D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => Routers / COVR => DIR-868L => Topic started by: gerrym on October 23, 2014, 12:33:43 PM
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Background: Home network, dual Dlink DNS-321 NAS's, and several other NAS boxes. The Dlink-321's normally maintain master browser... and do a good job. I have an 868L that if given the opportunity to take master browser it will. When the 868l takes over, browsing shared devices stops working correctly. Unplug it from the network for a few minutes and one (or both) the DNS-321's take over... all returns to normal.
I would like to turn off all the NetBIOS services, no easy way that I can see. I have all other shared service off, like media/dlna/usb etc. Still no joy, if the 868L wins the master broswer election... things break.
Has anyone experienced this? 868 is running the latest firmware, no other issues.
Thanks in advance!
Gerry-
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Link>Welcome! (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=48135.0)
- What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under the router case.
- Link>What Firmware (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=47512.0) version is currently loaded? Found on the routers web page under status.
- What region are you located?
Not sure about this one. Most average users have the main host router and it handles all of the processing and management of network services. There maybe a conflict with the behavior and design of the router and having your DNS handle the same services.
Are these enabled by chance under Setup/Networking?
NetBIOS Announcement:
Learn NetBIOS from WAN
What OS platform are you using? ???
From was we can gather, the Master Browser is a Windows Domain service that is handled in Domains, and not in home networks. There maybe a network sniff that needs to be collected so D-Link can review it to see what is going on.
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Learn and Announce are OFF, as are any NetBIOS services I can find (actually disabled where i can find it globally) Running various Win7/Win8 clients, all are in the same workgroup, as is the 868L. Master Browser (NetBIOS) is required to function correctly so all my Windows boxes can browse the NAS devices I have (2 Dlink-321's) and 4 Seagate GoFlex Home. All are Linux based boxes and all use Samba to advertise their shares. Master Browser breaks, all my shares do not browse correctly. It is the 868L's issue. It mucks up the advertising/management when it wins the browser election. It cannot beat out my two Dlink-321 NAS's, but if I have one of them off line even momentarily, the 868L goes for master. If I could shell into it's OS and view a few settings, I might be able to figure it out.
Right now am considering putting the 868L in a 'workgroup' of its own. That would make peace with the rest of my network.
Not how I prefer to do it, but right now...
If you'd like some wireshark captures, be happy to provide them. I've sniffed it a lot and see that this is what is happening... just can't adjust the configuration of the 868L any further... that I can see. As long as either of my DNS-321's is online, they will win the browser election.
I could be overlooking something... but this has been an issue for 4-5 months. As long as the 868L isn't master, all is fine.
Thanks in advance for any other thoughts. Captures... let me know.
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Ok.
I don't see this with my 868L and DNS-345 however I don't have the DNS handling any Master Browser services and maybe there is some differences between the 321 and the 345s. You seem to have a different set up I guess.
I've passed this on to D-Link for review. We may need some sniff samples...
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Thanks for your help.
Hardware version is A1. Firmware is current 1.08. No 'domain', just a workgroup.
Symptoms are with the 868L as master browser, some clients loose their ability to correctly browse the NAS advertised shares using Windows Explorer.
NetBIOS is using its election process to get the master browser determined, due to the absence of a WINS server or flat file like lmhosts. Left to hold these elections it is reacting by its own rules, well... hopefully. Since its Microsoft (and I guess IBM?) aged method, tried and proven... it still serves well I believe for host lookups. At least for local network awareness, since normally is not set in a router to traverse outside its own subnet. Sort of too chatty?
The 868L is apparently configured to advertise itself by an increased 'OS Level', (although not by much?) because it wins the election every time my DLink-321's are unavailable... which is not often. The other 4 non-DLink NAS boxes all have their OS Level set specifically at '2'... which low. The configs on the DNS-321's is not set in their smb.conf, so I'm unable to directly determine their OS Level.
If there is a setting in the 868L's WebGUI to further turn off those services, I'm missing it. Again, I could put it in a different workgroup, but that would still leave me not knowing more about what is going on.
Thanks for your help!
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Ya, I'm thinking this is a configuration or your specialized configuration you use is maybe out of normal design and operation for home networks.
I put my 868L back online last night and using Networking, I saw my DNS-345 listed as a network resource and was able to access the shares I had set up on it using normal access policy. I was able to access the DNS as well with my Mac Book Pro. All this is using pretty much default settings.
I think your configuration maybe a bit beyond the scope of the home router and possibly could be causing issues your seeing.
I'll have D-Link review this and see where to go next...While we wait, you may want to contact your regional D-Link support office and ask either someone in the DNS group or the DIR router series group, level 2 or higher about this.
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Thanks again. I am starting to think that a key to this might be when using the 868L as the dhcp server AND expecting NetBIOS to work correctly. As I go into this further today, after first starting to look for a resolution a few months back, perhaps I needed to do a clean break with NetBIOS and the router.
If the 868L was previously feeding my dhcp clients info by using the "NetBIOS announcement" and its various sub-selections, just turning those off is not enough. I believe... I then needed to go to each client and enable the 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP" setting for things to behave correctly.
It appears changing this setting at each client is fairing well.
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Keep us posted on how it goes. I believe my network adapter settings are for Default NetBIOS Settings and not strict Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. I'm using Windows 7.
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Hi,
in addition to dynamically provide IP addresses DHCP allows to specify a huge amount of additonal configuration parameters for use by DHCP clients in the form of so called DHCP options. For example DHCP options 44 (WINS server address list) and 46 (NetBIOS node type: one of B, P, M, H) govern NetBIOS client behaviour.
In theory, if your LAN consists of only one IP subnet and you do not use a WINS server, in DHCP SERVER SETTINGS of your DIR-868-L you could
- either leave NetBIOS announcement unchecked: In this case a Windows client (at least Windows 7 and later) uses "NetBIOS over TCP/IP", if default setting was not changed.
- or you check NetBIOS announcement, uncheck Learn NetBIOS from WAN, leave NetBIOS scope and WINS IP addresses blank and specify NetBIOS node type=Broadcast only. In this case a Windows client not statically configured will learn these NetBIOS settings via DHCP (at least if default setting was not changed).
In a Windows command shell you can use ipconfig /all to control correct NetBIOS settings:
- In the top section it should show Node Type having the value Broadcast or Hybrid.
- In the network adapter section it should show NetBIOS over Tcpip being Enabled.
- In the network adapter section no WINS servers should be listet.
In addition in a Windows command shell you can use the nbtstat command to do some checks. For example:
- nbtstat -n: Shows the list of all locally used NetBIOS names successfully registered.
- nbtstat -c: Shows the local name cache, which contains all remote NetBIOS names that have been resolved by NetBIOS name resolution. For example, if you want to resolve the computer name of a remote computer (say its name is 'RCOMP') to its IP address via NetBIOS name resolution you can check if this works via the command nbtstat -a RCOMP. Looking again into the local name cache via nbtstat -c it should now have one or more entries for RCOMP showing its IP address.
- Using the command nbtstat -A <IP address> (replace <IP address> by any IP address of a romote device inside your LAN) you can see the list of all NetBIOS names the remote node corresponding to the ip address has successfully registered. If the list contains an entry WNAME <1D>, where WNAME is a symbolic name I am using here to denote the workgroup name you are using inside your LAN, the corresponding device is the master browser for that workgroup. Hence you can check this way, which device is the present master browser (the one having the <1D> entry for the workgroup).
PT
EDIT: In addition on any Windows 7 client make sure you have turned on network discovery in your current (private) network profile as you can see in the "Advanced sharing settings" inside "Network and Sharing Center". In your "Services Manager" check if "Computer Browser" service is started. In order to reset the IP settings of a Windows computer to its defaults, open a command shell with administrative rights and enter the command netsh int ip reset. After that you have to restart the computer.
EDIT2: For background information see
- How Computer Browser Service Works (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc737661%28v=ws.10%29.aspx). Especially be aware of the fact that after a change of the device that holds the master browser function, it can take 12 minutes or more after a full browsing list is visible/available again.
- List of names registered with WINS Service (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119495/en-us): Explains the meaning of the 16th byte (service byte) within NetBIOS names.
- The Computer Browser service uses 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP' as an underlying technique. The principles and details how 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP' works can be found in RFC1001 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1001) and RFC1002 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1002).
Also be aware of the fact that 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP' is a dying technique and that instead of the NetBIOS based browsing method there are other methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-configuration_networking) used by modern Windows systems to enumerate network resources.
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Thank you PT.
Furry bows to PT networking guru. ;D
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Any status on this? ???
Background: Home network, dual Dlink DNS-321 NAS's, and several other NAS boxes. The Dlink-321's normally maintain master browser... and do a good job. I have an 868L that if given the opportunity to take master browser it will. When the 868l takes over, browsing shared devices stops working correctly. Unplug it from the network for a few minutes and one (or both) the DNS-321's take over... all returns to normal.
I would like to turn off all the NetBIOS services, no easy way that I can see. I have all other shared service off, like media/dlna/usb etc. Still no joy, if the 868L wins the master broswer election... things break.
Has anyone experienced this? 868 is running the latest firmware, no other issues.
Thanks in advance!
Gerry-
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My apologies for not getting back up here.
The 868L's dhcp server settings that allow it to pass NetBIOS configuration parameters to dynamically connecting clients, that certainly warranted added clarification and is much appreciated. Those details and more... are needed in the setup guide and online help, no doubt.
For the moment I have those items unchecked in my dhcp server setup. I have manually set all my static and dynamic IP clients to 'Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP'. I do not believe that configuration is influencing the issue I am experiencing, but certainly can adjust any of those parameters as needed. I understand PacketTracer's comments about it being a 'dying breed', but for now I'd prefer to adjust only one thing at a time?
My goal at this point is to see if the 868L can be configured so it does not participate in my local network's NetBIOS traffic as a host with devices to share.
Given the 868L's ability to share devices connected to its USB port, it is necessarily part of the NetBIOS traffic. With that USB sharing disabled, the 868L still participates in browser elections.
Some more background.
Prior to installing the 868L a few months ago, one of my two Dlink-321 NASs would maintain master browser status, and all client browsing worked fine. I purchased the 868L specifically for its 802.11ac capability, not much else. There have been just a handful of times when the 868L takes Master Browser, this evidently has been when the Dlink-321's were off line for a few minutes. Then the 868L is elected as master and some clients are not able to browse the NAS shares correctly. The 868L will not release master when the Dlink-321's come back on the network.
So far the only way to get the 868L to release master is to disconnect it from my network and allow the Dlink-321's to sort out Master. Then all is fine, I can put the 868L back on the network and it loses any browser elections after this.
The Dlink-321's are configured to OS Level 20, set by absence of an explicit OS Level parameter in the global section of their respective smb.conf files. The other 2 NASs are set explicitly to OS Level 2, so they hold little power to win a browser election. Unable to tell how the 868L is configured. But since the Dlink-321's can maintain master when the 868L comes back on line, why must I pull the 868L off line in order for that to happen?
The 868L is configured as my Internet gateway, so it is not handy to have it off the network...
Thanks in advance!
Gerry-
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Hi,
The Dlink-321's are configured to OS Level 20, set by absence of an explicit OS Level parameter in the global section of their respective smb.conf files. The other 2 NASs are set explicitly to OS Level 2, so they hold little power to win a browser election. Unable to tell how the 868L is configured. But since the Dlink-321's can maintain master when the 868L comes back on line, why must I pull the 868L off line in order for that to happen?
According to theory (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc737661%28v=ws.10%29.aspx#w2k3tr_netbro_how_oqjp) in case two potential browsers have the same election criteria, the one that runs longer will win. This might explain why in your case the later starting devices always lose browser election. Maybe you can avoid this situation by setting OS level to 65 for one of your Dlink-321's (details (https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/NetworkBrowsing.html#DMB)).
There have been just a handful of times when the 868L takes Master Browser, this evidently has been when the Dlink-321's were off line for a few minutes. Then the 868L is elected as master and some clients are not able to browse the NAS shares correctly. The 868L will not release master when the Dlink-321's come back on the network.
If only some of your clients were not able to browse the NAS shares there must have been others that were able to do so? But that would mean that the DIR-868L worked fine in its role as master browser because it could send a complete browse list to those clients that were able to browse the NAS shares. Was the inability to browse the NAS shares a permanent failure or did it vanish after having waited long enough (... 12 minutes)?
PT
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PT, Thanks for your attention to this, it is much appreciated. And yep... the theory of election criteria, its like a shell game. Ha. I am starting to think this is the path to the answer though, just need to prove it. I can as you suggest set the OS level of one of the DNS-321's to a higher level, but as they are configured that would only be a temporary fix since the 321s do not like retaining edits to the smb.conf file. I believe there are tricks to accomplish that, but have not explored that methodology. For the moment I would prefer to drill down on this first, not ruling out setting another NAS to a higher OS Level and/or designating one as preferred and OS Levlel 65?
At this point I believe additional progress/info will come from a capture of UDP 137/138/139 while watching the 868L force an election and take master. Prior to the recent addition of my 'new' 868L to the network, the DNS-321's had cooperated as master/backup browser since 2011 or so. 1 DNS-321 will routinely take master and the other takes backup. Since they are identically configured, I always felt it was simply one getting powered up slightly ahead of the other, nothing more.
To the shell game.. If there is a local master (LM) and local backup (LB) on line when anything happens, that can actually extend the typical 12 minute election period if a master 'disappears' less than graceful. (I believe this is what started my situation, i.e. the 321s were being tested with MTU tweaks for jumbo packets) With this 'lost master suddenly' condition 3 election cycles of about 11-12 minutes will go by while the others wait patiently for 'their master' to return. If there was also a backup, as in my case... you can add 15 minutes because of their update process. So worst on this network could be... 51 minutes. UGH. Perhaps... this is key?
I don't think I've ever been THAT patient...having thought shorter periods were seemingly my norm because elections were over in much shorter times. (As evidenced by restoration of client browsing and/or nbstat queries). But timing as observed and timing as computed by 'theory' should ultimately yield the same result for this to work. (hmmm wait 52 mins... ugh) The Dlink DNS-321's recover master browser in minutes if I just disconnect the 868L router by pulling its RJ45 feeding my first switch. That disconnect would seemingly (theory again) constitute a non-graceful departure of a master, but my Dlink-321's don't appear to wait around the theoretical 3 election cycles after a master disappears in that manner. They have their master (and occasionally one as backup) status back in just a few minutes.
In the absence of being able to see the smb.conf settings on the 868L, just judging by its past behavior it seems empowered to grab master and hold it... perhaps it has a 'Preferred Master' setting? Ugh. That would get the 868L another 8 'points' in the election criteria and put it as the winner. And since the Dlink-321's would have participated in that election and lost, they will disqualify themselves and not try to grab it back?
I am curious now... if perhaps the 868L has a 'preferred master' set in its configuration. Will have to capture some packets and watch. Just replaced all my switches with 4 Dlink DGS-1100 Smart Switches so perhaps a capture via a mirror'd port would make for a cleaner capture.
Using Wireshark looking at past UDP 138 captures, the content in the packet info section (so far) does not seem to be but so explicit relative to an election, perhaps I have missed it. Perhaps I need to filter 137 and 139 into the mix as well to see who chats to the 868L.
Cannot break the network with live efforts going on though.... :-\
CAVEAT: Dlink products have a growing place on my network. If I just KNEW how the 868L is configured explicitly that might simplify my effort here. Any chance of obtaining THAT information before wading through packet captures? ::)
Thanks again!
Gerry-
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Hi,
Using Wireshark looking at past UDP 138 captures, the content in the packet info section (so far) does not seem to be but so explicit relative to an election, perhaps I have missed it. Perhaps I need to filter 137 and 139 into the mix as well to see who chats to the 868L.
Cannot break the network with live efforts going on though.... :-\
CAVEAT: Dlink products have a growing place on my network. If I just KNEW how the 868L is configured explicitly that might simplify my effort here. Any chance of obtaining THAT information before wading through packet captures? ::)
I'm afraid you have to "wade through packet captures" to see from "RequestElection" browser frames that are broadcast by your DIR-868L at startup (e.g. after a reboot) how it is configured. In Wireshark just enter a filter called "browser" to get all frames of the "browser protocol" (UDP packets destined to port 138 with the following nested contents: NetBIOS Datagram Service | SMB | SMB Mailslot Protocol | Microsoft Windows Browser Protocol). The definitions can be found here (https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-leach-cifs-browser-spec-00) (especially chapters 6.7 and 6.8 ). Since these packets are broadcast you can see them at any LAN client you run Wireshark on, hence you don't need to capture via a switch mirror port.
PT
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Thanks PT, always good references to review, pointers and follow up challenges. That is much appreciated. I hope to capture a couple different sessions over this weekend. Good point that since this is broadcast it should be everywhere. My comment about 'knowing' how the 868L is configured... perhaps a wishful thought. Short of Dlink sharing the configuration specifics or someone finding a way to access the 868L's OS, this is the technique we are left with for the moment.
Having OS level access to the Dlink-321 NAS boxes and 2 other NAS boxes on this network has been quite beneficial when issues/questions arise. Given the 868L is relatively new on the scene and Dlink home consumer targeted... frustrating might be a bit harsh but certainly challenging is not. 8)
Dlink should add documentation on items you have expanded on like the NetBIOS parameters in the 868L dhcp server. Also its inability to direct dhcp clients to explicit DNS servers and not having to tolerate dovetailing the defaults given the 868L by my ISP's dhcp source. Sorry... off thread topic. Will get 2 more out of this at some future point. :-D
Gerry-
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You might task Ivan over on the DNS threads to have a look at this and see if he has any recommendations.
As for DNS, you can use custom DNS addresses and then turn OFF DNS Relay (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=45143.0). Then all connected clients will get the DNS addresses you specified.
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You might task Ivan over on the DNS threads to have a look at this and see if he has any recommendations.
As for DNS, you can use custom DNS addresses and then turn OFF DNS Relay (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=45143.0). Then all connected clients will get the DNS addresses you specified.
Thanks for the pointer to the DNS threads. Definitely could see if anything over there clears up and issue I am seeing with DNS.
Don't want to morph/hijack my thread, but would like you to know that setting DNS relay to disabled does not work exactly as above for me. Unless there is something I am missing...
And reading the 'HELP' inside the router's webgui is a bit ambiguous and does not tell all of what goes on with DNS Relay disabled.
DNS Relay enabled works as stated in the HELP, i.e. connected dhcp clients receive lookups courtesy of the 868 going out and querying my ISP's DNS servers.
With DNS Relay disabled, the 868's dhcp server will assign each connecting dhcp client its primary and secondary DNS based on the manual configuration settings you place in DNS under the "Internet Connection Type". Not a clearly labeled 'custom' location for passing settings to the 868's dhcp server, but if it stopped there perhaps I would find it a bit more tolerable.
But with DNS relay disabled and the 868's Internet Connection Type configured as dhcp (as many are), then the 868L continues 1 additional step. It adds DNS servers from the ISP's dhcp server setup as as tertiary and quaternary for dhcp assigned clients.
These dhcp assignments being tertiary and beyond... ah well... likely not getting hit often. Likely and not often is not what I desire. :( I subscribe to a DNS service that does blacklists/whitelists/filtering, my ISP does none of that.
It would be helpful for dhcp's DNS server settings to be on the dhcp server setup screen and labeled as such. As it is they are somewhere else and not clearly labeled as applying to clients connection to the 868's dhcp server. The 868's dhcp setup screen has places to configure Primary and Secondary WINS so it would be good to have explicit DNS entries there as well. Just my thinking.
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What FW version are you using?
I'll have a look at mine this evening. We saw a similar issue like this with DNS Relay disabled and seeing additional ISP DNS in addition to the custom selected addresses making it a total of 4 addresses being seen on client devices. I believe I'm not seeing this with my router...
There was just a recent post here in the forums where the user said he saw the same thing however he was able to stop the extra DNS from showing up while using custom DNS by going to his ISP web site and disabling something about DNS. I'll try and find the post. Found it:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=60932.0 (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=60932.0)
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Thanks. Firmware is 1.08. But I just looked and there is a 1.08B07 dated 7/30/2014. Hmmm... could have sworn when I looked a few weeks ago just 1.08 from May 29, 2014 was there. Strange.
The release note for 1.08B07 does have an entry that says:
- Fix WAN DHCP Renewal bug
More info/specifics on that 'bug' would be appreciated. Blindly jumping from my 1.08 to 1.08B07... not my preference. Interesting also is that 1.08 is no longer listed on the support page.
And.. looking at my current setup, today I am getting 5 DNS servers in my IP config. 2 from my custom entries and 3 from my ISP.
UGH. I have been unable to find a way to configure dhcp differently to retain just the 2 from my custom config. Well, shy of manually configuring DNS at each client.
Will watch for another post if you find it... I am not aware of my ISP providing a way to configure how my router's ethernet port connected to the cable modem can have its dhcp connection's DNS settings changed. But that could work I suppose.
At this point today I have made some progress, but am in the middle of constructing the post.
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A quick review of the issue:
My initial issue was that the DIR-868L 'appeared' to be confusing the NetBIOS browser announcements and election process on my local network. By confusing I simply mean network shares did not browse correctly and consistently across multiple clients, when the 868L had its status as MASTER. I was not able to easily disable this, but could pull the cable feeding my local network at the back of the 868L.
With it abruptly offline for a few minutes, one of my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes would win the MASTER browser status, and all browsing was then apparently 'fine'.
So I looked for a quick/simple way to disable the 868L's participation in NetBIOS 'host announcements' since it was a new device (at that time) on my network, and I just needed it excluded from the process. Longer term I needed a better solution.
My first attempts at 'longer term' involved trying to disable the DIR-868L's participation in this process by using the WebGUI and disabling Media Server features for each service listed ( DLNA, Itunes, USB 3.0 ). Disabling all of these did not prevent the 868L from participating in NetBIOS 'host announcement' transactions on my local network, leaving it 'available' to compete for master at future times.
A quick update from efforts over this past weekend: ( quick read / workaround = remove any USB connected media and reboot 868L )
1. In the Media Server screen of the 868L's WebGUI, the USB 3.0 port has settings of 'Enabled' and 'Disabled'. These merely change the flavor of the USB port from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 (per the latest documentation) These settings do not control the USB port being a member of the devices shared by the media server. Inside the WebGUI built in "HELP" for the 868L, this USB port is not addressed.
2. If any media is plugged into the USB port on the rear of the 868L, the 868L will start a process for sharing this media, and begin NetBIOS host announcements for that device. The 868L will not stop advertising these even if they are pulled from the USB port. I waited for over an hour to see if this would change. It did not.
3. The 868L will stop the host announcements if, after you remove any USB media from the USB port, you warm boot (or cold boot) the 868L.
4. IF you just remove the USB media and do not reboot the 868L, it will still participate in host announcements, and it will attempt to gain Master Browser if an election is started. Its election process packets indicate it has a OS Level 20, and competes with my 2 Dlink DNS-321's which are also OS Level 20. The winner will be the device with the longest uptime.
5. For the moment the work-around is = no media attached to the USB port.
6. Another workaround is likely just putting the 868L in a different workgroup. Not one I'd prefer but at this point that would suffice.
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Thanks. Firmware is 1.08. But I just looked and there is a 1.08B07 dated 7/30/2014. Hmmm... could have sworn when I looked a few weeks ago just 1.08 from May 29, 2014 was there. Strange.
Looking back at the forum history, There was a EU B03 build of v1.08 that was never intro'd here in the NA region. We went from v1.07 to v1.08 B07 for the NA region. I'll look at my repo at home as see what I have. I don't recall at the moment.
The release note for 1.08B07 does have an entry that says:
- Fix WAN DHCP Renewal bug
More info/specifics on that 'bug' would be appreciated. Blindly jumping from my 1.08 to 1.08B07... not my preference. Interesting also is that 1.08 is no longer listed on the support page.
I'll try and get specifics however I don't know if I can. I have B07 currently loaded and it's working very well.
And.. looking at my current setup, today I am getting 5 DNS servers in my IP config. 2 from my custom entries and 3 from my ISP.
UGH. I have been unable to find a way to configure dhcp differently to retain just the 2 from my custom config. Well, shy of manually configuring DNS at each client.
Will watch for another post if you find it... I am not aware of my ISP providing a way to configure how my router's ethernet port connected to the cable modem can have its dhcp connection's DNS settings changed. But that could work I suppose.
At this point today I have made some progress, but am in the middle of constructing the post.
I found it and posted the link. Apparently on Charter, they have some option to stop DNS redirects. Seem to fix the one users multiple DNS addresses appearing on his DIR-645.
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So to get around this Master Browser conflict, you have to disable Media Server on the router and remove the USB drive from the router and reboot is all?
A quick review of the issue:
My initial issue was that the DIR-868L 'appeared' to be confusing the NetBIOS browser announcements and election process on my local network. By confusing I simply mean network shares did not browse correctly and consistently across multiple clients, when the 868L had its status as MASTER. I was not able to easily disable this, but could pull the cable feeding my local network at the back of the 868L.
With it abruptly offline for a few minutes, one of my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes would win the MASTER browser status, and all browsing was then apparently 'fine'.
So I looked for a quick/simple way to disable the 868L's participation in NetBIOS 'host announcements' since it was a new device (at that time) on my network, and I just needed it excluded from the process. Longer term I needed a better solution.
My first attempts at 'longer term' involved trying to disable the DIR-868L's participation in this process by using the WebGUI and disabling Media Server features for each service listed ( DLNA, Itunes, USB 3.0 ). Disabling all of these did not prevent the 868L from participating in NetBIOS 'host announcement' transactions on my local network, leaving it 'available' to compete for master at future times.
A quick update from efforts over this past weekend: ( quick read / workaround = remove any USB connected media and reboot 868L )
1. In the Media Server screen of the 868L's WebGUI, the USB 3.0 port has settings of 'Enabled' and 'Disabled'. These merely change the flavor of the USB port from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 (per the latest documentation) These settings do not control the USB port being a member of the devices shared by the media server. Inside the WebGUI built in "HELP" for the 868L, this USB port is not addressed.
2. If any media is plugged into the USB port on the rear of the 868L, the 868L will start a process for sharing this media, and begin NetBIOS host announcements for that device. The 868L will not stop advertising these even if they are pulled from the USB port. I waited for over an hour to see if this would change. It did not.
3. The 868L will stop the host announcements if, after you remove any USB media from the USB port, you warm boot (or cold boot) the 868L.
4. IF you just remove the USB media and do not reboot the 868L, it will still participate in host announcements, and it will attempt to gain Master Browser if an election is started. Its election process packets indicate it has a OS Level 20, and competes with my 2 Dlink DNS-321's which are also OS Level 20. The winner will be the device with the longest uptime.
5. For the moment the work-around is = no media attached to the USB port.
6. Another workaround is likely just putting the 868L in a different workgroup. Not one I'd prefer but at this point that would suffice.
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So to get around this Master Browser conflict, you have to disable Media Server on the router and remove the USB drive from the router and reboot is all?
Browser conflict, perhaps a bit harsh since this 'workaround' was a step in troubleshooting the 868L's arrival on my network. The workaround is the only thing I have found that will disable any NetBIOS host announcements from the 868L, the first step in assessing if it is causing the situation I was seeing. :)
Now that I know I can turn its participation off, I feel comfortable taking another step, i.e. letting it keep Master Browser for a bit and seeing what shakes out next. :)
I have the DLNA and ITunes options on the Media Server page of the 868L's WebGUI config set to disabled. I have not tried them in other settings to see if that impacts this particular problem.
Removing any device attached to the USB port and warm booting the 868L ( from the WebGUI ) seems sufficient to keep the 868L NetBIOS host announcements completely quiet. The 868L still responds to nbtstat packets from other devices, but does not reply with a host announcement, indicating (to me) that the shared devices are no longer being hosted by the 868L. Since no shares are being hosted by the 868L it has nothing to advertise, and will not compete for master browser/backup etc.
Of note is that with the packet captures, I clearly saw the 868L runs at OS Level 20, so perhaps is configured similar to the Samba servers on my Dlink DNS-321 NAS boxes. It's host election participation packets seem to indicate no component in its configuration that would push it to a higher priority. A good thing to know.
Thanks for all the help to this point, it is much appreciated.
You mentioned posting a link for the Charter DNS setting adjustments. Must be missing that post, or not seeing it in your posts above? Argh....
Thanks again!
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I'll try and get specifics however I don't know if I can. I have B07 currently loaded and it's working very well.
Oh so very strange. EU and NA releases, I am certain I saw only 1.08 'vanilla' in the past, not any B03 though. And the appearance of 1.08B7 was like.... ugh, now where did 1.08 go, and 1.08 is not in the release history. ??
http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DIR-868L (http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DIR-868L) is where I look for updates. Nothing to lead me to believe anything for EU specific application.
I have downloaded 1.08B7 but would prefer to see if you can get further info regarding what was in the release note about WAN dhcp renewal bug.
Thanks again. :-)
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I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.
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I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.
Interesting and perhaps understandable because of configuration control. Dlink must consider the 1.08x chain as current, and updated increments between that and 1.07x are purged from customer downloads. Same with prior versions inside the 1.07x chain. Understand.
My 868L was purchased in late Feb 2014 came with 1.07B02 which was released 01/02/2014.
In early June I found 1.08 dated 05/29/2014 on the support site and updated.
My 868L is listed inside the WebGUI as Hardware Version A1 and Firmware version 1.08 (dated 05/29/2014)
Will await your quest for added info on the 'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' listed in the current 1.08B07 variant release notes.
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Just wanted to thank Packet Tracer again for the earlier assistance. All your information was very good, informative and much appreciated.
Packet captures definitely yielded solid information regarding the 868L's smb/samba server configuration. Analyzing those captures also added some good knowledge to the pool here about the browser election process. Yep!
Thanks again PT!!
Gerry-
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Yes, They may have removed it for safety reasons.
That is the same date code I have for B03 so it's probably the same.
I presume that the 'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' was a fix that they found in the behavior in the route communicating with some ISP modems is all. I have never had a problem or saw this issue. The FW is safe and stable to upgrade. It's what I'm using currently.
I do have a v1.08 B06 in my list that was back in June which maybe I was thinking about.
Interesting and perhaps understandable because of configuration control. Dlink must consider the 1.08x chain as current, and updated increments between that and 1.07x are purged from customer downloads. Same with prior versions inside the 1.07x chain. Understand.
My 868L was purchased in late Feb 2014 came with 1.07B02 which was released 01/02/2014.
In early June I found 1.08 dated 05/29/2014 on the support site and updated.
My 868L is listed inside the WebGUI as Hardware Version A1 and Firmware version 1.08 (dated 05/29/2014)
Will await your quest for added info on the 'WAN Fix DHCP renewal bug' listed in the current 1.08B07 variant release notes.