Latest XR500 Firmware Version 2.3.2.56

[UK Sentinel]

Latest XR500 Firmware Version 2.3.2.56 (16/08/2019) ish

 

Changelog:

New Features and Enhancements:

Support France Free and Orange ISP of the IPTV configuration.
Support GUI login weak password protection.
Bug Fixes:

Fixes security vulnerability issues.
Fixes the issue that cannot detect and prioritize game traffic of Fortnite
Fixes the issue that in traffic prioritization, it can’t detect “league of legend” traffic and some other pc games, such as Apex Legend, Monster Hunter and Rainbow Six Siege.
Fixes the issue that the speedtest download speed result will be limited at 500Mbps
Firmware Update Instructions:

Download Link : http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/XR500/XR500-V2.3.2.56.zip

 

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[UK Sentinel]

Alas no mention as to whether DumaOS support IPv6 ? ;-(

Edit: over at the NetDuma forum, (NetDuma Alex) has suggested latest update is a Netgear update only – rather than an update that includes Netduma fixes/improvement etc.

Alex also is saying/suggesting that Milestone 1.4 is coming soon ;-)

 

 

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[SH]

Thank’s , lets see if they able to fix anything :D

currently using asus … so will install new firmware on my Netgear XR500 at some point

btw – have you done DNS Benchmark test on XR500 for router DNS caching performance ( DNS Server – Router IP ) ?

-> https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

For example lets say your Router DNS Server is 10.0.1.1  …… take a look at RED BAR ( Cached Domain Name Lookup ) for 10.0.1.1  using above software and compare it with asus or other modem or router ?

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[UK Sentinel]

That is good news, if you test then this would be good as  I still testing Fritz!Box 3490 latest firmware ;-)

Alas I use ‘CleanBrowsing’ DNS for Family filters etc. so not sure if this will help results, what did you notice ?

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[SH]

i use ISP DNS ,Google or OpenDNS ( because they use EDNS ) ..it give me performance on sites that use CDN (Content delivery network) , don’t want slower download speed because …. CDN routed me far away server :D

it don’t matter what DNS you use on WAN, since Netgear don’t allow you to allocate different DNS by DHCP other than router DNS ……
———————————————————–
lets say i have set Google DNS on WAN DNS Settings on Netgear, ASUS , Huawei

now when you do benchmark and check RED BAR ( Cached Domain Name Lookup ) you will notice

On Netgear

Google DNS Performance – 8ms
Router DNS  Performance – 6ms to 78ms ( it varies but that’s low and max i have noticed )

On ASUS 

Google DNS Performance – 8ms
Router DNS Performance – 0ms

On Huawei
Google DNS Performance – 8ms
Router DNS Performance – 0ms

on netgear router caching performance is bad , router IP actually resolving sites slower compared to other modem/routers……………………..

there are other issues with Netgear too , like on Samsung Galaxy S7 ( Exynos Version ) , link speed is at 433Mbps for some reason ….. on 5Ghz ………………other router is able to reach 867 Mbps ….. it’s something to do with Netgear side or samsung i’m not sure … but happens with Netgear routers only ( XR500 and Nighthwak X6S )…

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[UK Sentinel]

Vey interesting, I will try those settings/tests  next week and see if my results are simular ;-)

 

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[UK Sentinel]

So I have switched over my Router today to the Netgear Xr500 and loaded the latest firmware 2.3.2.56

Ran same test as yourself.

Google DNS Performance – 10ms
Router DNS  Performance – 12ms to 28ms (ish) depending on how busy the router is or NAT speeds  (I assume) ?

So very interesting the variation in DNS replies etc. for Netgear XR500

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[SH]

i think this is same with all netgear router …. prob netgear is using old dnsmasq version ?  … because XR500 and Nighthawk X6S have very powerful hardware , it should not effect performance of DNS ,

if they allowed to give Static DNS to DHCP clients , instead of router …. this issue would have been minimal , but netgear not implemented it yet

there is an idea in Netgear idea center about this  – https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/Additional-DNS-support/idi-p/1066702 …

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[UK Sentinel]

I just had a quick look at Voxel’s options for Firmware for the Netgear routers, alas could not find any changelogs to see if he/they have updated  dnsmasq ? as this would have been a good test for dnsmasq delay ?

 

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[SH]

i was looking at comments at idea center ….  schumaku commented …. on Page 4 … that

To my knowledge the dnsmasq config isn’t configued to speed-up or cache anything … see “cache-size=0” …

 

But to make it worse – and on the R9000/R8900 this was removed a while ago as we spent a lot of time dealing with Netgear – was the “try-all-ns” config … an option no longer in dnsmasq config and docs for years (if not a decade). What it does enforce is fatal: Every request will be sent to all the typically up to three ISP or Internet connection configued DNS IPs and not come back with a valid answer before all DNS servers have replied. Complete silly. And I’m convinced this nonsense is still in place on many Netgear router models (Cxxxx, Dxxxx, Rxxxx, Nighthawk, Orbi, whatever).

As a side effect,  it does make dnsmasq return a wrong status code if a domain can’t be resolved.

——————————————————–
root@R9000:/etc# cat dnsmasq.conf
# filter what we send upstream
domain-needed
bogus-priv
localise-queries
no-negcache
cache-size=0
no-hosts
try-all-ns
root@R9000:/etc#
——————————————————–
i was also looking at Netgear community for that and found – https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/R9000-DNS-Performance/td-p/1461774

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[UK Sentinel]

I maybe wrong, but I did hear some time ago, most of the coding for Netgear devices is done in or around Taiwan ?

Netgear have always been lacking in motivation which was why with such good hardware for the XR500 (same as R78oo) I was keen to try the Netduma overlay ;-)

Shame really, a missed opportunity ;-(

 

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[SH]

I’m not very sure about it too , but i know they outsource firmware from Third Party Coders …………..maybe that’s main reason of outdated codes or could be way netgear internal software written …changing things will break more than doing any good  or could be budget issue spending much on good hardware and less budget left for R&D for software so codes are maybe being written by coders that have less knowledge about working of different parts in router  or less staff ?  …………… but whatever reason …..Netgear software have some issue here and there ……….. Netduma Software is good in itself ..but because of netgear side software issue .. blame comes on Netduma for XR500 :D

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[SH]

i found new issue with XR500 and Probably same with other Netgear routers ….

Issue : –

1) – Xbox NAT type show as moderate or strict when using PPPoE
——-> NAT Filtering Set – Open
——-> Turn UPnP On – Checked

2) – Xbox NAT type show as Open when using WAN Static IP
——-> NAT Filtering Set – Open
——-> Turn UPnP On – Checked

——————————————————————————————-
this issue … don’t show on ASUS  Routers or Modems …..NAT type always show open when using WAN Static IP or PPPoE

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[UK Sentinel]

I have a couple of Xbox 1 X and they are both OPEN.

My set-up is like yours, PPPoE / Dynamic IP and I have my Disable SIP ALG  ticked

I am running IPv4 ?

may need to remove consoles from Netduma Geo-Filter and then re-add and see if this helps ?

But  mine was fine after recent upgrade and NAT has been OPEN

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[SH]

Thank’s UK Sentinel for advice  , i will try to disable SIP ALG and test it .. when i connect XR500 again .

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