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Device is using "COGENT-174"

Hello!

I have NextDNS setup on my router for our whole network.

I'm seeing the error/message in Setup on NextDNS:  "This device is not using NextDNS.  This device is currently using ”COGENT-174” as DNS resolver."

I'm not sure what this means exactly?  I get this on every device on my network.

Some things seem to be filtering for some devices... but other things do not. For example, I see DNS queries being blocked in the logs (I blocked twilio.com for example)... but from my Mac, I can access Twilio.com)

I tried to run the diag, but I get these errors:

- On my Mac Mini M1:  "/tmp/nextdns-diag-46786: line 1: Not: command not found"
- On my Intel Macbook Pro:  Goes through everything then fails to submit "Post unsuccessful: status 400 instance.Test request property "Client""

7 replies

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    • SLCW
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    That message means you are not currently using NextDNS. Cogent is a bandwidth provider, and could be providing service to your ISP which would mean you're using your ISP DNS. 

    • Drew
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thank you so much for the replies!

    I found my issue:  For the Ubiquiti DMP - aside from their "Internet Threat Management" suite of options at the router level, they have a "Content Filtering" option at the network level that was enabled.

    When I turned this off, everything worked!  (And I was able to enable the router level Threat Management features)

    I only discovered this after a desperate attempt to find the issue by just turning any "extra" thing off.  🙂

      • N_A
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew I love that you found the solution, but I don't understand the why. 

      If DNS requests were blocked by the content filtering in the Ubiquitu equipment, then how can DNS lookups still function? I have the very same error message, but I could still surf on my end device (and QUIC was also disabled) . How is that possible? Where did it send its DNS requests when no other DNS had been defined? 

      • Drew
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      N A  Based on the usage that I saw, here's my guesstimate:  I think my Dream Machine Pro was overriding DNS requests from most devices... but not all devices.

      So some things we're still using NextDNS (somehow??) -- and I was seeing those in my NextDNS logs.  But my Mac was using whatever my DMP was overriding requests with.

      • N_A
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew I agree with your analysis, but this part: "my Mac was using whatever my DMP was overriding requests with" is still muddied waters, at least in my case. On my setup I had NextDNS defined both on the end devices and on the UDM. So you'd think that if the clients defined DNS was blocked by the Unifi filter it'd revert to the DNS defined on the UDM - and then either fail again or simply use NextDNS.

       

      I am discussing out of interest, and not because it matters that much. I simply don't get which DNS server is in use when no other DNS service was defined anywhere. Strange... 

       

      Anyways, I can confirm that you have solved it, so the most important part is out of the way 😊

      • Drew
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      N A I agree!  And I'd love to understand fully too...  because if I recall correctly, my Mac was showing me the NextDNS IP addresses in my network settings, and even overriding them there didn't seem to change anything (as though the DMP was intercepting those requests and replying to them itself).

      • N_A
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Drew I just found out that the blocklist within Unifi also is relying on a third party DNS service similar to NextDNS. 

      So DNS requests are intercepted and redirected through that DNS service, which explains the behaviour. 

       

      It's a little problematic that the user is not made aware that this is what is happening in the background. A third party may easily capitalize of the data from the Unifi users and I'm inclined to think that's the deal: Unifi can use their service, and they get the user data. 

       

      Happy to have turned it off and it will stay that way 😊

Content aside

  • 2 yrs agoLast active
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