I did some more digging, using remote packet capture and Wireshark:
Link
What I’m seeing is a never ending stream of what appears to be DNS failures:
| no. | Time | Source | Destination | Protocol | Length | Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 452 | 0.794268 | 10.0.64.104 | 10.0.64.1 | DNS | 82 | Standard query 0x1234 A intouch2.geckoal.com |
| 453 | 0.794275 | 10.0.64.104 | 10.0.64.1 | DNS | 82 | Standard query 0x1234 A intouch2.geckoal.com |
| 454 | 0.794441 | 10.0.64.1 | 10.0.64.104 | ICMP | 110 | Destination unreachable (Port unreachable) |
| 455 | 0.794455 | 10.0.64.1 | 10.0.64.104 | ICMP | 110 | Destination unreachable (Port unreachable) |
| 861 | 1.807191 | 10.0.64.104 | 10.0.64.1 | DNS | 82 | Standard query 0x1234 A intouch2.geckoal.com |
| 862 | 1.807198 | 10.0.64.104 | 10.0.64.1 | DNS | 82 | Standard query 0x1234 A intouch2.geckoal.com |
| 863 | 1.807404 | 10.0.64.1 | 10.0.64.104 | ICMP | 110 | Destination unreachable (Port unreachable) |
| 864 | 1.807424 | 10.0.64.1 | 10.0.64.104 | ICMP | 110 | Destination unreachable (Port unreachable) |
10.0.64.1 is the Peplink’s IP address for my VLAN
10.0.64.104 is the IP address of my GeckoIntouch which is connected via ethernet.
Indeed, the Gecko has a Green light, which means "I can contact the hot tub, and contact the router, but I’m unable to contact the mothership at intouch2.geckoal.com )
I’m in over my head here, but from googling, this doesn’t make any sense.
Why would the Peplink be responding to a DNS query with an ICMP response (that is failing?)
Edit to add: I think what this means is the ICMP response is the error message in response to the DNS request, and basically saying that the DNS query has failed, because “Port unreachable”.
This is looking like a garden-variety DNS bug in the 8.5 firmware, isnt’ it?
(Isn’t there a famous saying: “It’s always DNS”)