N66U, Getflix and transparent DNS servers

[Pesky_UK]

First post so treat me gently please!

I have the N66U router running firmware 380.70 with PPPoE. No VPN's or other routers are involved, just the N66U and Getflix Smart DNS.

I use Getflix to access UK iPlayer and Netflix from here in Russia. My ISP uses transparent DNS

I use to use DD-WRT to access my Getflix service by following the instructions here:

https://getflix.zendesk.com/hc/en-g...ters-and-hijacking-with-DD-WRT-Linux-routers-

This worked beautifully but AP isolation was impossible to turn off so I could never browse my network and there were other little niggles which I was never 100% happy with.

On the Asus with Merlin I did the following:

1. Set the WAN DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
   
   
2. Created firewall-start and nat-start scripts with the following in it:
   
   #!/bin/sh
   iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 82.103.129.240:5300
   iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 46.246.29.68:5300
   iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 82.103.129.240:5300
   iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 46.246.29.68:5300
   logger "Script has run"
   
   
3. Reboot router, scripts run.

Running the Getflix Dashboard page (https://www.getflix.com/manage/dashboard) shows the IP address and DNS is registered.

Problems...

1. Even though the Dashboard says everything is working Netflix always fails.
   
   
2. Page load times for iPlayer and Netflix are slooooow. Upwards of 20 seconds for the pages to load. Other sites load as normal.

I think the root of my problem may be disabling DNSMasq for DNS. There are no options in Merlin so is there another way around this?

I've looked around the forum and found https://www.snbforums.com/threads/is-merlin-capable-of-bypassing-transparent-dns-proxy.55928/ which has provided so good pointers.

 

[ColinTaylor]

As I pointed out in that other thread there is no point having 4 iptables commands in your script. The router will only ever match on the first TCP rule or the first UDP rule. So it will never reach the rules for 46.246.29.68:5300.

According to this page that first IP address is in Denmark and the second one is in Sweden so I'm not surprised you can't access UK streaming services.

Try rewriting the script with only 2 rules (1 UDP and 1 TCP). Use 212.71.249.225 as that is the only UK based IP address listed.