Need WiFi 6 router with native support for modifying it's DNS server config

[Patrick9876]

This is sort of a double (or triple) post but greatly simplified,

I need a router with WiFi 6 support that has the ability to add CNAME records to its DNS server. I assume (based completely on wishful thinking) that a router natively running OpenWrt or DD-WRT has a way for users to configure its DNS server. Am I dreaming? I know that the Merlin firmware for ASUS routers has this support - I'm using it right now - but I would rather be using a router running native firmware. I'm using my ASUS router (RT-AX86U) and the Merlin firmware on;y because of the support for DNS server customization. Otherwise, bit the router and firmware are overkill for my needs.

The recent more extensive posting is here.

 

[bbunge]

Keep your AX86U and flash the Asus firmware. Get a Raspberry Pi (Pi 3b+ works well) and set up Pi-Hole. It has the ability to use CNAME. You can also use an old PC running Linux of some sort. Then set the Asus router to use the Pi-Hole (LAN-DHCP Server-DNS Server 1). Less than a $50 investment.

 

[Patrick9876]

Adding another device to my configuration isn't part of my simplification scheme. And I don't speak Linux. Setting up a separate DNS server on a Raspberry Pi is probably more than I want to handle right now (regardless of how straightforward it may seen to you).

I do have a couple NAS devices - one Synology & one QNAP - that can run a DNS server so I guess I could look into that ... although I would have to give it a static IP address.

A bonehead question: I'm currently pointing my ASUS router's DNS setting to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9. Are those used round-robin or is 9.9.9.9 a backup? If I have an external DNS server living on 192.168.50.2 (pointing to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9) and had my router pointing to 192.169.50.2 and 9.9.9.9 would the router use 192.168.50.2 whenever it was available or would half the unchached requests go to 9999?

A bonehead question #2: Are IPv4 and IPv6 completely separate in the AX86U, or would me external DNS server have implement both IPv4 and IPv6 DNS support? (I know the two functions are specified separately in Merlin, but I don't know about the ASUS native support.)

 

[bbunge]

Adding another device to my configuration isn't part of my simplification scheme. And I don't speak Linux. Setting up a separate DNS server on a Raspberry Pi is probably more than I want to handle right now (regardless of how straightforward it may seen to you).

I do have a couple NAS devices - one Synology & one QNAP - that can run a DNS server so I guess I could look into that ... although I would have to give it a static IP address.

A bonehead question: I'm currently pointing my ASUS router's DNS setting to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9. Are those used round-robin or is 9.9.9.9 a backup? If I have an external DNS server living on 192.168.50.2 (pointing to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9) and had my router pointing to 192.169.50.2 and 9.9.9.9 would the router use 192.168.50.2 whenever it was available or would half the unchached requests go to 9999?

A bonehead question #2: Are IPv4 and IPv6 completely separate in the AX86U, or would me external DNS server have implement both IPv4 and IPv6 DNS support? (I know the two functions are specified separately in Merlin, but I don't know about the ASUS native support.)

Not good to mix DNS upstream resolvers. 1.1.1.1 is Cloudflare and not filtered. 9.9.9.9 is Quad9 and is filtered.
Better to use 1.1.1.2 and 1.0.0.2 Cloudflare Security or 9.9.9.9 and 149.112.112.112 which is Quad9

Neither setup is roundrobin unless you have DoT set up with Stubby or use the Asus built in DoT.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi is easy. And so is Pi-Hole. Plenty of how to's on the web.

 

[coxhaus]

Windows server has an excellent DNS server. I used 1 with 4000 Windows PCs years ago.

There are many ways to access remote DNS. One way you forgot is that some DNS routers blast all listed DNS remote DNS entries at the same time and see which one responds first.

Yes, don't mix filtered and unfiltered remote DNS servers. The filtered one will block it and the unfiltered one will not.

Would adding static DNS entries suffice for CNAME records? I think this always worked for me except when I had an email server. Without an email server my main use was between local IPs and public IPs.

 

[Patrick9876]

Windows server has an excellent DNS server. I used 1 with 4000 Windows PCs years ago.

Yes. but none of my Windows computers (5 of them) are up all the time. IO could change that, I suppose, but I'd rather not.

There are many ways to access remote DNS. One way you forgot is that some DNS routers blast all listed DNS remote DNS entries at the same time and see which one responds first.

Now that you mention it, I suspect that is a very common technique.

Yes, don't mix filtered and unfiltered remote DNS servers. The filtered one will block it and the unfiltered one will not.

I've already replaced 1.1.1.1 with 1.1.1.2. I have no idea how similar the blocking is between Cloudflare and Quad9 but their query results should be closer now. Maybe it's a bad idea to use two different companies, but I figure that if one has a problem the other will probably work.

Would adding static DNS entries suffice for CNAME records? I think this always worked for me except when I had an email server. Without an email server my main use was between local IPs and public IPs.

I'm sure there are many alternatives to my current configuration that would eliminate my need to CNAME records ... at the expense of losing some (unused) flexibility.

Need #1: I have 3 NAS devices - 2 Synology, I QNAP. Years ago I discovered the QNAP NAS could not talk with one Synology NAS. I had an underscore in the Synology host name and QNAP couldn't cope with that. Rather than changing that host name and all references to it on the other Synology NAS and 5 Windows computers I used a CNAME record to create a name without the underscore. QNAP was happy.

I could make all the name changes but I'm too lazy. Or I could see if QNAP still has the restriction ... but I'm too lazy.

Need #2: I'm running a mail server on one of the NAS boxes. Various utilities running on my 5 Windows computers and 3 NAS devices send status emails to the email server. I wanted the ability to move the email server to another platform - probably another NAS - so I used a CNAME record to map a name ("lanmail" in this case) to the current owner of the server. If I decide to move the server I just change the CNAME record.

I've never made that move in the 5 or so years I've had this setup and probably never will. But I've got "lanmail" in so many utility definitions - 35 I can think of off the top of my head, and I'm probably missing some - that getting rid of that virtual host name would be a real pain.