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pfyon
Asked: 2010-07-24 11:23:51 +0800 CST

How do you get dnsmasq to specify alternate DNS servers?

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I'm working on a network with ~10 kubuntu desktops (and numerous servers and IP phones) and am trying to get dnsmasq to specify another dns server as a failover. I tried using

server=192.168.0.90

but that just added the single dhcp/dns server to /etc/resolv.conf on my test machine (dynamic IP and freshly rebooted with no lease).

linux domain-name-system dhcp dnsmasq

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Answered my own question, thanks to rfc2132

    dhcp-option=6,192.168.0.90,192.168.0.98

    However, RFC2132 specifies option 5 as a list of name servers and option 6 as a list of domain name servers, and I'm not sure what the difference is. Either way, option 6 put them correctly as

    nameserver 192.168.0.90
nameserver 192.168.0.98

    in /etc/resolv.conf

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  2. Posting as a separate answer rather than a comment on yours because that way I can use links.

    Option 5 is for IEN 116 nameservers — a ridiculously obsolete protocol that Jon Postel wanted dead over twenty years ago. Solaris still supports it, but won't in the next version.

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  3. Another way is to set your dnsmasq server to be the DNS server for DHCP, and use /etc/resolv.conf on the dnsmasq server to specify your list of DNS servers. That way you can easily change DNS (and set aliases) without having to wait for DHCP renewal - just either restart or kill -HUP dnsmasq to reload the config.

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