Feature Request: Fix DNS issues endemic to certain new unRaid installations

[Squid]

Not sure what the cons would be of automatically populating on a fresh install the network settings to have DNS servers of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 being the default instead of auto, but it would certainly solve a lot of recurring issues around here with plugins not installing correctly (and it's very terse error messages), docker templates not populating on update containers, etc.

 

EDIT: Renamed the title to give a better description after the debate contained here.

[saarg]

There was some post saying this is not a good idea for users in Australia. Google doesn't have local servers there and the result was slow download speed because mirrors  far away was chosen. I'll see if I can dig up the post.

[Squid]

There was some post saying this is not a good idea for users in Australia. Google doesn't have local servers there and the result was slow download speed because mirrors  far away was chosen. I'll see if I can dig up the post.

ok.  Like I said didn't know the downsides.  I'll just keep up with my weekly post of set your dns addresses to ....  (starting to think I should make a keyboard macro for it)

[BRiT]

Instead of defaulting to Google DNS, the UI should be smarter. It should attempt to do a DNS lookup and if it fails attempt a DNS lookup using Google DNS. If Google DNS works then present a warning message to the user with one possible suggestion of using Google DNS. If lookup fails with Google DNS present a warning message that Networking is FUBAR.

[saarg]

There was some post saying this is not a good idea for users in Australia. Google doesn't have local servers there and the result was slow download speed because mirrors  far away was chosen. I'll see if I can dig up the post.

ok.  Like I said didn't know the downsides.  I'll just keep up with my weekly post of set your dns addresses to ....  (starting to think I should make a keyboard macro for it)

You should make a bot that injects a post to change to google DNS every time there is a related post 

Anyway, I found the link to the article I had in mind.

 

http://apcmag.com/why-using-google-dns-opendns-is-a-bad-idea.htm/

[Squid]

I like Brit's idea, but even with defaulting to google's dns, the worst thing that happens is that unRaid will actually work out of the box.

 

Users who suffer a very slight slowdown because of a DNS lookup can always change the addresses.

 

I'd personally rather have unRaid work out of the box for all users and then possibly require optimizations depending upon your geography, than have it not work out of the box and require tweaking to get it to work.  And its a significant number of posts where it just plain doesn't work out of the box with regards to WAN, and nothing is quite as disappointing to a new user than to have them spend money on a license, expect it to work, and then have to make their very first post here about what should be the simplest of functions for unRaid to handle.

[saarg]

I completely agree that the most important is that unraid works.

Looking at the article I linked, its from 2010 so this is probably not a problem anymore.

[BRiT]

I see things differently. The problem is their home networking. This is not something unRAID can fix, but can make them aware of. I think it's more important that users fix that first. Once that's fixed then any and all new systems will have working DNS. What your proposing is merely a workaround of the real problem.

[Squid]

I see things differently. The problem is their home networking. This is not something unRAID can fix, but can make them aware of. I think it's more important that users fix that first. Once that's fixed then any and all new systems will have working DNS. What your proposing is merely a workaround of the real problem.

Then explain how Windows (or my tablet / phone) will work out of the box with auto settings for those users.  That fact removes networking from the equation, and will then put it back into being a slackware problem (which is out of LT's control)  Sure its a workaround.  But it is a very simple fix and will work.

 

Don't you get sick and tired of telling users the same thing over and over again?  (Or should I tell the users that they have a configuration problem with their router when every thing else hooked up to it works no problem)

 

LT probably has never noticed this recurring issue simply because none of these issues ever get their attention.  And if they never notice it, they will never investigate why unRaid has an ongoing issue with this (for years) and no other device attached to the network does.

 

One upshot of this feature request is that maybe they will take notice of it and maybe look at the underlying cause.

 

But, in the meantime I'm a big fan of working around the problem.  And it's not like unRaid would be the first OS that has workarounds coded into it.

[BRiT]

Oh, I'm not saying it's not something that should be done, but only after informing the user of the issue. Let the user determine what to do. I don't like systems which automatically do things without informing the user of larger issues. I am against patches that do not fix the root cause and hide the real issues. That's the driver behind my suggestion. Inform the user. Then patch it so the system works.

 

All of my systems work perfectly fine in automatic mode because I have a properly configured home networking setup. It doesn't matter what the OS is, as long as it uses DHCP it will work fine.

[Squid]

Either way, with some luck LT might notice this thread and figure something out.  Either my workaround or the underlying problem causing the issue.

 

Already got a keyboard macro set up, with the suggestion to set static addresses.  Now just debating whether to include a link to PM Tom / Eric / Jon   

 

oh and BTW, I also don't have the issue because for years the first thing I do on any router is set static DNS as my ISP's chosen ones suck big time, but I do get tired of seeing the same problem here over and over again.  But, blaming the setup of home network is a bit of a stretch for those users affected since as far as they are concerned, it works for everything else, so why can't it work for unRaid?