On 26 Aug 2005 00:56:33 -0700, for.fun@laposte.net wrote:

>> NSLookup shows only two authoritative nameservers for free.fr:
>> freens1-a.free.fr A (Address) 213.228.0.82 (main)
>> freens1-l.free.fr A (Address) 213.228.0.198 (backup)
>> I've been pounding on these most of the last 4 hours and they are not
>> changing. However, free.fr may have other nameservers hidden behind
>> their firewall for their own customers. Lookups show a 7 day expire
>> so there's no way they are juggling the public nameservers with that
>> long a DNS cache.

>Do you mean that I can statically define these 2 nameservers in my
>router configuration.
>If so, it would solve my problems !

No. That would be so nice, but the stock firmware for the WRT54G
can't do it. I just tried it.

2nd best is the Sveasoft firmware has provisions for adding a "Local
DNS" nameserver but that apparently has to be on the LAN side, not the
WAN. It's on the "Basic Setup" page. I just shoved another local
nameserver into the "Local DNS" field. The "Status" page set this
nameserver as the primary DNS server, leaving the other two DNS
servers to be set via DHCP. This will work if Linksys has the same
feature.

3rd best is to setup your Windoze machines for DHCP or static IP
addresses, and just set your DNS server to the two free.fr server
IP's. Unlike the WRT54G, Windoze allows you to use DHCP for the IP
address, but static (manually set) IP's for the DNS fields. This
bypasses the DNS cache in the router, but you probably won't notice
the difference.

>Do you know any reliable DNS public server ?

Do I have to do ALL the work? You should find a DNS server that is
physically close to your location. I'm not familiar with France or
French geography and therefore cannot offer a guaranteed solution.

Find another local French ISP. Then, to to:
http://www.dnsstuff.com
and plug their domain name into the "DNS Lookup" box on the upper
right. (Try it with free.fr first). Select "NS" for nameserver.
Then go down to the "Click here to check that all DNS servers are
reporting the same results" and look at the latency in msec. For
cable or DSL, it should be less than about 50msec to be considered
useful. I'm getting about 110msec from France to California which is
NOT fast.

>> I'm using Sveasoft Alchemy firmware which gives me a command line
>> interface for the unerlying Linux operating system.
>
>I have heard of this firmware and it sounds good.

Recommended:
http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/
You may want to spend $20 and get Talisman, which I'm told is better.
I haven't had time to try it.

>You say you are getting a command line interface in Linux.

Yes, using Alchemy, not the stock Linksys firmware. You telnet or use
SSH2 to connect to the router from your Windoze box and you get the
Linux (Bash) shell prompt. If you're not familiar with running Linux
from the command line, this may be a learning experience.

>I know that the firmware is supposed to be run by the router : since I
>am running Windows XP SP2, can you just confirm that it will be OK for
>me (I will get the command line interface as well under XP)

Any computer or operating system that can run telnet or some SSH
client such as Putty will work. However, I can see that you need to
do some studying and get some experience with Linux before you try
Learning by Destroying(tm). I suggest you download or borrow one of
the Linux "Live CD" distributions. This lets you boot Linux on your
desktop without actually installing anything on the hard disk. There
are also versions that boot from a floppy disk such as Trinux. When
you're comfortable with the shell command line, then you can safely
destroy your router.

>I will install Sveasoft and tell if it works.

Good luck.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
AE6KS 831-336-2558