Asus DDNS Down?

[Daveo]

Using Merlin 384.15 on RT-AC68U and I can't access the router via the Asus DDNS service, but can via router IP address.

My IP address provided by my ISP hasn't changed.

I have rebooted router - which didn't fix the issue.

I have also reapplied the DDNS setting in the router admin pages - which also didn't fix the issue.

This is in system log from earlier today...

Mar 12 02:16:07 inadyn[4123]: Failed resolving hostname ***.asuscomm.com: Name or service not known
Mar 12 02:16:07 inadyn[4123]: Failed resolving hostname ns1.asuscomm.com: Name or service not known

Any ideas?

 

[dave14305]

What dns server does the router use (WAN DNS)?

 

[Daveo]

I use OpenDNS for my DNS servers

OpenDNS CacheChexk service for ***.asuscomm.com, reports same IP address for all locations, so not sure what's going on.

 

[dave14305]

And if you try to nslookup that name from your router?

 

[Daveo]

nslookup ***.asuscomm.com
Server: RT-AC68U-****
Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: ***.asuscomm.com
Address: ***.***.***.***

nslookup (via windows command line) gives correct IP address and resolves domain name.

From router:

nslookup ***.asuscomm.com
Server: 208.67.220.220
Address 1: 208.67.220.220 resolver2.opendns.com

Name: ***.asuscomm.com
Address 1: ***.virginm.net

 

[dave14305]

From router:

nslookup ***.asuscomm.com
Server: 208.67.220.220
Address 1: 208.67.220.220 resolver2.opendns.com

Name: ***.asuscomm.com
Address 1: ***.virginm.net

Now we’re getting somewhere weird. I understand the desire to redact the identifying information, but does anything about that virginm.net address look normal to you? Why would there be a hostname returned instead of an IP?

 

[Daveo]

The hostname looks normal to me.

It did have my IP address at the start of it (I missed that bit when I copied & pasted info over)

nslookup ***.asuscomm.com
Server: 208.67.220.220
Address 1: 208.67.220.220 resolver2.opendns.com

Name: ***.asuscomm.com
Address 1: ***.***.***.*** ***.cable.virginm.net (shows IP first then hostname)

 

[Daveo]

I've also tried resetting my DNS servers to my ISP's DNS servers and still unable to access router via Asus DDNS.

 

[dave14305]

How are you trying to access the router? OpenVPN? Web GUI? SSH?

From what external network? Mobile phone, work, school, etc.? What DNS is in use there?

Or are you trying to use the asuscomm.com name from within your LAN?

 

[Daveo]

I use Web GUI via asusucomm.com address from my LAN.

SSH access works due to it using the 192.168.1.1 IP address for the router.

I use OpenDNS on my home network due to it being more reliable than my ISP's DNS servers.

As, I've said I can access Web GUI via 192.168.1.1 IP address only. asuscomm.com doesn't work and system logs reports it has been unable to resolve the DDNS at around 02:16 this morning (that's when there was an internet outage, but that's been resolved within 5 minutes of the outage).

 

[Daveo]

Is it worth changing to a different DDNS provider for the Asus router or wait for Asus to fix the resolve issue with asuscomm.com ?

If so, which one would you recommend ?

 

[dave14305]

Ok, that doesn’t work.

Is it worth changing to a different DDNS provider for the Asus router or wait for Asus to fix the resolve issue with asuscomm.com ?

If so, which one would you recommend ?

I don’t think it’s an issue with DDNS, I think it’s an issue of NAT loopback or hairpinning and I’m no expert in that area.

 

[Daveo]

OK.

Router was last rebooted before today on 3rd March and DDNS was working then.

So DDNS has stopped working sometime since 3rd and 12th March.

I know the Asus app asked me to confirm something after an update, but I told it not to enable web GUI access via remote (so web GUI can only be accessed via internal network).

Any where I can check in web GUI to see if it's a NAT loopback/hairpinning ?

 

[Daveo]

I've managed to fix this by uploading the saved config backup that I did just before upgrading the router from 384.14 to 384.15.

I then applied any changes I made due to getting a new NAS, and then I re-setup the DDNS and now DDNS access via asuscomm.com is working again.

I've downloaded an updated saved config to include the NAS changes and working DDNS (just in case issue reoccurs).