doc.html - thekelleys/dnsmasq - Gitiles

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 <HEAD>
 <TITLE> Dnsmasq - a DNS forwarder for NAT firewalls.</TITLE>
 </HEAD>
 <BODY BGCOLOR="WHITE">
 <H1 ALIGN=center>Dnsmasq</H1>
 Dnsmasq is a lightweight, easy to configure DNS forwarder and DHCP
  server. It is designed to provide DNS and, optionally, DHCP, to a
  small network. It can serve the names of local machines which are
  not in the global DNS. The DHCP server integrates with the DNS
  server and allows machines with DHCP-allocated addresses
  to appear in the DNS with names configured either in each host or
  in a central configuration file. Dnsmasq supports static and dynamic
  DHCP leases and BOOTP for network booting of diskless machines.
 <P>
  Dnsmasq is targeted at home networks using NAT and
 connected to the internet via a modem, cable-modem or ADSL
 connection but would be a good choice for any small network where low
 resource use and ease of configuration are important.
 <P>
 Supported platforms include Linux (with glibc and uclibc), *BSD and
 Mac OS X.
 Dnsmasq is included in at least the following Linux distributions:
 Gentoo, Debian, Slackware, Suse,
 Smoothwall, IP-Cop, floppyfw, Firebox, LEAF, Freesco, fli4l,
 CoyoteLinux, Endian Firewall and
 Clarkconnect. It is also available as a FreeBSD port and is used in
 Linksys wireless routers and the m0n0wall project.
 <P>
 Dnsmasq provides the following features:
 <DIR>

 <LI>
 The DNS configuration of machines behind the firewall is simple and
 doesn't depend on the details of the ISP's dns servers
 <LI>
 Clients which try to do DNS lookups while  a modem link to the
 internet is down will time out immediately.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 Dnsmasq will serve names from the /etc/hosts file on the firewall
 machine: If the names of local machines are there, then they can all
 be addressed without having to maintain /etc/hosts on each machine.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 The integrated DHCP server supports static and dynamic DHCP leases and
 multiple networks and IP ranges. It works across BOOTP relays and
 supports DHCP options including RFC3397 DNS search lists.
 Machines which are configured by DHCP have their names automatically
 included in the DNS and the names can specified by each machine or
 centrally by associating a name with a MAC address in the dnsmasq
 config file.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 Dnsmasq caches internet addresses (A records and AAAA records) and address-to-name
 mappings (PTR records), reducing the load on upstream servers and
 improving performance (especially on modem connections).
 </LI>
 <LI>
 Dnsmasq can be configured to automatically pick up the addresses of
 it's upstream nameservers from ppp or dhcp configuration. It will
 automatically reload this information if it changes. This facility
 will be of particular interest to maintainers of Linux firewall
 distributions since it allows dns configuration to be made automatic.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 On IPv6-enabled boxes, dnsmasq can both talk to upstream servers via IPv6
 and offer DNS service via IPv6. On dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) boxes it talks
 both protocols and can even act as IPv6-to-IPv4 or IPv4-to-IPv6 forwarder.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 Dnsmasq can be configured to send queries for certain domains to
 upstream servers handling only those domains. This makes integration
 with private DNS systems easy.
 </LI>
 <LI>
 Dnsmasq supports MX records and can be configured to return MX records
 for any or all local machines.
 </LI>
 </DIR>

 <H2>Download.</H2>

 <A HREF="http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/"> Download</A> dnsmasq here.
 The tarball includes this documentation, source, manpage and control files for building .rpms.
 There are also pre-built i386 .rpms, and a
 <A HREF="CHANGELOG"> CHANGELOG</A>.
 Dnsmasq is part of the Debian distribution, it can be downloaded from
 <A HREF="http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dnsmasq/"> here</A> or installed using <TT>apt</TT>.


 <H2>Building rpms.</H2>
 Assuming you have the relevant tools installed, you can rebuild .rpms simply by running (as root)

 <PRE>
 rpmbuild -ta dnsmasq-xxx.tar.gz
 </PRE>

 Note for Suse users: you will need to re-compress the tar file as
 bzip2 before building using the commands
 <PRE>
 gunzip dnsmasq-xxx.tar.gz
 bzip2 dnsmasq-zzz.tar
 </PRE>

 <H2>Links.</H2>
 There is an article in German on dnsmasq at <A
 HREF="http://www.linuxnetmag.com/de/issue7/m7dnsmasq1.html">http://www.linuxnetmag.com/de/issue7/m7dnsmasq1.html</A>
 and Damien Raude-Morvan has one in French at <A HREF="http://www.drazzib.com/docs-dnsmasq.html">http://www.drazzib.com/docs-dnsmasq.html</A>
 There is a good article about dnsmasq at <A
 HREF="http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3377351">http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3377351</A>
 and Ilya Evseev has an article in Russian about dnsmasq to be found at <A HREF="http://ilya-evseev.narod.ru/articles/dnsmasq"> http://ilya-evseev.narod.ru/articles/dnsmasq</A>
 <H2>License.</H2>
 Dnsmasq is distributed under the GPL. See the file COPYING in the distribution
 for details.

 <H2>Contact.</H2>
 There is a dnsmasq mailing list at <A
 HREF="http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dnsmasq-discuss">
 http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dnsmasq-discuss</A> which should be the
 first location for queries, bugreports, suggestions etc.
 Dnsmasq was written by Simon Kelley. You can contact me at <A
 HREF="mailto:simon@thekelleys.org.uk">simon@thekelleys.org.uk</A>.
 </BODY>
	<HTML>
	<HEAD>
	<TITLE> Dnsmasq - a DNS forwarder for NAT firewalls.</TITLE>
	</HEAD>
	<BODY BGCOLOR="WHITE">
	<H1 ALIGN=center>Dnsmasq</H1>
	Dnsmasq is a lightweight, easy to configure DNS forwarder and DHCP
	server. It is designed to provide DNS and, optionally, DHCP, to a
	small network. It can serve the names of local machines which are
	not in the global DNS. The DHCP server integrates with the DNS
	server and allows machines with DHCP-allocated addresses
	to appear in the DNS with names configured either in each host or
	in a central configuration file. Dnsmasq supports static and dynamic
	DHCP leases and BOOTP for network booting of diskless machines.
	<P>
	Dnsmasq is targeted at home networks using NAT and
	connected to the internet via a modem, cable-modem or ADSL
	connection but would be a good choice for any small network where low
	resource use and ease of configuration are important.
	<P>
	Supported platforms include Linux (with glibc and uclibc), *BSD and
	Mac OS X.
	Dnsmasq is included in at least the following Linux distributions:
	Gentoo, Debian, Slackware, Suse,
	Smoothwall, IP-Cop, floppyfw, Firebox, LEAF, Freesco, fli4l,
	CoyoteLinux, Endian Firewall and
	Clarkconnect. It is also available as a FreeBSD port and is used in
	Linksys wireless routers and the m0n0wall project.
	<P>
	Dnsmasq provides the following features:
	<DIR>

	<LI>
	The DNS configuration of machines behind the firewall is simple and
	doesn't depend on the details of the ISP's dns servers
	<LI>
	Clients which try to do DNS lookups while a modem link to the
	internet is down will time out immediately.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	Dnsmasq will serve names from the /etc/hosts file on the firewall
	machine: If the names of local machines are there, then they can all
	be addressed without having to maintain /etc/hosts on each machine.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	The integrated DHCP server supports static and dynamic DHCP leases and
	multiple networks and IP ranges. It works across BOOTP relays and
	supports DHCP options including RFC3397 DNS search lists.
	Machines which are configured by DHCP have their names automatically
	included in the DNS and the names can specified by each machine or
	centrally by associating a name with a MAC address in the dnsmasq
	config file.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	Dnsmasq caches internet addresses (A records and AAAA records) and address-to-name
	mappings (PTR records), reducing the load on upstream servers and
	improving performance (especially on modem connections).
	</LI>
	<LI>
	Dnsmasq can be configured to automatically pick up the addresses of
	it's upstream nameservers from ppp or dhcp configuration. It will
	automatically reload this information if it changes. This facility
	will be of particular interest to maintainers of Linux firewall
	distributions since it allows dns configuration to be made automatic.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	On IPv6-enabled boxes, dnsmasq can both talk to upstream servers via IPv6
	and offer DNS service via IPv6. On dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) boxes it talks
	both protocols and can even act as IPv6-to-IPv4 or IPv4-to-IPv6 forwarder.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	Dnsmasq can be configured to send queries for certain domains to
	upstream servers handling only those domains. This makes integration
	with private DNS systems easy.
	</LI>
	<LI>
	Dnsmasq supports MX records and can be configured to return MX records
	for any or all local machines.
	</LI>
	</DIR>

	<H2>Download.</H2>

	<A HREF="http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/"> Download</A> dnsmasq here.
	The tarball includes this documentation, source, manpage and control files for building .rpms.
	There are also pre-built i386 .rpms, and a
	<A HREF="CHANGELOG"> CHANGELOG</A>.
	Dnsmasq is part of the Debian distribution, it can be downloaded from
	<A HREF="http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/dnsmasq/"> here</A> or installed using <TT>apt</TT>.


	<H2>Building rpms.</H2>
	Assuming you have the relevant tools installed, you can rebuild .rpms simply by running (as root)

	<PRE>
	rpmbuild -ta dnsmasq-xxx.tar.gz
	</PRE>

	Note for Suse users: you will need to re-compress the tar file as
	bzip2 before building using the commands
	<PRE>
	gunzip dnsmasq-xxx.tar.gz
	bzip2 dnsmasq-zzz.tar
	</PRE>

	<H2>Links.</H2>
	There is an article in German on dnsmasq at <A
	HREF="http://www.linuxnetmag.com/de/issue7/m7dnsmasq1.html">http://www.linuxnetmag.com/de/issue7/m7dnsmasq1.html</A>
	and Damien Raude-Morvan has one in French at <A HREF="http://www.drazzib.com/docs-dnsmasq.html">http://www.drazzib.com/docs-dnsmasq.html</A>
	There is a good article about dnsmasq at <A
	HREF="http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3377351">http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3377351</A>
	and Ilya Evseev has an article in Russian about dnsmasq to be found at <A HREF="http://ilya-evseev.narod.ru/articles/dnsmasq"> http://ilya-evseev.narod.ru/articles/dnsmasq</A>
	<H2>License.</H2>
	Dnsmasq is distributed under the GPL. See the file COPYING in the distribution
	for details.

	<H2>Contact.</H2>
	There is a dnsmasq mailing list at <A
	HREF="http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dnsmasq-discuss">
	http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dnsmasq-discuss</A> which should be the
	first location for queries, bugreports, suggestions etc.
	Dnsmasq was written by Simon Kelley. You can contact me at <A
	HREF="mailto:simon@thekelleys.org.uk">simon@thekelleys.org.uk</A>.
	</BODY>