Dynamic DNS with DynDns.org not updating reliably

[cover]

Thanks for the replies. I’m including a portion of my logs below. (I had to remove the full dyndns host name to post because the forum software considers it a link.)

I think it does update properly on failover and recovery at least some of the time. Based on the log, it updated correctly on Aug. 3. But, on more than one occasion DDNS has been left on the mobile internet address.

This is particularly problematic because it isn’t just a slow link – it becomes a dead link. Since I don’t know the new primary WAN 1 IP after recovery, there’s no way to reach the router or my network remotely to correct the situation.

On Aug 6 after a power cycle, the log suggests that DDNS was updated for Mobile Internet even though WAN 1 was up and functional and Mobile was disconnected. That may have led to my most recent incident.

Aug 08 10:55:02 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.42) login successful
Aug 08 10:54:57 Admin: admin (192.168.0.42) login failed
Aug 07 14:25:58 System: Changes applied
Aug 07 14:22:42 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.99) login successful
Aug 07 14:16:29 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.99) login successful
Aug 06 17:35:59 System: Time synchronization successful
Aug 06 17:35:31 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 06 17:35:25 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 06 17:35:24 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 06 17:35:24 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 06 17:35:05 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 06 17:35:02 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 06 17:34:47 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)
Aug 06 17:33:03 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)
Aug 05 06:03:56 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 05 06:03:50 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 05 06:03:49 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 05 06:00:32 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 05 06:00:31 WAN: Mobile Internet connected (10.21.140.121)
Aug 05 05:59:48 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (No cable detected)
Aug 04 01:39:26 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 04 01:39:16 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 04 01:39:15 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 04 01:22:12 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 04 01:22:11 WAN: Mobile Internet connected (10.89.192.158)
Aug 04 01:22:00 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (WAN failed DNS test)
Aug 03 19:10:07 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.57) login successful
Aug 03 02:06:25 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 03 02:06:16 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 03 02:06:15 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 03 00:15:30 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 03 00:15:29 WAN: Mobile Internet connected (10.15.217.57)
Aug 03 00:15:19 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (WAN failed DNS test)
Jul 31 07:10:42 System: Changes applied
Jul 31 07:05:51 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.142) login successful
Jul 26 04:45:51 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Jul 26 04:45:42 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Jul 26 04:45:41 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Jul 26 04:41:36 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Jul 26 04:41:35 WAN: Mobile Internet connected (10.168.29.83)
Jul 26 04:41:24 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (WAN failed DNS test)
Jul 21 18:41:12 Admin: msdowdie (107.77.234.135) login successful
Jul 18 16:42:44 System: Changes applied
Jul 18 16:40:44 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.42) login successful
Jul 18 14:23:07 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.142) login successful
Jul 18 14:23:07 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.142) login successful
Jul 18 03:45:57 System: Time synchronization successful
Jul 18 03:45:30 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Jul 18 03:45:22 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Jul 18 03:45:21 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)

[cover]

I power cycled the Balance again as a test. It appears that after a power cycle, DDNS is initially updated to WAN 1 but is then updated for WAN 2 Mobile. WAN 2 Mobile is correctly disconnected in favor of WAN 1, but DDNS is not updated. So DDNS remains set to an invalid WAN 2 Mobile IP address. I confirmed this with lookups on a PC. The log and my tests on the PC are in agreement that the last DDNS update is for a Mobile address which then goes away.

Aug 08 11:29:17 System: Time synchronization successful
Aug 08 11:28:48 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 08 11:28:41 DDNS: Domain msdowdie.dyndns.org updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 08 11:28:40 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 08 11:28:21 DDNS: Domain msdowdie.dyndns.org updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 08 11:28:20 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 08 11:28:19 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.42) login successful
Aug 08 11:28:06 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)

[Rick-DC]

Precisely. That was the issue I’ve raised previously.

[sitloongs]

@cover

d successful

Good catch @cover. Base on the event logs, there may be a glitch for the DDNS update when the device startup. Let’s me further check on this and update the post shortly. If confirm the issue we sure can raise this for the fixes.

Suspected logs:

Occurrence 1:
Aug 06 17:35:31 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 06 17:35:25 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 06 17:35:24 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 06 17:35:24 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 06 17:35:05 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 06 17:35:02 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 06 17:34:47 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)

Occurrence 2:
Aug 08 11:29:17 System: Time synchronization successful
Aug 08 11:28:48 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 08 11:28:41 DDNS: Domain msdowdie.dyndns.org updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 08 11:28:40 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 08 11:28:21 DDNS: Domain msdowdie.dyndns.org updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 08 11:28:20 WAN: WAN 1 connected (73.2.195.8)
Aug 08 11:28:19 Admin: msdowdie (192.168.0.42) login successful
Aug 08 11:28:06 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)

@Rick-DC
DYNDNS update using the same hostname/domain for the WANs as for now only suggested for Active Standby WAN deployment. DYNDNS update will send when WAN Status changed.

[sitloongs]

@sitloongs

obile Internet disconne

Tried to simulated this in my device but i failed to reproduce the isssue. Please check the logs below:

Aug 09 02:24:54 DDNS: Domain mypeplink.myftp.info updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 09 02:24:52 WAN: WAN 1 connected (192.168.52.27)
Aug 09 02:24:23 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (No device detected)
Aug 09 02:24:08 DDNS: Domain mypeplink.myftp.info updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 09 02:24:07 WAN: Mobile Internet connected to Celcom (10.120.149.1)
Aug 09 02:23:53 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (No cable detected)
Aug 09 02:17:04 DDNS: Domain mypeplink.myftp.info updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 09 02:17:02 WAN: WAN 1 connected (192.168.52.27)
Aug 09 02:16:51 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (No device detected)
Aug 09 02:12:26 DDNS: Domain mypeplink.myftp.info updated successfully for Mobile Internet
Aug 09 02:12:25 WAN: Mobile Internet connected to Celcom (10.147.99.247)
Aug 09 02:12:07 WAN: WAN 1 disconnected (No cable detected)
Aug 09 02:07:54 Admin: admin (192.168.2.10) login successful
Aug 09 02:07:50 System: Time synchronization successful
Aug 09 02:07:03 DDNS: Domain mypeplink.myftp.info updated successfully for WAN 1
Aug 09 02:07:00 WAN: WAN 1 connected (192.168.52.27)
Aug 09 02:06:37 System: Started up (7.0.1 build 2988)

May i know any specific steps to reproduce the issue ? Just reboot the device ?

From the logs below:
Occurrence 1:
Aug 06 17:35:24 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 06 17:35:05 DDNS: Domain dyndns updated successfully for WAN 1

Occurrence 2:
Aug 08 11:28:40 WAN: Mobile Internet disconnected (Cold standby)
Aug 08 11:28:21 DDNS: Domain msdowdie.dyndns.org updated successfully for WAN 1

I see that around 20 seconds gap when the Mobile Internet disconnected. Anything to do to triggered the disconnection ?

[cover]

I did nothing but simply pull the power cord on the Balance One, then power it back up. WAN 1 link remained up and available while the Balance rebooted. WAN 2 USB cellular modem remained attached.

I don’t see why it would ever update DDNS with the WAN 2 cellular ip during the boot process. It should just use WAN 1.

It appeared to connect to WAN 1 quickly after booting and did not appear to disconnect from WAN 1 or connect to WAN 2.

[sitloongs]

This is really weird. I tried again still can’t get what happen for your device.

Please open a support ticket here for us to check on the issue.

Possible please include the diagnostic report for the the device for us to investigate this.

Obtaining a Diagnostic Report from a Peplink Balance or Pepwave MAX Device

At times you may be requested by Support to provide a Diagnostic Report. Or, when opening a new ticket, you can also attach one together with descriptions and reproducibility of your issue. Please follow the steps below to obtain a Diagnostic Report from a Peplink or Pepwave device: Connect to the Web Admin Interface with a web browser. Go to Status > Device. Click the Download button next to the Diagnostic Report field. A prompt will appear for saving the file containing the Diagnostic Re…

[cover]

Support ticket opened. Thanks,

[sitloongs]

Thank you for the update. Let’s investigate this from the device. My test device can’t reproduce the issue

[vtjballeng]

Was there a resolution to this issue? I had an outage and experienced precisely the same problem with a Balance 305 on firmware 8.0.2 build 2721.

[cover]

If I recall correctly, each WAN connection handles its dynamic DNS separately. I had hoped that there would be one master dynamic DNS that is updated whenever the WAN connection changes, but that is not the case. In the end, I set up a different ddns host names for each WAN connection and they update independently. This severely limits the usefulness of the router’s ddns for me, so I run a separate ddns update client on a PC with a third host name to act as the master/current ddns address.

[vtjballeng]

Thanks. That seems pretty absurd given the intended use of the Peplink routers. I need to be able to point to 1 location. My primary is Comcast and backup is Verizon AC791L here and after this Comcast outage it ended up hanging with Verizon DDNS as the last update despite Comcast coming back online.

Having something that pushes a DDNS update after WAN cycling seems pretty basic. I didn’t have an issue in my much older & cheaper Cradlepoint MBR1400 before this Peplink Balance 305 or a Netgear FVX before that.

I’m aware of the mypeplink service but strongly prefer to use dyndns because of it’s integration with other systems.

[cover]

My situation is similar. Comcast with backup failover to AT&T cellular. It would be helpful for the that the router to update a DDNS host to the current active WAN IP.

However, I also found recently that the AT&T cellular WAN IP address is next to useless because it is behind carrier level NAT. Nothing can initiate a connection from the internet back to the NATed IP address.

To solve this, I’d need either a VPN connection or maybe SpeedFusion so that the router is actually reachable when using the AT&T cellular WAN. Comcast isn’t currently unreliable enough to justify the time and trouble.

[vtjballeng]

@cover

similar. Comcast with backup failover to AT&T cellular. It would be helpful for the that the router to update a DDNS host to the current active WAN IP.

However, I also found recently that the AT&T cellular WAN IP address is next to useless because it is behind carrier level NAT. Nothing can initiate a connection from the internet back to the NATed IP address.

To solve this, I’d need either a VPN connection or maybe SpeedFusion so that the router is actually reachable when using the AT&T cellular WAN. Comcast isn’t currently unreliable enough to justify the

We paid for a dedicated IP with Verizon and had an LG-VL600 with our Cradlepoint which worked well until they deprecated the 4G bands it uses. I think we’ll end up on SpeedFusion using a Vultr instance but want the failover to work before we get to that thus needing DDNS to work correctly in the Peplink Balance 305. It looks like the Verizon USB730L might work instead of our AC791L and maybe a direct USB modem on AT&T would work for you if they offer a business IP service like Verizon does (for a fee).

[cover]

The dedicated IP is a good suggestion. Right now, my backup AT&T connection is $10/month using a family shared data plan. It keeps us going inside the LAN if Comcast when Comcast is down. It would be good to have a solution that allows incoming connections over AT&T. It would take a lot more downtime on Comcast to justify the money and effort to pay for a dedicated IP.

[zegor_mjol]

There are a number of ways to slice this one.

First of all, you need a routable IP address - one reachable from the outside. If your connections are behind a (carrier) NAT then you need to set up a connection to (and by way of) some outside router, e.g., a fusionhub.

Secondly, assume that you have routable IP address(es) to the WAN interface(s) of the device (be they dynamic or static) then Peplink is offering a DNS name for each interface of the device though its Incontrol2 registration. And in particular it defines a hostname for the IP address employed by the device to connect to IC2. That may vay over time (as connections are enabled or disabled).

E.g., assume your router is a Balance One, with two WAN interfaces. Assume further that you have named it “MyBalanceOne” in IC2, and have activated the “Find My Peplink Address” feature.

Your internet hostname will then be “MyBalanceOne.mypep.link”

Your WAN-1 interface will be “wan-1.MyBalanceOne.mypep.link” and whatever IP address the device connects to IC2 will be “ic2-detected.MyBalanceOne.mypep.link”. As the WANs go up or down, the “ic2-detected.MyBalanceOne.mypep.link” will change (though I don’t know how frequently that is being updated).

That might do the trick for you.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• The IP address of ic2-detected.MyBalanceOne.mypep.link will be wherever the breakout is for communications to IC2 from the device. If the device is behind a carrier NAT then the IP address will be that of the gateway to the internet, and not (by itself) usable.
  But
• If the device is connected to a fusionhub (or other gateway device) and traffic is routed through that gateway then the IP address of ic2-detected.MyBalanceOne.mypep.link will be one that you control, and would allow you to set up the proper port or address forwarding from the gateway to the device.

Just the usual $0.02.

Z

[mldowling]

Hello @cover & @vtjballeng,
What is the real reason you want inbound failover on a domain name? If it is only to access your local security cameras (and we hope you have them on an isolated VLAN from the rest of your network), then there are alternative to making this work using the services and features available from Peplink|Pepwave. We are finding less and fewer reasons nowadays to be opening ports inbound to any network.

On some of the higher end Peplink Routers (such as the Balance 380, 580, 710 & hight plus the SDX & EPX), the router can act as a domain authority updater, giving the options for inbound load balancing and failover much like the outbound services of the routers. From what we can recall, this feature has been available in the higher end routers since pre firmware 6.x.x and is often underestimated in its power and abilities, we use it where an organisation needs to have inbound load balancing and failover for servers within their data centres or operations facilities.

This image shows the options that can be configured, image is from Firmware 8.1.0 in a Balance 580.

In other Peplink|Pepwave routers that do not have the above feature, we are setting up clients with a FushionHub in the cloud (most of these we host on behalf of our clients), we then created a SpeedFusion link with the clients Peplink|Pepwave router. On the clients Pepwave|Peplink router we close all incoming ports and have no DDNS running. The FusionHub sits behind some secret stuff protection (ie firewall) within the datacentre, the customer is assigned a domain name that points to the FusionHub’s public-facing IP.

Not only do we use this for customers who want to access remote cameras, though we also use this for customers who operate SIP/VoIP PBXs at their sites and other inbound services that need the clean failover of multiple connections. We leave all connections running with equal Priority 1 on the router and manage all traffic and failover to backups using VLANs and outbound policies.

There are many previous posts within the forum on using everything mentioned above that can help you achieve these results.
Happy to Help,
Marcus

[vtjballeng]

@zegor_mjol

need a routable IP address - one reachable from the outside. If your connections are behind a (carrier) NAT then you need to set up a connection to (and by way of) some outside router, e.g., a fusionhub.

Secondly, assume that you have routable IP address(es) to the WAN interface(s) of the device (be they dynamic or static) then Peplink is offering a DNS name for each interface of the device though its Incontrol2 registration. And in particular it defines a hostname for the IP address employed by the device to connect to IC2. That may vay over time (as connections are enabled or disabled).

@zegor_mjol, thanks. The connections are routable. I was hoping to use standard DDNS as dyndns is built into some other systems we use and it’s convenient. The mypeplink service is a workaround option. My link structure in IC2 shows somerandomnumber.mypep.link and I only see it as a global setting not a per WAN setting.

So, are wan-1.somerandomnumber.mypep.link and ic2-detected.somerandomnumber.mypep.link valid FQDNs? Or will I simply point to somerandomnumber.mypep.link which seems to be the way it’s arranged?

[vtjballeng]

@mldowling

here are many previous posts within the forum on using everything mentioned above that can help you achieve these results.
Happy to Help,
Marcus

@mldowling, fundamentally I think my expectation is for DDNS to work correctly and update to the current active WAN connection as is done with other commonly available hardware. Workarounds feel like the equivalent of instructions on how to get into the back seat of a 4 door vehicle through the front doors or the trunk because, for some wonky reason, the rear doors don’t work. Maybe we should just ask that the rear doors work instead?

As for our reasons, we’ve got some services that run through dyndns that update our slack channel to tell my company to stop streaming on backup internet and voip pointers. We also have some integration with backups to some nodes remotely hosted. Having correctly working DDNS is the simplest option for our integration right now because we had working DDNS on our older Cradlepoint hardware.

The speedfusion option is something we planned to do but this isn’t our core work and would be happy to have someone else set it up for us. We planned a Vultr instance and just follow existing instructions on how to accomplish that. I’ll check in with you on that issue.

[zegor_mjol]

@vtjballeng

The connections are routable. I was hoping to use standard DDNS as dyndns is built into some other systems we use and it’s convenient.

There seem to be two threads in this conversation, yours and that of @cover, with different architectures.

His fallback connection (AT&T) is not routable, thus the fusionhub approach is likely the least expensive way to achieve routable access to his systems when the fallback connection becomes activated.

As an added bonus, with the fusionhub as the internet connection breakout point the same IP address will work regardless of whether he is connected to the world using the primary or the secondary WAN interface.

@vtjballeng

The mypeplink service is a workaround option. My link structure in IC2 shows somerandomnumber.mypep.link and I only see it as a global setting not a per WAN setting.

“somerandomnumber” can be replaced by your choice of name. It set in an editable field on IC2:

@vtjballeng

So, are wan-1.somerandomnumber.mypep.link and ic2-detected.somerandomnumber.mypep.link valid FQDNs?

Yes. With multiple WANs with routable IP addresses my experience is that the resolution of the FQDN is to all the routable addresses. E.g. for a device with three WANs (all on Verizon, incidentally), each with a routable IP address you get this:

% dig MyName.mypep.link
…
;; ANSWER SECTION:
MyName.mypep.link. 60 IN A 166.xxx.xxx.xxx
MyName.mypep.link. 60 IN A 166.yyy.yyy.yyy
MyName.mypep.link. 60 IN A 166.yyy.zzz.zzz

If you want the IP address of a specific interface you prefix the FQDN with the interface identifier:

dig cellular-1. MyName.mypep.link
…
;; ANSWER SECTION:
cellular-1.MyName.mypep.link. 60 IN A 166.xxx.xxx.xxx

@vtjballeng

Or will I simply point to somerandomnumber.mypep.link which seems to be the way it’s arranged?

There is a difference between somerandomnumber.mypep.link and ic2-detected.somerandomnumber.mypep.link. The former will return the routable IP addresses (if any) of the interfaces, and the latter will provide the current breakout address for the connection of the device to IC2. If you are employing a FusionHub and routing traffic through that connection then the ic2-detected address will be that of the FusionHub.

For the example above, you get

dig ic2-detected MyName.mypep.link
;; ANSWER SECTION:
ic2-detected. MyName.mypep.link. 60 IN A 108.www.www.www

If your system has two or more WANs, then I expect the ic2-detected hostname will return the IP address of the WAN currently being employed for IC2. If there is only one such, then I expect the IP address will be to whichever WAN is currently up (i.e., the automatic update you are looking for).

Cheers,

Z