Failed remote network problem

[Anonymous]

I just tried nslooukp several times with Cloudflare for the fqdn ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com
I got several replies for the Limelight IP and then it switched, see below

> ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com
Server: one.one.one.one
Address: 1.1.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: skypdluk.s.llnwi.net
Address: 87.248.204.0
Aliases: ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com

> ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com
Server: one.one.one.one
Address: 1.1.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: a2047.sky.akamai.net
Addresses: 104.124.11.224
104.124.11.138
104.124.11.163
104.124.11.176
104.124.11.195
104.124.11.194
104.124.11.200
104.124.11.201
104.124.11.208
Aliases: ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com
cdn.sky.akadns.net

So imagine you are a SKY box, you ask for the IP for the download, some of the time you get an IP maybe for Limelight and that works, then 30 seconds later you get Akamai, which causes failures (your situation could be reversed from mine)
The issue was so obviously related to SDNS round robin and a download web site that was blocking, I am slightly annoyed that I didnt resolve this early, and spent £360 getting a NOW circuit for 12 months, to maintain a SKY IP.

That's money I feel SKY stole from me and should refund.

[Craigv9]

Mark,

If this is driving you insane, spare a thought for me as I don't really have your grasp.

I have a router. I can access its settings. I can access the DNS settings on the Sky box...

Imagine I work for Sky and talk me through it...

What am I putting in the router settings? What am I putting in the Sky DNS settings?

You wrote:

'I have configured this to act as a DNS server'....

HOW?

'and to use Cloudflare for anything it can not resolve itself

I am using this config

ip host ondemand.cdnselector.skycdp.com 87.248.204.0
ip name-server 1.1.1.1
ip name-server 1.0.0.1'

???

I know I can't type any of that config host stuff in, unless you are just telling me what it is for reference and the important stuff is the numbers???

If it IS the numbers that are important...on my router I CAN specify a DNS and 2 alternates....should I use those three sets of numbers above?

I can also set a DHCP, whatever that is?

Any help in English would be gratefully received!

I have copied this thread to Sky in the hope someone in support understands what you have typed, but it does seem its YOU that's gonna resolve this for US if you can translate!

I certainly appreciate your time. My fruit is done.

[Craigv9]

Mark,

To assist you in assisting me, these are the settings I can **bleep** with on my router...I can o ky change the DNS on the Sky box...

(Exactly as presented in router settings menu)...

•  

Router details:
192.168.1.1
Subnet mask
255.255.255.0
DHCP server
192.168.1.10
DNS auto / manual
Currently set to auto...if I change to manual I can input any DNS address and a further two optional ones...

[Anonymous]

Sorry to give you bad news and this is what i was referring to earlier when I said the solution needs a level of understanding AND relevant devices which can be configured.

The config I posted is the exact commands that would be used in a Cisco series router. However basic home routers from ISPs will not support the feature that you require.

There are 2 aspects of DNS, the "DNS client" and how it operates, and the "DNS server" which can resolve DNS queries OR pass them on to somewhere that can - and this is the important part!!

DNS Client --- eg your sky box, will go to an IP address (the DNS Server) to resolve a name (eg the link used to download)

DNS Server - eg A router configured to respond to DNS

With your basic router there is nothing that can be done.

You need a router capable of running as a DNS server AND having HOST entries so that when the SKY box attempts to lookup the download site, the router does NOT go the outside world to find it, instead it replies with the static configured values. This prevents the DNS round robin and means the SKY box always gets the working IP.

I understand this is frustrating however if you do not understand the tech advice I have given AND you have a basic ISP router then you have no way to fix this, and I can not help further.

[Craigv9]

Mark,

You have been immensely helpful, if only by demonstrating what the problem is and why I can't solve it (yet)

However, unlike Sky, I don't give up!

Given that all I have is a basic retail router (a Kloud9 branded Linksys router), what would I have to add to my setup to resolve this issue and what cost am I looking at?

Also, absent ME being able to fix it, what can SKY do to resolve this for me (I think this is where YOU tell me I need to be whitelisted and SKY instead gaslight me by saying whitelists don't exist...)

Many thanks. I can assure you that you're not just helping me...there's tons of threads and they're months and years old...

[Chodley]

Those are not the settings you can change on your router.

Those are the settings you can change on a client device (in this case I think those are the sky box'?)

You have to login to the linksys router with a web browser to change its config. But I suspect it probably doesn't allow an overlay of a host lookup anyway.

You could just add a raspberry pi (cost £12) to your network and configure a DNS server / forwarder on that. Not for the faint hearted but also wouldn't cause any permanent ill effects if you got it wrong. The answer marked "Simple Answer" here tells you how to overlay your one entry for that limelight host lookup. But as I said earlier I think the ultimate effect might just be to behave the same way as 1.1.1.1 seems to as far as that particular lookup is concerned. (Edit: just saw Mark's reply above - weird, I wasn't given any other addresses by that server when I used dig yesterday which should have told me all the ones it cycles through for round-robin. Hmm.)

by the way none of this proves there's any blocking going on, it could just be a routing issue between the ISP and akamai. But it could also be an out-of-date geo : IP range lookup. It might be worth telling your ISP about the symptoms and addresses involved above and see if there's any investigation they can do. Those small fibre ISPs tend to have good technical people.

[Chodley]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I can't  believe that SKY are refusing to admit their download sites have regional IP awareness and block downloads from for example Russia. The simple fact is, a new ISP takes a global free IP subnet, and if that isnt listed as UK then how would SKY allow it? If they dont know how to allow UK ISP subnets and do not know what whitelisting is, then I would just say "excuse me, you don't seem to know your **bleep** from your elbow, can I speak with someone that actually knows networks?"

---

They use a 3rd party service for those lookups so it's entirely possible the average tech support bod knows nothing about that.

However, the online team here DO know about that and are already trying to help Craig (via another thread) and have said this issue doesn't seem to be as simple as other geo range lookup problems they've resolved. Most of those seem to be a complete failure not like this 50% / round-robin situation, which suggests to me maybe it's a service / lookup akamai are using, or a routing issue

[Craigv9]

I am grateful for all the input, but the sad fact is any / all of the fixes suggested here are beyond the wit of most Sky customers (me...).

Let's be honest, the replies I'm getting frim Sky support suggest they're not going much beyond 'turn it on and off again and blow on the Sky box every second Thursday'

If I did acquire another router that can 'run as a DNS server and manage custom host entries' (they are cheaply available from £60)...or a Pi, I wouldn't know what to do to get it to work other than turn it on and off again and blow on the Sky box every second Thursday...

Whilst we are in problem solving mode, would a move to Sky stream be beneficial? Or would it be likely I'd just be compounding my original issue as I understand that's a streaming / download service? I did a price check yesterday and it came out at over £100 for the full package and 3 pucks which would match my current setup, which I'm only paying £57 for. Seems a bit harsh to be financially penalised for just wanting something that works.

What would folk do in my position

1: Give up and walk away - this isn't getting fixed and the time spent failing is disproportionate to any possible eventually gain

2: Try and get a deal on Stream. If it doesn't work I think it can be sent back under guarantee

3: Buy one of these new fangled more complex routers and hope someone can talk me through its setup (fairly confident Kloud9 won't 'go there' with a router they didn't supply and Sky don't acknowledge the problem so won't be chiming in with a solution)

As ever, all views welcome...

[Anonymous]

Chodley

Just to be clear on this, for my setup...

Configuring my SKY box to use my Cisco router for DNS, and then adding the Host entry to the Cisco (using the lines further up this thread), absolutely fixed the downloads failing half the time issue that I had.

It also allowed me to confirm with 100% certainty (by changing the IP that the Cisco box presented), that the Akamai addresses were not working for me 100% of the time, and that the Limelight IP worked 100% of the time.

The thing to remember here, I dont believe we know for certain which IPs work for Craig? Unless that has been diagnosed elsewhere?

[Craigv9]

Mark,

I note your concern and there's been no such diagnosis from me. But on my limited understanding, if it's not one that doesn't work, then it's the other? So we try one...and if necessary then switch to the other?

That's my non-tech contribution!

[Anonymous]

Craig

Regarding the right to cancel and extending the 30 day period, consider doing what I did!

I phoned SKY within the 30 days to cancel the SKY Q service, I informed them I had this issue, that I was told when i switched to SKY Q that my download issues I suffered for 4 years with the SKY HD+ box would not occur and yet nothing has changed, I still had the issue. I then informed SKY, I wanted to experiment to see if I could resolve this issue. (but not lose my right to cancel!)

Therefore SKY removed the Contract term from my account, which means I can leave at any time. Why would they do this you ask? Well think about it, if I did cancel in the 30 days I would be gone, so it is no biggie them removing the contract term whilst I continue to pay them, if I leave in 6 months, then so what, they still got more money from me than if I had left in the 30 days.

So, speak to SKY, say you want to cancel, ask them to remove the contract term, so you can instead leave at any time in the future if you are unable to resolve this, meanwhile it gives you the chance to experiment and see if you can get this fixed.

[Chodley]

We indeed don't know that - I'm working on the assumption the symptoms are so similar that the root cause is likely to be the same. It's a low risk attempt at a solution anyway 😄

[Daniel-F]

HI all,

Stepping in here to advise that under no circumstances should users be exchanging personal information regardless of how helpful we are trying to be.  This breaches our website terms and conditions around this as seen here:

"2.2 You must not upload, post, or otherwise transmit any content that includes any of the following inappropriate content:

a) Any personal information belonging either to you or another person, such as full name, address, phone number, email address"

Posts have been removed from this thread regarding this.

Should this continue we will be looking to lock the thread down moving forward.

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

I would like to understand why my posts are being deleted, there is no personal information in them. In my last post I advised what the user could do, rather than cancel his contract today. but that seems to have disappeared.

[Anonymous]

I'm leaving this community

If SKY don't want me sharing helpful advice to others suffering with an issue, that is fine by me they can just lose those customers.

Sorry Craig and Chodley, all my posts will be deleted and I am out of here