• This how-to describes the method for setting up DNS over TLS on OpenWrt.
• It relies on Unbound for performance and fault tolerance.
• Follow DNS encryption for alternative methods or use VPN to protect all traffic.

Disable Dnsmasq DNS role or remove it completely optionally replacing its DHCP role with odhcpd.

Install the packages and configure DNS encryption.

# Install packages
opkg update
opkg install unbound-daemon
 
# Enable DNS encryption
while uci -q delete unbound.@zone[0]; do :; done
uci set unbound.forward="zone"
uci set unbound.forward.enabled="1"
uci set unbound.forward.fallback="0"
uci set unbound.forward.zone_type="forward_zone"
uci set unbound.forward.tls_upstream="1"
uci set unbound.forward.tls_index="dns.google"
uci add_list unbound.forward.zone_name="."
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="2001:4860:4860::8888"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="2001:4860:4860::8844"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="8.8.8.8"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="8.8.4.4"
uci commit unbound
/etc/init.d/unbound restart

LAN clients and local system should use Unbound as a primary resolver assuming that Dnsmasq is disabled.

Collect and analyze the following information.

# Restart the services
/etc/init.d/log restart; /etc/init.d/unbound restart
 
# Log and status
logread -e unbound; netstat -l -n -p | grep -e unbound
 
# Runtime configuration
pgrep -f -a unbound
 
# Persistent configuration
uci show unbound

Install the necessary packages if you want to manage the settings via web interface.

# Install packages
opkg update
opkg install luci-app-unbound

Navigate to LuCI → Services → Recursive DNS to configure Unbound.

Unbound is configured with Google DNS. You can change it Cloudflare DNS or any other DoT provider. Make sure the provider supports DNSSEC validation if required. Specify several servers to improve fault tolerance.

# Configure DoT provider
uci set unbound.forward.tls_index="cloudflare-dns.com"
uci -q delete unbound.forward.server
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="2606:4700:4700::1111"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="2606:4700:4700::1001"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="1.1.1.1"
uci add_list unbound.forward.server="1.0.0.1"
uci commit unbound
/etc/init.d/unbound restart

Enforce DNSSEC validation if your DNS provider does not support it, or you want to perform the validation yourself. Beware of performance issues.

# Enforce DNSSEC validation
uci set unbound.@unbound[0].validator="1"
uci commit unbound
/etc/init.d/unbound restart