DNS and DHCP examples

See also: DNS and DHCP configuration, DNS encryption, DNS hijacking

This how-to provides most common dnsmasq and odhcpd tuning scenarios adapted for OpenWrt.

LuCI → DHCP and DNS → Static Leases

Add a fixed IPv4 address 192.168.1.22 and name mydesktop for a machine with the MAC address 00:11:22:33:44:55.

uci add dhcp host
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="mydesktop"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].dns='1'
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].mac="00:11:22:33:44:55"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="192.168.1.22"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Add a fixed IPv4 address 192.168.1.23, IPv6 interface identifier (address suffix) 23 and name mylaptop for a machine with the MAC address 11:22:33:44:55:66 or aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff and DUID 000100004fd454041c6f65d26f43.

uci add dhcp host
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="mylaptop"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].dns='1'
uci add_list dhcp.@host[-1].mac="11:22:33:44:55:66"
uci add_list dhcp.@host[-1].mac="aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="192.168.1.23"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].duid="000100004fd454041c6f65d26f43"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].hostid="23"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

Reconnect your clients to apply the changes.

Using multiple MACs per host entry is unreliable, add a separate host entry for each MAC if the host has more than one interface connected simultaneously.

This is an implementation of the --dhcp-host option.

See also: odhcpd leases

Ignore DHCP requests from specific clients.

uci add dhcp host
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="mydesktop"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].mac="00:11:22:33:44:55"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="ignore"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Ignore all DHCP requests except the ones from known clients configured with static leases or /etc/ethers.

uci set dhcp.lan.dynamicdhcp="0"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Avoid using this as a security measure since the client can still access the network with a static IP.

Resolve the race condition with netifd service and skip check for competing DHCP servers.

uci set dhcp.lan.force="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

DHCP options can be configured under the DHCP pool section via dhcp_option. Use an alternative default gateway, DNS server and NTP server, disable WINS.

uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option="3,192.168.1.2"
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option="6,172.16.60.64"
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option="42,172.16.60.64"
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option="44"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Use the tag classifier to create a tagged group. Assign individual DHCP options to hosts tagged with tag1. Specify custom DNS and possibly other DHCP options.

uci set dhcp.tag1="tag"
uci set dhcp.tag1.dhcp_option="6,8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4"
uci add dhcp host
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="j400"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].mac="00:21:63:75:aa:17"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="10.11.12.14"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].tag="tag1"
uci add dhcp host
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="j500"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].mac="01:22:64:76:bb:18"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="10.11.12.15"
uci set dhcp.@host[-1].tag="tag1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Use the mac classifier to create a tagged group. Assign different DHCP options to hosts with matching MACs. Disable default gateway and specify custom DNS.

uci set dhcp.mac1="mac"
uci set dhcp.mac1.mac="00:FF:*:*:*:*"
uci set dhcp.mac1.networkid="vpn"
uci add_list dhcp.mac1.dhcp_option="3"
uci add_list dhcp.mac1.dhcp_option="6,192.168.1.3"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-dhcpe/ef7676b1-5568-4afc-836a-7eca63a10a3a

If you want to disable NetBIOS over TCP on Windows clients, it's possible with the following vendor-specific DHCP option:

• DHCP Option 43 (Vendor Specific Information)
  • Vendor-specific Option Code (1 byte): 0x01 (Microsoft Disable NetBios Option)
  • Vendor-specific Option Length (1 byte): 0x04
  • Vendor-specific Option Data (4 bytes): See table below

It needs to be pushed to clients who have the “MSFT 5.0” Vendor class identifier in their DHCP requests.

This can be achieved with the following configuration snippet:

uci set dhcp.msft="vendorclass"
uci set dhcp.msft.networkid="msft"
uci set dhcp.msft.vendorclass="MSFT"
uci add_list dhcp.msft.dhcp_option="vendor:MSFT,1,2i"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

• 10.0.0.0 - network address
• 255.0.0.0 - network mask
• 10.22.0.1 - pool start
• 10.22.0.254 - pool end
• $((22*2**16+1)) - start offset
• 253 - limit offset

# ipcalc.sh 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 $((22*2**16+1)) 253
IP=10.0.0.0
NETMASK=255.0.0.0
BROADCAST=10.255.255.255
NETWORK=10.0.0.0
PREFIX=8
START=10.22.0.1
END=10.22.0.254
 
uci set dhcp.lan.start="$((22*2**16+1))"
uci set dhcp.lan.limit="253"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

LuCI → Network → Hostnames

Define a custom domain name and the corresponding PTR record - assigns the IPv4 address 192.168.1.23 and IPv6 address fdce::23 to the domain name mylaptop and construct an appropriate reverse records. You can also use this to rebind domain names. The init service merges all entries to an additional hosts file used with the --addn-hosts option.

uci add dhcp domain
uci set dhcp.@domain[-1].name="mylaptop"
uci set dhcp.@domain[-1].ip="192.168.1.23"
uci add dhcp domain
uci set dhcp.@domain[-1].name="mylaptop"
uci set dhcp.@domain[-1].ip="fdce::23"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Be sure to set up static leases to avoid possible collisions due to race conditions.

This is an implementation of the --address option. Return 10.10.10.1 on query domain home and subdomain *.home.

uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].address="/home/10.10.10.1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

This is an implementation of the --srv-host option. Define an SRV record for SIP over UDP, with the default port of 5060 on the host pbx.mydomain.com, with a class of 0 and a weight of 10.

uci add dhcp srvhost
uci set	dhcp.@srvhost[-1].srv="_sip._udp.mydomain.com"
uci set	dhcp.@srvhost[-1].target="pbx.mydomain.com"
uci set	dhcp.@srvhost[-1].port="5060"
uci set	dhcp.@srvhost[-1].class="0"
uci set	dhcp.@srvhost[-1].weight="10"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

This is an implementation of the --cname option. A Canonical Name record specifies that a domain name is an alias for another domain, the “canonical” domain. Specify that the FTP server is on the same host as the web server.

uci add dhcp cname
uci set dhcp.@cname[-1].cname="ftp.example.com"
uci set dhcp.@cname[-1].target="www.example.com"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Be sure to set up hostnames since CNAME depends on it.

This is an implementation of the --mx-host option. Mitigate the issues caused by split DNS for your own domain if you're running the mail server for your domain behind a firewall. Convince that mailer that it's actually authoritative for your domain, otherwise sendmail may not find an MX record to confirm that the domain is an MX relay and complain about non-existent domain of sender address.

uci add dhcp mxhost
uci set	dhcp.@mxhost[-1].domain="yyy.zzz"
uci set	dhcp.@mxhost[-1].relay="my.host.com"
uci set	dhcp.@mxhost[-1].pref="10"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

Direct BOOTP requests to the TFTP server. Tell the client to load pxelinux.0 from the server at 192.168.1.2, and mount root from /data/netboot/root on the same server.

uci set dhcp.linux="boot"
uci set dhcp.linux.filename="/tftpboot/pxelinux.0"
uci set dhcp.linux.serveraddress="192.168.1.2"
uci set dhcp.linux.servername="fileserver"
uci add_list dhcp.linux.dhcp_option="option:root-path,192.168.1.2:/data/netboot/root"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

For PXE boot, each client needs a specific binary for its architecture e.g. PC BIOS, UEFI x86 32bit, UEFI x86 64bit, ARM, etc. You can match on the DHCP “Vendor Class Identifier” option (60) specified by the client to send back the right filename.

uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].logdhcp='1'
uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].enable_tftp='1'
uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].tftp_root='/srv/tftp'
uci add dhcp match
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].networkid='bios'
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].match='60,PXEClient:Arch:00000'
uci add dhcp match
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].networkid='efi32'
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].match='60,PXEClient:Arch:00006'
uci add dhcp match
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].networkid='efi64'
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].match='60,PXEClient:Arch:00007'
uci add dhcp match
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].networkid='efi64'
uci set dhcp.@match[-1].match='60,PXEClient:Arch:00009'
uci add dhcp boot
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].filename='tag:bios,bios/lpxelinux.0'
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].serveraddress="$(uci get network.lan.ipaddr)"
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].servername="$(uci get system.@system[0].hostname)"
uci add dhcp boot
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].filename='tag:efi32,efi32/syslinux.efi'
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].serveraddress="$(uci get network.lan.ipaddr)"
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].servername="$(uci get system.@system[0].hostname)"
uci add dhcp boot
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].filename='tag:efi64,efi64/syslinux.efi'
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].serveraddress="$(uci get network.lan.ipaddr)"
uci set dhcp.@boot[-1].servername="$(uci get system.@system[0].hostname)"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq reload

If you need multiple DNS forwarders with different configurations or DHCP server with different sets of lease files.

Running multiple dnsmasq instances as DNS forwarder and/or DHCPv4 server, each having their own configuration and lease list can be configured by creating multiple dnsmasq sections. Typically in such configs each dnsmasq section will be bound to a specific interface by using the interface list; assigning sections like dhcp, host, etc. to a specific dnsmasq instance is done by the instance option. By default dnsmasq adds the loopback interface to the interface list to listen when the --interface option is used; therefore the loopback interface needs to be excluded in one of the dnsmasq instances by using the notinterface list.

These are example settings for multiple dnsmasq instances each having their own dhcp section. dnsmasq instance lan_dns is bound to the lan interface while the dnsmasq instance guest_dns is bound to the guest interface.

# Remove default instances
while uci -q delete dhcp.@dnsmasq[0]; do :; done
while uci -q delete dhcp.@dhcp[0]; do :; done
 
# Use network interface names for DHCP/DNS instance names
INST="lan guest"
for INST in ${INST}
do
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns="dnsmasq"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.domainneeded="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.boguspriv="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.filterwin2k="0"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.localise_queries="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.rebind_protection="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.rebind_localhost="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.local="/${INST}/"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.domain="${INST}"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.expandhosts="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.nonegcache="0"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.authoritative="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.readethers="1"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.leasefile="/tmp/dhcp.leases.${INST}"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.resolvfile="/etc/resolv.conf.${INST}"
uci set dhcp.${INST}_dns.nonwildcard="1"
uci add_list dhcp.${INST}_dns.interface="${INST}"
uci add_list dhcp.${INST}_dns.notinterface="loopback"
uci set dhcp.${INST}="dhcp"
uci set dhcp.${INST}.instance="${INST}_dns"
uci set dhcp.${INST}.interface="${INST}"
uci set dhcp.${INST}.start="100"
uci set dhcp.${INST}.limit="150"
uci set dhcp.${INST}.leasetime="12h"
ln -f -s /tmp/resolv.conf.d/resolv.conf.auto /etc/resolv.conf.${INST}
done
uci -q delete dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].notinterface
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

The LuCI web interface has not been updated to support multiple dnsmasq instances.

LuCI → Network → DHCP and DNS → General Settings → Log queries

Log DNS queries for troubleshooting.

uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].logqueries="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

See also: Reading logs

This change turns off DHCP on the specified interface but leaves DNS services available.

uci set dhcp.lan.ignore="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

Stop advertising IPv6 DNS with DHCPv6/RA.

uci set dhcp.lan.dns_service="0"
uci set dhcp.lan.ra_dns="0"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

This is useful when you just want to hand out addresses to clients, without doing any DNS by dnsmasq.

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq stop
uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].localuse="0"
uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].port="0"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq start

Remove dnsmasq and use odhcpd for both DHCP and DHCPv6.

opkg update
opkg remove dnsmasq odhcpd-ipv6only
opkg install odhcpd
uci -q delete dhcp.@dnsmasq[0]
uci set dhcp.lan.dhcpv4="server"
uci set dhcp.odhcpd.maindhcp="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

Use Unbound for DNS.

opkg update
opkg install unbound-control unbound-daemon
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].add_local_fqdn="3"
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].add_wan_fqdn="1"
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].dhcp4_slaac6="1"
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].dhcp_link="odhcpd"
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].unbound_control="1"
uci commit unbound
/etc/init.d/unbound restart
uci set dhcp.odhcpd.leasetrigger="/usr/lib/unbound/odhcpd.sh"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

Note: These are the recommended options from the official "Unbound and odhcpd" guide on GitHub.

Announce custom DNS servers with DHCP.

# Configure dnsmasq
uci -q delete dhcp.lan.dhcp_option
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option="6,8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
 
# Configure odhcpd
uci -q delete dhcp.lan.dns
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dns="2001:4860:4860::8888"
uci add_list dhcp.lan.dns="2001:4860:4860::8844"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart

Reconnect your clients to apply the changes.

Announce ISP DNS servers with DHCP. Fetch the settings dynamically with DHCP client scripts.

cat << "EOF" > /etc/udhcpc.user
DHCP_POOL="lan"
DHCPC_EVENT="${1}"
DNS_SERV="${dns}"
case ${DHCPC_EVENT} in
(bound|renew) ;;
(*) exit 0 ;;
esac
for DHCP_POOL in ${DHCP_POOL}
do DHCP_OPT="$(uci -q get dhcp.${DHCP_POOL}.dhcp_option)"
for DHCP_OPT in ${DHCP_OPT}
do if [ "${DHCP_OPT%%,*}" = "6" ]
then uci del_list dhcp.${DHCP_POOL}.dhcp_option="${DHCP_OPT}"
fi
done
uci add_list dhcp.${DHCP_POOL}.dhcp_option="6,${DNS_SERV// /,}"
done
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
EOF
 
cat << "EOF" > /etc/odhcp6c.user
DHCP_POOL="lan"
DHCPC_EVENT="${2}"
DNS_SERV="${RA_DNS} ${RDNSS}"
case ${DHCPC_EVENT} in
(bound|informed|updated|rebound|ra-updated) ;;
(*) exit 0 ;;
esac
for DHCP_POOL in ${DHCP_POOL}
do uci -q delete dhcp.${DHCP_POOL}.dns
for DNS_SERV in ${DNS_SERV}
do uci add_list dhcp.${DHCP_POOL}.dns="${DNS_SERV}"
done
done
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/odhcpd restart
EOF

Reconnect your clients to apply the changes.

Answer DNS queries arriving from non-local networks. This can be useful to provide DNS for VPN clients with point-to-point topology.

uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].localservice="0"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

LuCI → Network → DHCP and DNS → General Settings → DNS forwardings

Forward DNS queries to specific servers.

uci -q delete dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="8.8.8.8"
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="8.8.4.4"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

This can be combined with selective DNS forwarding.

LuCI → Network → DHCP and DNS → Resolv and Hosts Files → Ignore resolve file

Ignore resolvfile option and limit upstream resolvers to server option. This effectively enables split DNS and makes the local system not to use dnsmasq.

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq stop
uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].noresolv="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq start

Enforce local system to use dnsmasq if it is running with noresolv option. Beware of race condition with Adblock service when using DNS encryption.

uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].localuse="1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

LuCI → Network → DHCP and DNS → General Settings → DNS forwardings

Forward DNS queries for a specific domain and all its subdomains to a different server. More specific domains take precedence over less specific domains.

uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/example.com/192.168.2.1"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

This can be combined with unconditional DNS forwarding.

LuCI → Network → DHCP and DNS → General Settings → DNS forwardings

Simple DNS-based content filtering.

# Blacklist
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/example.com/"
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/example.net/"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
 
# Whitelist
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/example.com/#"
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/example.net/#"
uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server="/#/"
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

See also: Ad blocking, DNS-based firewall with IP sets

Resolve the race condition with sysntpd service. When running dnsmasq with noresolv and localuse options and using DNS encryption for local system.

# Fetch peer DNS provider
. /lib/functions/network.sh
network_flush_cache
network_find_wan NET_IF
network_find_wan6 NET_IF6
network_get_dnsserver NET_DNS "${NET_IF}"
network_get_dnsserver NET_DNS6 "${NET_IF6}"
 
# Configure fallback DNS provider
if [ -z "${NET_DNS}" ]
then NET_DNS="8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4"
fi
if [ -z "${NET_DNS6}" ]
then NET_DNS6="2001:4860:4860::8888 2001:4860:4860::8844"
fi
 
# Bypass DNS forwarding for NTP provider
for DNS_SERV in ${NET_DNS} ${NET_DNS6}
do uci get system.ntp.server \
| sed -e "s/\s/\n/g" \
| sed -r -e "s|^[0-9]*\.(.*)$|\
del_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server='/\1/${DNS_SERV}'\n\
add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server='/\1/${DNS_SERV}'|" \
| uci -q batch
done
uci commit dhcp
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

LuCI → Network → Interfaces → WAN & WAN6 → Edit

• Use DNS servers advertised by peer
• Use custom DNS servers

OpenWrt uses peer DNS as the upstream resolvers for dnsmasq by default. These are typically provided by the ISP upstream DHCP server. You can change it to any other DNS provider or a local DNS server running on another host. Use resolvers supporting DNSSEC validation if necessary. Specify several resolvers to improve fault tolerance.

# Configure DNS provider
uci -q delete network.wan.dns
uci add_list network.wan.dns="8.8.8.8"
uci add_list network.wan.dns="8.8.4.4"
 
# Configure IPv6 DNS provider
uci -q delete network.wan6.dns
uci add_list network.wan6.dns="2001:4860:4860::8888"
uci add_list network.wan6.dns="2001:4860:4860::8844"
 
# Disable peer DNS
uci set network.wan.peerdns="0"
uci set network.wan6.peerdns="0"
 
# Save and apply
uci commit network
/etc/init.d/network restart

• Resolvers from all active interfaces are combined in a single runtime configuration indiscriminately.
• If the interface is down, its resolvers are not used, so it's reasonable to specify resolvers only on interfaces they are reachable from.
• Dnsmasq periodically queries all the listed resolvers and then uses the fastest one for a period of time.

• The more DNS providers, the higher the fault tolerance of your DNS relative to DoS.
• Different DNS providers may return different answers to a DNS query due to differences in caching, synchronization, load balancing, content filtering, etc.
• To distinguish between correct and incorrect answers such as false-negatives, you need to utilize DNSSEC which may negatively impact fault tolerance and performance.

• Keep peer DNS enabled to improve your DNS fault tolerance.
• Disable peer DNS to prevent DNS leak if you have configured a VPN connection on OpenWrt.
• Disable peer DNS to actually change your DNS provider and receive more predictable DNS replies.