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    OpenDnS not working

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved DHCP and DNS
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    • J Offline
      JSM11
      last edited by

      @doktornotor:

      I already have written how to do it. What's unclear there?

      Well quite alot for someone who is new-ish to pfsense and only sticks to the very basics I would have no idea which menu to go to to even start this.

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      • johnpozJ Online
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
        last edited by

        What are you handing to your clients.. Look at your dhcp server settings on pfsense.

        Simple ipconfig /all on your clients show you what they are using for dns.  There are different settings you can have pfsense hand out itself for dns, and then forward to what you want to forward to be it your isp, public dns like opendns, etc.

        If your using the resolver in pfsense vs the forwarder, it will never use opendns even if you tell your clients to use pfsense as dns, etc.

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 25.07 | Lab VMs 2.8, 25.07

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        • J Offline
          JSM11
          last edited by

          @johnpoz:

          What are you handing to your clients.. Look at your dhcp server settings on pfsense.

          Simple ipconfig /all on your clients show you what they are using for dns.  There are different settings you can have pfsense hand out itself for dns, and then forward to what you want to forward to be it your isp, public dns like opendns, etc.

          If your using the resolver in pfsense vs the forwarder, it will never use opendns even if you tell your clients to use pfsense as dns, etc.

          All Im trying to do is to make sure every computer / tablet etc… uses the OpenDNS nameservers (208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220)

          See this guy adds it to setup and works fine.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ6sEWRmvz4

          This is all I did before and it worked spot on. Has something changed?

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          • D Offline
            doktornotor Banned
            last edited by

            For starters, 2.2.x is using DNS resolver (unbound) instead of DNS forwarder (dnsmasq). So yeah, a whole lot changed, there are the fine release notes/changelogs on the blog/wiki. Useful to read those.

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            • KOMK Offline
              KOM
              last edited by

              DHCP will already serve the pfSense LAN IP for DNS by default so DHCP clients should be working already.  If your clients are static IP, then you need to configure their network settings and specify pfSense LAN IP as their DNS server.  Lastly, you need to edit your LAN firewall rules to prevent your clients from editing their DNS settings and using external DNS:

              https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Blocking_DNS_queries_to_external_resolvers

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              • D Offline
                doktornotor Banned
                last edited by

                @KOM:

                DHCP will already serve the pfSense LAN IP for DNS by default so DHCP clients should be working already.

                No, not with Unbound. It won't use anything in System - General by default.

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                • W Offline
                  wbennett77
                  last edited by

                  https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Unbound_DNS_Resolver - Look for "Enable Forwarding Mode"

                  Dell Optiplex 390 Pfsense 2.2 / Asus AC56U Wireless AP / Asus Switch

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                  • J Offline
                    JSM11
                    last edited by

                    All working now guys thanks :)

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                    • KOMK Offline
                      KOM
                      last edited by

                      No, not with Unbound. It won't use anything in System - General by default.

                      Ah yes, I checked the option and it will offer pfSense LAN IP if DNS Forwarder is enabled, otherwise it will offer the DNS configured in General Settings.

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                      • D Offline
                        doktornotor Banned
                        last edited by

                        @KOM:

                        No, not with Unbound. It won't use anything in System - General by default.

                        Ah yes, I checked the option and it will offer pfSense LAN IP if DNS Forwarder is enabled, otherwise it will offer the DNS configured in General Settings.

                        That misleading description in DHCP server settings is already fixed in 2.2.3 snapshots:

                        "NOTE: leave blank to use the system default DNS servers - this interface's IP if DNS Forwarder or Resolver is enabled, otherwise the servers configured on the General page.

                        Point being - unbound won't forward anything anywhere by default, it does the resolution itself.

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                        • P Offline
                          phil.davis
                          last edited by

                          I'll put a summary here that will hopefully help future readers:

                          If you want to use particular DNS servers out on the internet to do some filtered DNS for you (e.g. OpenDNS or DynDNS Internet Guide or…) then your DNS on pfSense must be in forwarding mode.
                          a) If DNS Forwarder is enabled - then it always does forwarding mode - easy, done.
                          b) If DNS Resolver is enabled - then select the checkbox to "Enable Forwarding Mode".

                          Put the special DNS servers in System->General.

                          If you are using DHCP on pfSense then let it do its default thing - it will give the clients the pfSense interface IP as the DNS, and pfSense DNS is in forwarding mode to those.

                          For clients with hard-coded static IPs - set their DNS manually to the pfSense interface IP.

                          As the Greek philosopher Isosceles used to say, "There are 3 sides to every triangle."
                          If I helped you, then help someone else - buy someone a gift from the INF catalog http://secure.inf.org/gifts/usd/

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                          • M Offline
                            maverik1
                            last edited by

                            I am unable to get this working…pain in butt with so many tabs dealing with DNS.... I've specified OpenDNS servers under General Setup and made sure Allow DNS server list to be overridden by DHCP option was unchecked. I also specified same OpenDNS servers under DHCP server. Rebooted my machines, cleared cache, cookies, history from browser... ran ipconfig /flushdns...  When I do an ipconfig /all  DNS server shows 192.168.1.1 which is the dhcp server/gateway and so forth.

                            I've also verified my IP has been updated with OpenDNS. I've setup Dynamic DNS as well and its working.  If I go to Diagnostics and do DNS Lookup I can see it is using OpenDNS servers:

                            Server Query time
                            208.67.222.222 22 msec
                            208.67.220.220 24 msec

                            Why is it not working?

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                            • D Offline
                              drurb75
                              last edited by

                              New to forums - first ever post.  Bear with me if I break the rules.

                              This thread helped confirm I was on the right path - thanks Phil for the succinct solution.

                              Following on the solution you offered, which is correct, there is one extra setting I found blocking me from forwarding from unbound to OpenDNS specifically; Unchecking the advanced unbound setting to Harden DNSSEC Data allowed me to forward to that service.  Note, Google DNS was working with the Harden DNSSEC setting enabled.

                              One extra point on static / user-set DNS settings in devices on the network - Port Forward traffic into LAN interface that has a DNS (port 53) destination IP that is not the LAN interface IP to the LAN interface IP.  No more sneaking around your network-wide DNS settings.

                              Hope this helps someone.

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                              • D Offline
                                dabigoreo
                                last edited by

                                Newbie here. Had a similar problem with OpenDNS as well. During initial setup I used the OpenDNS entries on the General page and could not figure out why the welcome test page for OpenDNS said I wasn't configured properly. I eventually figured out that forwarding needed to be turned on for the DNS Resolver (default mode on initial install). This kinda fixed things but then I noticed a lot of websites were not resolving or taking a very long time to resolve. I changed gears by turning off DNS Resolver and enabling DNS Forwarder - all dns issues went away and OpenDNS confirmation was achieved. Hope this helps other newbies to pfsense.  8)

                                fw: 2.3-RELEASE(amd64)
                                packages: Snort, Nmap

                                system: Dell Optiplex 745 desktop
                                cpu: Intel Pentium D 3.4GHz
                                ram: 4GB DDR2
                                wan nic: Broadcom Gbe
                                lan nic: Marvell Gbe

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                                • S Offline
                                  strawberrypacketjam Rebel Alliance
                                  last edited by

                                  I know this is a bit old, but I just wanted to confirm that disabling the Harden DNSSEC Data and enabling DNS Query Forwarding will allow OpenDNS to work.

                                  Enabling the DNS Query Forwarding on the resolver will break DNS for clients if Harden DNSSEC Data is enabled. I was kicking all around trying to get this working.

                                  Disable Harden DNSSEC Data:
                                  Services > DNS Resolver > Advanced Settings > Uncheck Harden DNSSEC Data
                                  Services > DNS Resolver > Check DNS Query Forwarding

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                                  • GertjanG Online
                                    Gertjan
                                    last edited by

                                    @strawberrypacketjam:

                                    I know this is a bit old, but I just wanted to confirm that disabling the Harden DNSSEC Data and enabling DNS Query Forwarding will allow OpenDNS to work.

                                    Enabling the DNS Query Forwarding on the resolver will break DNS for clients if Harden DNSSEC Data is enabled. I was kicking all around trying to get this working.

                                    Disable Harden DNSSEC Data:
                                    Services > DNS Resolver > Advanced Settings > Uncheck Harden DNSSEC Data
                                    Services > DNS Resolver > Check DNS Query Forwarding

                                    Today, November 2017, OpenDNS isn't doing any DNSSEC yet, and worse, by concept it can't pass along the DNS requests without breaking the security chain.

                                    No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                                    Edit : and where are the logs ??

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                                    • T Offline
                                      ThatGuy
                                      last edited by

                                      Well, it's now November 2018 and OpenDNS still does not support DNSSEC. Good to see things have changed a lot in a year.

                                      ThatGuy

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                                      • jimpJ Offline
                                        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                                        last edited by

                                        Why would they support DNSSEC? One of their primary purposes is to alter DNS replies to do things DNSSEC is designed to prevent.

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                                        • Cloudless Smart HomeC Offline
                                          Cloudless Smart Home
                                          last edited by

                                          this helped me, the last few entries, but here is what fixed it for me in
                                          2023...

                                          Services > DNS Resolver > Advanced Settings > Left it checked
                                          Services > DNS Resolver > Check DNS Query Forwarding

                                          seems like I am using OpenDNS, like I wanted, but still able to use my dns resolver so I can do host overrides and anything else I want to do in DNS.

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