NextDNS Installer

[dave14305]

Hey Olivier, I'm trying to use -config to update NextDNS to not use hosts "-use-hosts (default true)" but I'm unable to figure out how to set it as false.
I want my router name reported but not each individual device connected to it as some device names are not showing correctly. (Smart TVs are a prime example since I cannot set their device name outside of the >router< hosts list)
During setup I've simply left report device name as "off" so NextDNS is now reporting just the IP for my home router but also logging nothing else.

Worst case you can cheat and edit the config file in /jffs/nextdns/nextdns.conf.

 

[Olivier Poitrey]

Hey Olivier, I'm trying to use -config to update NextDNS to not use hosts "-use-hosts (default true)" but I'm unable to figure out how to set it as false.
I want my router name reported but not each individual device connected to it as some device names are not showing correctly. (Smart TVs are a prime example since I cannot set their device name outside of the >router< hosts list)
During setup I've simply left report device name as "off" so NextDNS is now reporting just the IP for my home router but also logging nothing else.

I think you are misinterpreting what use-hosts does. When on, it will use the content of the router’s etc/hosts to answer queries. This has nothing to do with LAN devices identification.

Note that you can use Merlin's ability to rename hosts on your network. NextDNS will soon use this data source in addition to mDNS and DHCP lease to identify LAN devices.

 

[XIII]

I think you are misinterpreting what use-hosts does. When on, it will use the content of the router’s etc/hosts to answer queries. This has nothing to do with LAN devices identification.

Note that you can use Merlin's ability to rename hosts on your network. NextDNS will soon use this data source in addition to mDNS and DHCP lease to identify LAN devices.

Nice!

Can you please support hosts.dnsmasq in /etc as well?

 

[Olivier Poitrey]

Nice!

Can you please support hosts.dnsmasq in /etc as well?

Sure, can you please open a ticket on the github project?

 

[ShelaMonster]

I think you are misinterpreting what use-hosts does. When on, it will use the content of the router’s etc/hosts to answer queries. This has nothing to do with LAN devices identification.

Note that you can use Merlin's ability to rename hosts on your network. NextDNS will soon use this data source in addition to mDNS and DHCP lease to identify LAN devices.

Thanks for the clarification on that!
I'll wait until NextDNS is updated to allow custom Merlin client name reporting.

On random note, my AX-88U will constantly do a ping to Microsoft DNS(v4/v6) to verify router connectivity when setting the WAN DNS to my NextDNS servers manually.
However, when I set DNS to connect to automatically (my ISP DNS) those queries stopped being logged on NextDNS, and probably go to my ISP instead.

Is it likely those queries are going to my ISP, or is the NextDNS router client overriding (silencing) those requests?

Thanks again for all your help and work on this, been using the site for a while via DoT, so I'm excited to see how this evolves. Cheers!

 

[Olivier Poitrey]

Thanks for the clarification on that!
I'll wait until NextDNS is updated to allow custom Merlin client name reporting.

On random note, my AX-88U will constantly do a ping to Microsoft DNS(v4/v6) to verify router connectivity when setting the WAN DNS to my NextDNS servers manually.
However, when I set DNS to connect to automatically (my ISP DNS) those queries stopped being logged on NextDNS, and probably go to my ISP instead.

Is it likely those queries are going to my ISP, or is the NextDNS router client overriding (silencing) those requests?

Thanks again for all your help and work on this, been using the site for a while via DoT, so I'm excited to see how this evolves. Cheers!

Do you have the name that is looked up?

 

[ShelaMonster]

Do you have the name that is looked up?

Will this help?
This is being reported by my Surface Pro, with the client installed.
Usually these are spammed by my router too, but again, they don't show with the router client installed.
Here's my current WAN settings as well.

 

[Olivier Poitrey]

View attachment 21116
Will this help?
This is being reported by my Surface Pro, with the client installed.
Usually these are spammed by my router too, but again, they don't show with the router client installed.
Here's my current WAN settings as well.
View attachment 21117

NextDNS does not filter out those queries, and I see no reason why those queries would go to a different resolver.

 

[dave14305]

NextDNS does not filter out those queries, and I see no reason why those queries would go to a different resolver.

DNS queries originating from the router itself will bypass dnsmasq by default and go directly to the WAN DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. The router uses dns.msftncsi.com to test WAN connectivity. LAN clients will go through dnsmasq and then NextDNS.

 

[ShelaMonster]

DNS queries originating from the router itself will bypass dnsmasq by default and go directly to the WAN DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. The router uses dns.msftncsi.com to test WAN connectivity. LAN clients will go through dnsmasq and then NextDNS.

I even have the DNS query turned off in the Administration tab, but I noticed in addition to these DNS pings, it was also reaching out to TrendMicro often too.
I've since done a router reset and not changed anything DNS/WAN related except installing the NextDNS client, so I'm assuming the TrendMirco pings are dead at least.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

DNS queries originating from the router itself will bypass dnsmasq by default and go directly to the WAN DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. The router uses dns.msftncsi.com to test WAN connectivity. LAN clients will go through dnsmasq and then NextDNS.

nice to see someone listened in RMerlin DNSMASQ skooling... @dave14305

NextDNS does not filter out those queries, and I see no reason why those queries would go to a different resolver.

it would be nice if the user could filter those out of the stats though so the user can easily monitor clients better instead of wasting all that logging and data on router chatter.
("router chatter") - defined as something only useful to the router...

 

[dave14305]

it would be nice if the user could filter those out of the stats though so the user can easily monitor clients better instead of wasting all that logging and data on router chatter.
("router chatter") - defined as something only useful to the router...

Thinking through my earlier answer, I guess the router queries could also end up in NextDNS logs if WAN DNS is set to the NextDNS IP addresses. They would show up without a client name in that scenario. So much focus on the DoH app, but there are many roads to Dublin.

nice to see someone listened in RMerlin DNSMASQ skooling... @dave14305

I have an unhealthy obsession with learning how all these things work. I used to have goals in life. Now I just want to be “Part of the furniture” one day.

 

[Zastoff]

View attachment 21116
Will this help?
This is being reported by my Surface Pro, with the client installed.
Usually these are spammed by my router too, but again, they don't show with the router client installed.
Here's my current WAN settings as well.
View attachment 21117

I saved this to my "remember note file" can`t remember who to credit this to..but it works

dns.msftnci.com probes:
To permanently disable the probing enter this into the terminal, probing will stop immediately:
Code:
nvram set dns_probe=0;nvram set dns_probe_content=;nvram commit
To restore it, enter this:
Code:
nvram set dns_probe=0;nvram set dns_probe_content='131.107.255.255 112.4.20.71 fd3e:4f5a:5b81::1';nvram commit

 

[dave14305]

I saved this to my "remember note file" can`t remember who to credit this to..but it works

Diversion - the Router Ad-Blocker

 

[momall]

I am finding that installing nextdns is breaking my entware installation.
Had this on .13 and now moved to the latest Beta 1 . Has happened from a clean installation.
Any work-arounds or advice to resolve this?

 

[dave14305]

I am finding that installing nextdns is breaking my entware installation.
Had this on .13 and now moved to the latest Beta 1 . Has happened from a clean installation.
Any work-arounds or advice to resolve this?

Are you running nextdns v1.4.26 or higher? It was supposed to fix the Entware issues, but maybe not. @XIII has the same issue.

 

[Olivier Poitrey]

I am finding that installing nextdns is breaking my entware installation.
Had this on .13 and now moved to the latest Beta 1 . Has happened from a clean installation.
Any work-arounds or advice to resolve this?

Is it still happening with the last version?

 

[dave14305]

Is it still happening with the last version?

I just installed 1.4.27 and confirmed the init script was correct, and rebooted. Entware was linked properly on my reboot.

 

[momall]

Is it still happening with the last version?

i used the instructions on the github site. when i query the version, it comes up as 1.4.25...

 

[alekos]

I am finding that installing nextdns is breaking my entware installation.
Had this on .13 and now moved to the latest Beta 1 . Has happened from a clean installation.
Any work-arounds or advice to resolve this?

I have the same issue. Can't keep nextdns installed, keeps breaking entware install. {AC86U - 384.15_beta1}