OpenDNS Working Only Sometimes

lisabarbero · ‎10-22-2018

We have used OpenDNS successfully across our home network for years. I got a new computer and it still worked perfectly. We recently had to update our router (Linksys EA5800) and now it is no longer working consistently. I believe this is not an issue of proxy as the problem must be with the new router.

The name servers are correct in the router settings.

I've disabled IPv6 completely.

Below is the debug info.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

C:\Users\Lisa>nslookup -type=txt debug.opendns.com
Server: resolver1.opendns.com
Address: 208.67.222.222

Non-authoritative answer:
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "server m29.chi"
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "flags 20 0 50 180000000000000000003950000100000000000"
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "originid 169248866"
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "actype 2"
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "bundle 11355870"
debug.opendns.com       text =

        "source 72.230.185.181:63633"

rotblitz · ‎10-23-2018

It was working fine when you executed the command. I cannot see a problem.

Ensure that you fill all three DNS fields with OpenDNS resolver addresses from this list:
208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220 208.67.222.220 208.67.220.222

lisabarbero · ‎10-23-2018

Yes all three of them are filled in. I'm pretty sure this is the bug with Linksys routers - that Linksys is apparently already aware of and doesn't care about. When checking router diagnostic reports, the DNS servers are never set to OpenDNS. No matter that I've changed them in the settings and that they work occassionally, they are never set to OpenDNS nameservers in the diagnostic reports. I've set my firmware back three times with no luck.

We need our network protected for the kids so (unless someone has another answer) it's either get another new router or hope I can find a parental control solution through my ISP. There is a parental control option on the router itself but it's only able to block individual sites per device and not categories. Which means it's basically useless. Ugh. Linksys may be getting a complaint from me. Hopefully they'll decide to do something about this bug if more people speak up.

rotblitz · ‎10-23-2018

It looks like you understand most of the options you have with this issue.

Raise this with Linksys to provide you with a firmware version allowing to consistently use a 3rd party DNS service like OpenDNS.
See also https://support.opendns.com/hc/en-us/articles/228008007
Get another router. (Unfortunately it doesn't look like that there is alternative firmware available like DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT, etc. for this specific Linksys router model. Else this would have been a viable option.)
Use an own internal DNS (and maybe DHCP) server which address is propagated through DHCP and which forwards your DNS traffic to OpenDNS. (This is normally what a router should do.)
Else you still could configure OpenDNS on all related end user devices.

"When checking router diagnostic reports, the DNS servers are never set to OpenDNS."

This is not really the problem, because you cannot configure DNS server addresses on the WAN side on this router, but on the LAN/DHCP side only. So for the WAN side the OpenDNS resolver addresses cannot show up.

If the OpenDNS server addresses are also not displayed for the LAN side, then https://support.opendns.com/hc/en-us/articles/228008007 applies again.

lisabarbero · ‎10-23-2018

Thank you for taking the time to address this. I set the firmware back again and it seems to be working so far today. We'll see if it drops off again. Thanks again. Much appreciated. :)

lisabarbero · ‎10-27-2018

Okay, it's gone down again. Well sort of. The welcome page says I'm using OpenDNS and it blocks the internetbadguys link just fine. However, it's not blocking porn at all. I'm confused as to how it worked for a few days then just stopped again. I'm using the updater app as well. Any thoughts?

rotblitz · ‎10-27-2018

Sure, all thoughts!

The symptoms indicate that your IP address changed, but it was not updated at https://dashboard.opendns.com/settings/
This causes that your dashboard settings don't take effect, but you're using the OpenDNS default settings. It seems your Updater didn't do its job when the IP address changed. Or you inherited an IP address which is still registered by another OpenDNS user, so the Updater was unable to register it for your dashboard.

lisabarbero · ‎10-29-2018

Okay, thanks for that info. My IP matches with what's on my dashboard right now and I'm still experiencing some issues. After your comment, I've decided to switch to Family Shield since the default settings for that service seem to be more in line with what I need. So far, nothing has changed though it's been about an hour and I've reset my router and flushed the dns multiple times. I've also shut down the firewall on my router as an experiment as I suspect it's causing a lot of unnecessary SSL errors. Firefox and IE are both blocking the OpenDNS forums right now due to supposed expired certificates. Which doesn't sound right and makes me wonder if these two issues are related. Anyway, here's hoping it takes effect at some point today.

rotblitz · ‎10-29-2018

Ok, if you're still facing problems, tell them here with deep details, e.g. the domains not being blocked, not just "some issues".

"it's causing a lot of unnecessary SSL errors. Firefox and IE are both blocking the OpenDNS forums right now due to supposed expired certificates."

This indicates a different issue, unrelated to OpenDNS. It looks as if your root CA certificate store is corrupt or something like that.

rotblitz · ‎10-30-2018

I need to correct me regarding "Firefox and IE are both blocking the OpenDNS forums right now due to supposed expired certificates".

Just detected by chance that there were indeed problems with expired certificates: https://status.umbrella.com/#/detail/13
But this should be resolved in the meantime.

Are you still facing problems?