NextDNS but skip it on a couple of devices

[Abbas]

I've gotten an RT-AX86U and have set it up with Merlin.

I want to add NextDNS to it but there are two devices on the network that use SmartDNS Proxy for accessing content from different regions. Will these devices with their manual DNS continue to work or will NextDNS force them to go through its DNS service? Is there a way to avoid this?

 

[torstein]

You can override NextDNS I believe by manually setting the DNS servers in the operating system of said devices.

 

[Morris]

DNS Filters is a great way to do what you want

 

[cptnoblivious]

As long as you're not filtering 53 outbound, you can set the devices up directly or make reservations for them and specify the DNS servers in LAN | DHCP settings

 

[8uckles]

DNS Filters is the way I have solved this, all devices use NextDNS main config as default, I then have some filters set to use a more restricted NextDNS setup for parental controls and to for standard Google DNS if I need to do any testing.