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dnsmasq

A lightweight DNS forwarder and DHCP server designed for small networks, home routers, embedded systems, and developer environments.

Overview

Lightweight DNS Forwarder

dnsmasq is a combined DNS forwarder and DHCP server designed to be simple and lightweight. It reads /etc/hosts for local names and forwards everything else to upstream resolvers. It is not a recursive resolver — it forwards queries rather than walking the DNS hierarchy itself.

dnsmasq ships as the default DNS component in OpenWrt (the Linux firmware for home routers), NetworkManager on Linux desktops, and many embedded Linux systems. It is also popular for local development environments — tools like minikube and macOS's Homebrew-based dev setups use dnsmasq for local domain routing.

DNS forwarding with caching — not full recursion
Reads /etc/hosts automatically — no zone file needed for simple local entries
DHCP server with static lease assignment by MAC address
DHCP + DNS integration: assigns hostnames from DHCP leases automatically
Wildcard local domains: e.g., route *.dev.local to 127.0.0.1
TFTP server for PXE boot alongside DHCP
No DNSSEC validation — not suitable for security-sensitive deployments

Not for Production Resolversdnsmasq is a forwarder, not a recursive resolver. It does not validate DNSSEC, does not perform full resolution, and is not designed for high query volumes. For a production or ISP resolver, use Unbound or PowerDNS Recursor instead.

2001

First released

OpenWrt

Ships in most home routers

Configuration

Key Configuration Examples

Basic dnsmasq.conf

# /etc/dnsmasq.conf

# Listen on localhost and LAN
listen-address=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.1

# Forward to upstream resolvers
server=1.1.1.1
server=8.8.8.8

# Cache size (number of entries)
cache-size=1000

# Don't forward queries for
# unqualified names (single label)
domain-needed
# Don't forward 192.168.x.x reverse lookups
bogus-priv

# Read /etc/hosts
no-hosts  # comment out to enable /etc/hosts

Local domain routing (dev)

# Route *.test to localhost
# (useful for local dev environments)
address=/.test/127.0.0.1
address=/.test/::1

# Specific internal host
address=/myapp.internal/10.0.0.5

# Forward internal zone to
# a specific DNS server
server=/corp.internal/10.0.0.1

# Block a domain (return NXDOMAIN)
address=/tracking.example.com/
# Or block with specific IP:
address=/ads.example.com/0.0.0.0

DHCP server config

# DHCP range: 192.168.1.100-200
# Lease time: 24h
dhcp-range=192.168.1.100,192.168.1.200,24h

# Static lease by MAC address
dhcp-host=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff,printer,192.168.1.10

# Set DHCP options
dhcp-option=3,192.168.1.1   # gateway
dhcp-option=6,192.168.1.1   # DNS server
dhcp-option=15,home.local   # domain

# DHCP lease file
dhcp-leasefile=/var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases

# Integrate DHCP hostnames into DNS
# (automatic — dnsmasq does this by default)

macOS local dev setup

# Route *.test to 127.0.0.1 on macOS
# via Homebrew dnsmasq

brew install dnsmasq

# /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf:
echo "address=/.test/127.0.0.1" >> \
  $(brew --prefix)/etc/dnsmasq.conf

# Tell macOS to use dnsmasq for .test
sudo mkdir -p /etc/resolver
echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" | \
  sudo tee /etc/resolver/test

# Start dnsmasq
sudo brew services start dnsmasq

# Test
ping -c1 anything.test

dnsmasq

Lightweight DNS Forwarder

Key Configuration Examples

Basic dnsmasq.conf

Local domain routing (dev)

DHCP server config

macOS local dev setup

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