* * * * *
                                        
                             Too many moving parts
                                        
Ever since I got the new router [1], I've been having some weird issues with
browsing. Most sites would come up instantly while others, like Hoade's [2],
would take minutes to come up, and when the page would finally display there
would be horrible formatting (probably due to not loading the style sheets
[3]).

This behavior is a classic DNS (Domain Name Service) problem. But the only
thing that changed, DNS wise, is the introduction of the new router. Is it
possible the new router is filtering DNS results? I did a query on a
problematic address and got:

> [spc]lucy:~/source/spcdns/built>./dotest -s 192.168.1.10 use.typekit.net. a
> ; Questions            = 1
> ; Answers              = 1
> ; Name Servers         = 0
> ; Additional Records   = 0
> ; Authoritative Result = false
> ; Truncated Result     = false
> ; Recursion Desired    = true
> ; Recursion Available  = true
> ; Result               = No error
> 
> ;;; QUESTIONS
> 
> ;use.typekit.net. IN A
> 
> ;;; ANSWERS
> 
> use.typekit.net.         3600   IN      CNAME   cs485.wac.gammacdn.net.
> 
> ;;; NAMESERVERS
> 
> ;;; ADDITIONAL
> 
> 

Hmm … now let's do the same query from somewhere else:

> [spc]brevard:~/source/spcdns/built>./dotest -s 70.34.22.227 use.typekit.net. a
> ; Questions            = 1
> ; Answers              = 2
> ; Name Servers         = 2
> ; Additional Records   = 0
> ; Authoritative Result = false
> ; Truncated Result     = false
> ; Recursion Desired    = true
> ; Recursion Available  = true
> ; Result               = No error
> 
> ;;; QUESTIONS
> 
> ;use.typekit.net. IN A
> 
> ;;; ANSWERS
> 
> use.typekit.net.         3600   IN      CNAME   cs485.wac.gammacdn.net.
> cs485.wac.gammacdn.net.  3600   IN      A       192.229.163.37
> 
> ;;; NAMESERVERS
> 
> gammacdn.net.           127697  IN      NS      ns2.gammacdn.net.
> gammacdn.net.           127697  IN      NS      ns1.gammacdn.net.
> 
> ;;; ADDITIONAL
> 
> 

Odd. And annoying. Doing a search on DNS issues with my router was dismaying
to say the least. First off, the pages would take minutes to load and thus,
no style information and thus hard to read. Secondly, from what I could read,
there actually might be an issue with DNS on this router. Lovely!

But in playing around with this stuff, I did find this comment in the DNS
server configuration file:

>         /*
>          * If there is a firewall between you and nameservers you want
>          * to talk to, you might need to uncomment the query-source
>          * directive below.  Previous versions of BIND always asked
>          * questions using port 53, but BIND 8.1 uses an unprivileged
>          * port by default.
>          */
>          query-source address * port 53;
> 

I know I added that comment, fixing an issue with DNS a few years ago.
Really? Could that be the problem? Let me comment that directive out … and
it's all fixed!

What the—

Okay, I've done some research, and it also revealed another issue I noticed
with the new router. Network devices obtaining network information via DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) [4] were getting the router's IP
(Internet Protocol) address for DNS, not my actual DNS server. It appears
that Linksys [5] decided to direct all DNS traffic to the router and have it
query the DNS server. It may have something to do with their “cloud [6]”
offering (so you can configure your router remotely—do people really want
this feature?) I don't know. But it's a weird way of handling DNS. And having
queries come from port 53 may have been confusing the router.

When I try it now (the the previous DNS server configuration) I get:

> [spc]lucy:~/source/spcdns/built>./dotest use.typekit.net. a
> net_request() = Connection timed out
> 

I think I can explain this difference between the two results. I switched out
the router but the DNS server was still running. Over time, certain DNS
records expired and thus, not all the required information could be returned.
The DNS server was getting some weird packet (more on that below) and just
returning what it could at the time. Restarting the DNS server flushes all
existing records and because of some weirdness with the router and DNS, some
queries are just … lost … somewhere … over the rainbow.

I don't know, I don't have the source code to the router to troubleshoot—

Sorry about that. Bunny came in and said she couldn't get Netflix [7] on the
“smart” television. What the hell?

One hour and much cursing and angry shouts later, it's working. How? I dunno.
All I want it a dumb wireless pipe to the Intarwebs. I don't need this “user
friendly” crap router to intervene on my behalf. Is that so wrong?

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2015/10/15.1
[2] https://seanhoade.wordpress.com/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
[5] http://www.linksys.com/
[6] https://www.linksyssmartwifi.com/
[7] https://www.netflix.com/

Email author at sean@conman.org

.