Pace 921VNX Connection-specific DNS suffix

G

grimstoner

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2009
Messages
311
Reaction score
0
From what I'm seeing, the Pace 921VNX I bought at Telkom has a firmware bug. The Connection-Specific DNS Suffix points to an external address (gateway.pace.net). There anyway to change this setting?

Basically, my OpenElec machine can't reach my OpenMediaVault machine by name, I have to use an IP address. Running DHCP this could become an issue.

Is there new firmware available?
 
The latest firmware (B41006-TelkomSA9-74473) is available here:

http://www.sizwebroadband.co.za/content/pace-921vnx

It is old, beginning of 2013, and you are probably already running it. I can confirm it does have this problem, local host names are resolved to yourhostname.gateway.pace.net, so I have resorted to fixed IP addresses for the moment.

You might be able to do something with some software called putty detailed in this post:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/558053-PACE-921VNX-Static-DNS

However, that is a bit beyond my ken.

If you find a solution, do post back...

<edit>, this only happens over http for me, I can still address other machines by name in Windows explorer using the standard \\hostname nomenclature.

Phaedrus
 
Last edited:
<Sigh>, I have done some further research, and this appears to be a general problem with Pace routers :sick:. This article refers:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?topicid=115480

Having read through that thread it would appear that the poor folks in NZ finally got a firmware fix in June, but while it fixed the specific DNS suffix issue, it also introduced other bugs. See the very last post on page 4.

I am going to write to Sizwe Broadband referring to this thread specifically and request a firmware fix for this issue, the same as NZ, and will update this post with their reply.

I am still running on ADSL2+ 10 Mb, but am due to be upgraded to 40Mb VDSL in the next few days. However, I am further concerned that the Upstream SNR that the Pace 921VNX is reporting is below par (7.1dB), it is about 5dB less than my previous router was reporting on the line (12dB).

Phaedrus
 
Seriously considering returning this router. You can of course bypass this by disabling the DHCP on the router, and running DHCP on another device.
 
Thanks Ponder.

I will follow up with them and Pace directly if I don't hear back from Sizwe. I haven't yet, just a standard automated response.

Since the firmware on the router is Telkom specific and Sizwe is the local agent, it really aught to be taken up by them.

ponder said:
The firmware was written by a company called BeWAN which Pace acquired.
Click to expand...
 
IdlePhaedrus said:
Thanks Ponder.

I will follow up with them and Pace directly if I don't hear back from Sizwe. I haven't yet, just a standard automated response.

Since the firmware on the router is Telkom specific and Sizwe is the local agent, it really aught to be taken up by them.
Click to expand...

Would you mind dumping your firmware and uploading it for me somewhere or email it, should be about 16MB in size.
 
IdlePhaedrus said:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/558053-PACE-921VNX-Static-DNS
Click to expand...

Figured it out with the help of this post:

1. Get putty, open an SSH connection to your router's IP address
2. Login with:
username: admin
password: nology*/4
3. As in the above article, the following commands are case sensitive:
3.1 cd Device
3.2 set Domain
* note: the above statement is typed as set<space>Domain<space>. From the help set command output, it states that not specifying a value resets the value to its default value. In this case, its nothing
3.3 fcommit
3.4 exit (or close the putty window)

Then did an ipconfig /renew on my machine, and the Connection-specific DNS suffix is gone.
 
Thanks Grimstoner

I tried this, but didn't get it to work. Still no word from Sizwe.

Ponder, will try work out how to dump the firmware, but unlikely to happen today.

grimstoner said:
Figured it out with the help of this post:

1. Get putty, open an SSH connection to your router's IP address
2. Login with:
username: admin
password: nology*/4
3. As in the above article, the following commands are case sensitive:
3.1 cd Device
3.2 set Domain
* note: the above statement is typed as set<space>Domain<space>. From the help set command output, it states that not specifying a value resets the value to its default value. In this case, its nothing
3.3 fcommit
3.4 exit (or close the putty window)

Then did an ipconfig /renew on my machine, and the Connection-specific DNS suffix is gone.
Click to expand...
 
IdlePhaedrus said:
Thanks Grimstoner

I tried this, but didn't get it to work. Still no word from Sizwe.

Ponder, will try work out how to dump the firmware, but unlikely to happen today.
Click to expand...

Where do you get stuck? Its defo working, could you at least login?
 
Thanks Grimstoner

Yes, logged in and followed all the steps, but it didn't seem to want to take initially even with a /renew. It is working now, looks like it wanted a restart.

Much appreciated,
Phaedrus
 
Thanks Kopite, that is interesting. I have not had a response from Sizwe Broadband, so I have now written to Pace directly asking if this version of the firmware is generally available for download. I will further try to contact Sizwe Broadband by phone, but not holding out much hope there given their lack of response to previous communication.

<edit>

Does the version you have also suffer from the DNS suffix issue?

KOPITE said:
I'm running on B41006-TelkomSA9.2-94694
Click to expand...
 
Just spoke to Sizwe Broadband. The nice lady said they get the firmware from Telkom and that they were not aware of a newer version, however, she would follow up with Telkom and get back to me regarding the version that Kopite has.

Phaedrus
 
Sizwe / Nology has kindly provided me with the firmware for version B41006-TelkomSA9.2-94694:

http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/75546140/file.html

I will not have time to test this until the weekend, but if you would like to upgrade please don't blame me if your box is bricked.

They have also passed this issue and others I raised to second level support. I will report back when I hear back from them.

If anyone does upgrade, please report back with any issues or thoughts....

Phaedrus
 
Thanks for getting the firmware for us!

I tried it to see if it might improve my noise margin, but sadly no difference.

I only us this as a modem so I'm not sure if the upgrade cures the dns suffix issue.

It works flawlessly - pretty much the same as before :)


IdlePhaedrus said:
Sizwe / Nology has kindly provided me with the firmware for version B41006-TelkomSA9.2-94694:

http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/75546140/file.html

I will not have time to test this until the weekend, but if you would like to upgrade please don't blame me if your box is bricked.

They have also passed this issue and others I raised to second level support. I will report back when I hear back from them.

If anyone does upgrade, please report back with any issues or thoughts....

Phaedrus
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ian,

Thanks for letting us know.

SNR is on the list of issues that has gone to second line support. I will put together a new thread here when I get a response from them. My upstream SNR on my previous router was 12. It went down to 6.1 when I installed the Pace.

I have managed to improve the SNR by +- 1db in both directions by replacing the copper cabling between the wall socket and all attached devices, using the Pace supplied splitter and ensuring reasonable separation from other electrical wiring and devices.

This is something you might like to try, however, in my case with upstream SNR specifically, the numbers still look a dodgy and the improvement was minimal.

Phaedrus
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X