Actiontec GT704 and DNS

[kenwood0622@dogomania.com]

If you use an Actiontec GT704-WG wireless ADSL router, are familiar
with configuring it, and have a spare 5 minutes or so, perhaps you
could run a quick test. I am having a problem with my GT704 and
feel that it is inherent in the firmware and not a defect of my
particular router but I cannot be 100% certain.

I have found that if I set up the router in DHCP configuration, but
specify what DNS servers should be issued to the clients (static
rather than dynamic), the modem still continues to issue its own LAN
IP address and the local ISP DNS server IP address rather than the IP
addresses
that I have specified. I would like to know if this the case for all
GT704s or only mine.

In order to run the test you must first configure the GT704 to use two
DNS servers that are not associated with your ISP. A good set of
instructions, if you are not familiar with the procedure or do not
know of two DNS servers to use, can be found at
https://www.opendns.com/start?device=actiontec-gt704 .

After you have rebooted the GT704 and confirmed that IP addresses you
entered have been saved, one way of determining what DNS server IP
addresses are being issued to your Windows XP client (assuming it is
using DHCP to obtain an IP address and DNS server information) is to
open up a command prompt and issue the command "IPCONFIG /renew"
followed by the command "IPCONFIG /all". The DNS servers listed by
the second command should show the addresses you configured the GT704
to issue. I would be curious if that was the case, or if it continues
to issue the LAN IP address of the GT704 (probably a 192.168.xxx.xxx
address) and your local ISP DNS server IP address.

After the test you can repeat the configuration procedure but select
dynamic rather than static to return your GT704 to its original
configuration. Thanks for your help.

[T. Keating]

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:22:32 -0700, kenwood0622@dogomania.com wrote:

>If you use an Actiontec GT704-WG wireless ADSL router, are familiar
>with configuring it, and have a spare 5 minutes or so, perhaps you
>could run a quick test. I am having a problem with my GT704 and
>feel that it is inherent in the firmware and not a defect of my
>particular router but I cannot be 100% certain.

The GT-704 dns functions is broken big time..
They've known about the issue for a long time.. (2yrs?)
Same goes for those turkeys @ TI , who shipped the broken
reference firmware to the OEMs.

The internal dproxy program, eventually runs out of file
handles(1024) in the limited busybox, (linux 2.4.17 ramonly),
environment and either hangs or crashes in a couple of days.
Do not use it..

I recommend pointing all of your PC dns entries to your ISP's DNS
IP addresses.. and kill off the dproxy process by telneting into the
GT-704.. Log in as 'admin'.... Password.. "your web password" and
type
kill -9 `pidoff dproxy`.. and then exit.

If you run servers behind this DSLmodem/gateway.. I also recommend
doing the following.. before logging out.

cd /proc/sys/net/ip4/netfilter

echo 1800 > *close_wait
echo 3600 > *established

Which prevents /proc/net/ip_conntrack (NAT function) table overflow
when someone lunches a spoof attack.

Note: Each time you reboot/power cycle.. all of these configuration
settings are lost. If you need to retrain/reset the DSL connection,
simply disconnect the phone line connection for a second or two.

>
>I have found that if I set up the router in DHCP configuration, but
>specify what DNS servers should be issued to the clients (static
>rather than dynamic), the modem still continues to issue its own LAN
>IP address and the local ISP DNS server IP address rather than the IP
>addresses
>that I have specified. I would like to know if this the case for all
>GT704s or only mine.

Actiontec has posted only one firmware.. 3.0.1.6.0- GT704 for the
unit.. All of them suffer from the same problem.
Actiontec tech support is virtually non-existant.

Note: 3rd party OEM's like Quest may have fixed these bugs in the
versions they ship to their customers.

>
>In order to run the test you must first configure the GT704 to use two
>DNS servers that are not associated with your ISP. A good set of
>instructions, if you are not familiar with the procedure or do not
>know of two DNS servers to use, can be found at
>https://www.opendns.com/start?device=actiontec-gt704 .
>
>After you have rebooted the GT704 and confirmed that IP addresses you
>entered have been saved, one way of determining what DNS server IP
>addresses are being issued to your Windows XP client (assuming it is
>using DHCP to obtain an IP address and DNS server information) is to
>open up a command prompt and issue the command "IPCONFIG /renew"
>followed by the command "IPCONFIG /all". The DNS servers listed by
>the second command should show the addresses you configured the GT704
>to issue. I would be curious if that was the case, or if it continues
>to issue the LAN IP address of the GT704 (probably a 192.168.xxx.xxx
>address) and your local ISP DNS server IP address.
>
>After the test you can repeat the configuration procedure but select
>dynamic rather than static to return your GT704 to its original
>configuration. Thanks for your help.

[kenwood0622@dogomania.com]

On Nov 30, 10:12 am, T. Keating <tkuse...@ktcnslt.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:22:32 -0700, kenwood0...@dogomania.com wrote:
> >If you use anActiontecGT704-WG wireless ADSL router, are familiar
> >with configuring it, and have a spare 5 minutes or so, perhaps you
> >could run a quick test. I am having a problem with myGT704and
> >feel that it is inherent in the firmware and not a defect of my
> >particular router but I cannot be 100% certain.
>
> The GT-704 dns functions is broken big time..
> They've known about the issue for a long time.. (2yrs?)
> Same goes for those turkeys @ TI , who shipped the broken
> reference firmware to the OEMs.
>
> The internal dproxy program, eventually runs out of file
> handles(1024) in the limited busybox, (linux 2.4.17 ramonly),
> environment and either hangs or crashes in a couple of days.
> Do not use it..

Thanks for that suggestion.

>
> I recommend pointing all of your PC dns entries to your ISP's DNS
> IP addresses..

That is what I was trying to avoid. My ISP's DNS servers are
sometimes slow which makes browsing slow despite a broadband
connection. Then Open DNS servers seem to be much more responsive
under some conditions.

> and kill off the dproxy process by telneting into the
> GT-704.. Log in as 'admin'.... Password.. "your web password" and
> type
> kill -9 `pidoff dproxy`.. and then exit.
>
> If you run servers behind this DSL modem/gateway.. I also recommend
> doing the following.. before logging out.
>
> cd /proc/sys/net/ip4/netfilter
>
> echo 1800 > *close_wait
> echo 3600 > *established
>
> Which prevents /proc/net/ip_conntrack (NAT function) table overflow
> when someone lunches a spoof attack.
>



I will give those a try and incorporate them into my script. I solved
my DNS problem by saving a series of echo commands as a text file and
then cutting and pasting it at the command prompt after telneting to
the Actiontec as you do. This saves typing them each time the
configuration is lost due to a reset. The text is as follows:

echo start 192.168.10.2 > /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo end 192.168.10.35 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo interface br0 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo opt router 192.168.10.1 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo opt domain mydomain.com >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo opt dns 208.67.220.220 208.67.222.222 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo opt subnet 255.255.255.0 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo opt lease 86400 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo conflict_time 86400 >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf
echo lease_file /var/tmp/udhcpd.leases >> /var/tmp/udhcpd.conf

This creates a DHCP config file that instructs DHCP to issues the DNS
servers I would like my PCs to use.


> Note: Each time you reboot/power cycle.. all of these configuration
> settings are lost. If you need to retrain/reset the DSL connection,
> simply disconnect the phone line connection for a second or two.
>
>

A good suggestion I hadn't thought of.

>
> >I have found that if I set up the router in DHCP configuration, but
> >specify what DNS servers should be issued to the clients (static
> >rather than dynamic), the modem still continues to issue its own LAN
> >IP address and the local ISP DNS server IP address rather than the IP
> >addresses
> >that I have specified. I would like to know if this the case for all
> >GT704s or only mine.
>
> Actiontechas posted only one firmware.. 3.0.1.6.0-GT704for the
> unit.. All of them suffer from the same problem.Actiontec tech support is virtually non-existant.


I found the person I talked to, to be very helpful, at least to the
limit of his resources. He even sent me other ISP configuration
firmware files to try to see if they corrected the problem because
they were newer. I have not tried them as yet as the script solved my
problem with a minimum of fuss. What is disturbing however is I
sensed from our conversation that Actiontec management knows of the
problem but does not want to invest any time or money to correct it
since so few use that feature. Not a very good attitude.

Thanks for responding.