nhs.uk

[user0106390 1]

https://www.nhs.uk/ is blocked on Geminorum, returns server not found.

[Ernst89 11]

I don't think it is an AirVPN problem, per se..

I think this is a DNS problem. I had this problem a while ago and can't quite remember the details, but I'll give my jumbled recollection and hopefully it will jog someone into a correct explanation.

AIUI nhs.uk uk uses its own DNS nameserver and your DNS nameserver should forward a DNS query for nhs.uk to the DNS servers nsa.nhs.uk  or nsb.nhs.uk and then return the query to you.

This will break if your DNS server is not set to forward queries.

For instance I use pfSense, DNS Resolver.

Solution for pfSense DNS Resolver:
/Services/DNS Resolver/General Settings/DNS Query Forwarding
tick Enable Forwarding Mode

Caveat - i'm too busy to test at the moment but think it is the solution. Hopefully you can adapt it to your set up.

[user0106390 1]

1 hour ago, Ernst89 said:

I don't think it is an AirVPN problem, per se..

I think this is a DNS problem. I had this problem a while ago and can't quite remember the details, but I'll give my jumbled recollection and hopefully it will jog someone into a correct explanation.

AIUI nhs.uk uk uses its own DNS nameserver and your DNS nameserver should forward a DNS query for nhs.uk to the DNS servers nsa.nhs.uk  or nsb.nhs.uk and then return the query to you.

This will break if your DNS server is not set to forward queries.

For instance I use pfSense, DNS Resolver.

Solution for pfSense DNS Resolver:
/Services/DNS Resolver/General Settings/DNS Query Forwarding
tick Enable Forwarding Mode

Caveat - i'm too busy to test at the moment but think it is the solution. Hopefully you can adapt it to your set up.

I'm using the Eddie client for Windows, which uses AirVPN's DNS servers by default.

[Ernst89 11]

OK, short answer is that the NHS DNS servers ( nsa.nhs.uk,nsb.nhs.uk ) are blocking DNS queries from Geminorum .
If you want a work around use a different DNS server, i.e. google 8.8.8.8. Most NHS HTTP servers (not DNS servers) do not appear to be blocking Geminorum .

Longer answer
My previous post was muddled and incorrect.

The correct answer is that DNS servers are hierarchical. DNS queries can be recursive or iterative. Recursive DNS queries will be ok as DNS servers (from Geminorum ) do not query NHS DNS servers directly. An iterative query from a DNS server via  Geminorum will fail as it will try to query the NHS DNS servers directly ( nsa.nhs.uk,nsb.nhs.uk ).

You can see all this yourself using DIG, NSLOOKUP of similar DNS query command to query specific servers.

Correction to previous post pfSense DNS Resolver uses a recursive DNS query and hence does not have a problem with nhs.uk.