardware Version A1 and Firmware version 1.08 (dated 05/29/2014)

Will await your quest for added info on the 'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' listed in the current 1.08B07 variant release notes.