dnsmasq - ArchWiki

# dnsmasq

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Related articles

- BIND
- DNSCrypt
- DNSSEC
- Pdnsd
- unbound

dnsmasq provides a local DNS server, a DHCP server with support for DHCPv6 and PXE, and a TFTP server. It is designed to be lightweight and have a small footprint, suitable for resource constrained routers and firewalls. dnsmasq can also be configured to cache DNS queries for improved DNS lookup speeds to previously visited sites.

## Installation

Install the dnsmasq package.

## Configuration

This article or section is a candidate for merging with #Server setup.

Notes: dnsmasq can be configured to do many things, there is no generic configuration that would apply to all use cases. (Discuss in Talk:Dnsmasq#)

To configure dnsmasq, you need to edit `/etc/dnsmasq.conf`. The file contains extensive comments explaining its options. For all available options see dnsmasq(8).

Warning: dnsmasq by default enables its DNS server. If you do not require it, you need to explicitly disable it by setting DNS port to `0`:

    /etc/dnsmasq.conf

    port=0

Tip: To check configuration file(s) syntax, execute:

    $ dnsmasq --test

## Start the daemon

Start/enable `dnsmasq.service`.

To see if dnsmasq started properly, check the system's journal:

    $ journalctl -u dnsmasq.service

The network will also need to be restarted so the DHCP client can create a new `/etc/resolv.conf`.

## DNS cache setup

To set up dnsmasq as a DNS caching daemon on a single computer edit `/etc/dnsmasq.conf` and uncomment the `listen-address` directive, adding in the localhost IP address:

    listen-address=127.0.0.1

To use this computer to listen on its LAN IP address for other computers on the network:

    listen-address=192.168.1.1    # Example IP

It is recommended that you use a static LAN IP in this case.

Multiple ip address settings:

    listen-address=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.1

### DNS addresses file

This article or section is a candidate for merging with resolv.conf.

Notes: Same topic. Also note that most of this can also be done natively in `/etc/resolvconf.conf` using the `name_servers` and `name_servers_append` options. (Discuss in Talk:Dnsmasq#)

After configuring dnsmasq, the DHCP client will need to prepend the localhost address to the known DNS addresses in `/etc/resolv.conf`. This causes all queries to be sent to dnsmasq before trying to resolve them with an external DNS. After the DHCP client is configured, the network will need to be restarted for changes to take effect.

#### resolv.conf

One option is a pure `resolv.conf` configuration. To do this, just make the first nameserver in `/etc/resolv.conf` point to localhost:

    /etc/resolv.conf

    nameserver 127.0.0.1
    # External nameservers
    ...

Now DNS queries will be resolved first with dnsmasq, only checking external servers if dnsmasq cannot resolve the query. dhcpcd, unfortunately, tends to overwrite `/etc/resolv.conf` by default, so if you use DHCP it is a good idea to protect `/etc/resolv.conf`. To do this, append `nohook resolv.conf` to the dhcpcd config file:

    /etc/dhcpcd.conf

    ...
    nohook resolv.conf

It is also possible to write protect your resolv.conf:

    # chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf

##### More than three nameservers

A limitation in the way Linux handles DNS queries is that there can only be a maximum of three nameservers used in `resolv.conf`. As a workaround, you can make localhost the only nameserver in `resolv.conf`, and then create a separate `resolv-file` for your external nameservers. First, create a new resolv file for dnsmasq:

    /etc/resolv.dnsmasq.conf

    # Google's nameservers, for example
    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    nameserver 8.8.4.4

And then edit `/etc/dnsmasq.conf` to use your new resolv file:

    /etc/dnsmasq.conf

    ...
    resolv-file=/etc/resolv.dnsmasq.conf
    ...

#### dhcpcd

dhcpcd has the ability to prepend or append nameservers to `/etc/resolv.conf` by creating (or editing) the `/etc/resolv.conf.head` and `/etc/resolv.conf.tail` files respectively:

    echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" > /etc/resolv.conf.head

#### dhclient

For dhclient, uncomment in `/etc/dhclient.conf`:

    prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1;

### NetworkManager

NetworkManager has a plugin to enable DNS using dnsmasq. The advantages of this setup is that DNS lookups will be cached, shortening resolve times, and DNS lookups of VPN hosts will be routed to the relevant VPN's DNS servers (especially useful if you are connected to more than one VPN).

Make sure dnsmasq has been installed, but has been disabled. Then, edit `/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf` and change the `dns` in the `[main]` section:

    /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

    [main]
    ...
    dns=dnsmasq

Now restart NetworkManager or reboot. NetworkManager will automatically start dnsmasq and add 127.0.0.1 to `/etc/resolv.conf`. The actual DNS servers can be found in `/run/NetworkManager/resolv.conf`. You can verify dnsmasq is being used by doing the same DNS lookup twice with `$ drill example.com` and verifying the server and query times.

#### Custom configuration

Custom configurations can be created for dnsmasq by creating configuration files in `/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/`. For example, to change the size of the DNS cache (which is stored in RAM):

    /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/cache.conf

    cache-size=1000

#### IPv6

Enabling `dnsmasq` in NetworkManager may break IPv6-only DNS lookups (i.e. `drill -6 [hostname]`) which would otherwise work. In order to resolve this, creating the following file will configure dnsmasq to also listen to the IPv6 loopback:

    /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/ipv6_listen.conf

    listen-address=::1

In addition, `dnsmasq` also does not prioritize upstream IPv6 DNS. Unfortunately NetworkManager does not do this (Ubuntu Bug). A workaround would be to disable IPv4 DNS in the NetworkManager config, assuming one exists

#### Other methods

Another option is in NetworkManagers' settings (usually by right-clicking the applet) and entering settings manually. Setting up will depending on the type of front-end used; the process usually involves right-clicking on the applet, editing (or creating) a profile, and then choosing DHCP type as 'Automatic (specify addresses).' The DNS addresses will need to be entered and are usually in this form: `127.0.0.1, DNS-server-one, ...`.

### Test

To do a lookup speed test choose a website that has not been visited since dnsmasq has been started (drill is part of the ldns package):

    $ drill archlinux.org | grep "Query time"

Running the command again will use the cached DNS IP and result in a faster lookup time if dnsmasq is setup correctly:

    $ drill archlinux.org | grep "Query time"

    ;; Query time: 18 msec

    $ drill archlinux.org | grep "Query time"

    ;; Query time: 2 msec

## Server setup

### DNS server

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: Add instructions. (Discuss in Talk:Dnsmasq#)

#### Adding a custom domain

It is possible to add a custom domain to hosts in your (local) network:

    local=/home.lan/
    domain=home.lan

In this example it is possible to ping a host/device (e.g. defined in your `/etc/hosts` file) as `hostname.home.lan`.

Uncomment `expand-hosts` to add the custom domain to hosts entries:

    expand-hosts

Without this setting, you will have to add the domain to entries of `/etc/hosts`.

### DHCP server

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: Add instructions for IPv6 and router advertisement. (Discuss in Talk:Dnsmasq#)

By default dnsmasq has the DHCP functionality turned off, if you want to use it you must turn it on in (`/etc/dnsmasq.conf`). Here are the important settings:

    # Only listen to routers' LAN NIC.  Doing so opens up tcp/udp port 53 to
    # localhost and udp port 67 to world:
    interface=<LAN-NIC>

    # dnsmasq will open tcp/udp port 53 and udp port 67 to world to help with
    # dynamic interfaces (assigning dynamic ips). Dnsmasq will discard world
    # requests to them, but the paranoid might like to close them and let the
    # kernel handle them:
    bind-interfaces

    # Dynamic range of IPs to make available to LAN pc
    dhcp-range=192.168.111.50,192.168.111.100,12h

    # If you’d like to have dnsmasq assign static IPs, bind the LAN computer's
    # NIC MAC address:
    dhcp-host=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff,192.168.111.50

See dnsmasq(8) for more options.

#### Test

From a computer that is connected to the one with dnsmasq on it, configure it to use DHCP for automatic IP address assignment, then attempt to log into the network normally.

### TFTP server

dnsmasq has built-in TFTP server.

To use it, create a directory for TFTP root (e.g. `/srv/tftp`) to put transferable files in.

For increased security it is advised to use dnsmasq's TFTP secure mode. In secure mode only files owned by the `dnsmasq` user will be served over TFTP. You will need to chown TFTP root and all files in it to `dnsmasq` user to use this feature.

Enable TFTP in `dnsmasq.conf`:

    /etc/dnsmasq.conf

    enable-tftp
    tftp-root=/srv/tftp
    tftp-secure

See dnsmasq(8) for more options.

### PXE server

PXE requires DHCP and TFTP servers, both functions can be provided by dnsmasq.

Tip: dnsmasq can add PXE booting options to a network with an already running DHCP server:

    /etc/dnsmasq.conf

    interface=enp0s0
    bind-dynamic
    dhcp-range=192.168.0.1,proxy

1. set up #TFTP server and #DHCP server
2. copy and configure a PXE compatible bootloader (e.g. PXELINUX) on TFTP root
3. enable PXE in `/etc/dnsmasq.conf`:

Note:

- file paths are relative to TFTP root
- if the file has a `.0` suffix, you must exclude the suffix in `pxe-service` options

To simply send one file:

    dhcp-boot=lpxelinux.0

To send a file depending on client architecture:

    pxe-service=x86PC, "PXELINUX (BIOS)", "bios/lpxelinux"
    pxe-service=X86-64_EFI, "PXELINUX (EFI)", "efi64/syslinux.efi"

Note: In case `pxe-service` does not work (especially for UEFI-based clients), combination of `dhcp-match` and `dhcp-boot` can be used. See RFC4578 for more `client-arch` numbers for use with dhcp boot protocol.

    dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7
    dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,9
    dhcp-match=set:efi-x86,option:client-arch,6
    dhcp-match=set:bios,option:client-arch,0
    dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64,"efi64/syslinux.efi"
    dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86,"efi32/syslinux.efi"
    dhcp-boot=tag:bios,"bios/lpxelinux.0"

See dnsmasq(8) for more options.

The rest is up to the bootloader.

## Tips and tricks

### Prevent OpenDNS redirecting Google queries

To prevent OpenDNS from redirecting all Google queries to their own search server, add to `/etc/dnsmasq.conf`:

    server=/www.google.com/<ISP DNS IP>

### View leases

dnsmasq's issued DHCP leased can be viewed in `/var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases`.

### Override addresses

In some cases, such as when operating a captive portal, it can be useful to resolve specific domains names to a hard-coded set of addresses. This is done with the `address` config:

    address=/example.com/1.2.3.4

Furthermore, it's possible to return a specific address for all domain names that are not answered from `/etc/hosts` or DHCP by using a special wildcard:

    address=/#/1.2.3.4

### More than one instance

If we want two or more dnsmasq servers works per interface(s).

#### Static

To do this staticly, server per interface, use `interface` and `bind-interface` options. This enforce start second dnsmasq.

#### Dynamic

In this case we can exclude per interface and bind any others:

    except-interface=lo
    bind-dynamic

Note: This is default in libvirt.

## See also

- Caching Nameserver using dnsmasq, and a few other tips and tricks.

Category:

- Domain Name System

Hidden categories:

- Pages or sections flagged with Template:Merge
- Pages or sections flagged with Template:Expansion