We would like to thank the original author of this review at www.punj.co.uk for granting us permission to publish this particular blog content. The original contents of the review can be found at http://www.punj.co.uk/punjwebfiles/telecom/bbrouterproblems.html
On this page we are going to show you how to use the OpenDNS service on BT Broadband using the BT Homehub and some additional cheap hardware. BT has currently disabled their users from entering their own dns settings on the BT Homehubs using the current BT firmware. BT had adopted to disable certain features on their homehubs to close certain security vulnerabilities on their hardware.
So first of all lets briefly find out what the OpenDNS service is.
OpenDNS is a dns service which can help in providing the user in controlling and blocking Internet sites which the user deems as inappropriate. This can be useful if you have kids on your home network and you want to filter and block web sites which you deem appropriate for them to visit or use.
OpenDNS also provides anti-phising and malware / botnet protection to further protect the Internet user. We do however advise strongly that the user still incorporates security software on each PC / Laptop and home network devices that they currently use to ensure a high level of protection.
Now we will give a brief explanation of the BT Homehub.
BT provide all their customers exclusively using the BT Broadband product their branded wireless router known as the BT HomeHub. In providing this great piece of kit BT can provide support for the BT Broadband customer. The latest BT Homehub version 3 includes the smart wireless N technology, provision of a gigabit LAN port and the USB port for connecting a printer or hard disk to your home network. This version of the home hub can also be used on BT's ADSL and Infinity product. Overall we have been very impressed with this latest BT Hardware and congratulate them in providing such an outstanding piece of kit.
By using some additional hardware and setting the home network correctly we can use the OpenDNS service and still get support from the official BT support channel as we are still using their provided piece of kit on the BT Broadband product.
In order to use OpenDNS we need to configure the dns settings on our home network to use the OpenDNS servers. This can be done in a couple of ways. The user can either at each computer or laptop access the network configuration and manually enter the OpenDNS server settings, or use these dns settings at the router to globally use the dns service for all devices on the network. Entering the dns settings within network configuration at each device can be quite time consuming and can also be quite easily bypassed by someone by just entering their own dns settings. By configuring the router correctly we can ensure that the chosen dns service is the only dns service used.
Our tip includes the use of an additional router which will be configured with the OpenDNS setting and provide DHCP to all devices on the network. In using our method the user is required to disable the DHCP on the BT Homehub for providing IP addresses to devices on the home network. In brief the DLink will be used as a slave router providing DHCP and DNS in lieu of the BT HomeHub.
In our method we chose the DLink DIR-615 version D2 router as our additional piece of hardware. We chose this router as it cost just £1.50 plus £3.50 shipping from eBay. The DLink DIR-615 is a wireless broadband router with wireless N and four 100mb Ethernet ports.
The first thing we did with this router was to upgrade the firmware from the DLink to the DD WRT firmware.
The DD WRT firmware is a free Linux-based firmware offering a great number of functionalities. This firmware allowed us to setup this router as a slave router which provided all devices on our network with DHCP and the DNS settings for the OpenDNS service. In addition we configured this router to intercept the dns port to prevent users from using their own dns server.
The following setup configurations was used within the DLink configuration page. All other settings were left as the default settings.
Wan Setup
Wan Connection Type - Disabled
Network Setup
Local IP Address - 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0
Gateway - 192,168.1.254 (IP address of BT Homehub)
Local DNS - 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS server)
Wan Port
Assign WAN Port to Switch - Tick check box (This enables the Wan port to be used as a LAN Port)
Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)
DHCP Type - DHCP Server
DHCP Server - Enabled
Static DNS 1 - 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS Primary server)
Static DNS 2 - 208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS Secondary server)
Static DNS 3 - 208.67.222.220 (OpenDNS Server)
Use DNSMasq for DHCP - Tick check box
Use DNSMasq for DNS - Tick check box
DHCP-Authoritative - Tick check box
All other settings can be left in their default.
The final step was to disable the DHCP within the BT Homehub. All that is needed now is to connect the DLink router to the BT HomeHub via the LAN Ports using an Ethernet RJ45 cable and re-booting the two routers.
This is the basic setup to use the OpenDNS service using the BT Homehub within the network by using an additional slave router providing the DHCP and DNS settings. Additional settings can be entered into the slave router to prevent users on the network using their own dns settings. The DD WRT firmware offers other additional functionalities such as custom DDNS which can be very useful. We have not shown these additional settings but may cover this at a later update.
We hope our readers have enjoyed our project and will come back to www.punj.co.uk for our views on more technological projects and products.
If you have enjoyed our latest tip or wish to discuss this further then please leave your comments and suggestions below.
Read this topic on http://www.punj.co.uk/punjwebfiles/telecom/bbrouterproblems.html
Disclaimer :
There is a chance you can brick your router if something goes wrong, also this can then void your guarantee / warranty of your router.
So by flashing the firmware of your router you do so at your own risk
punj