Optimize your DNS with Unbound

My first ADMIN Magazine article to be published, titled Optimize your DNS with Unbound, is scheduled for issue #52.

I am a big fan of Unbound. Unbound is a recursive DNS server that is well suited for use in home and office LANs. It has been running in my personal and company networks, speeding name resolution and filtering unwanted queries, for a couple of years already. It is included by default in the OpenBSD core install, and I use this server software mostly on the OpenBSD platform.

It occurred to me that I could document what I was doing with Unbound, how I was doing it and why. The end result is the article Optimize your DNS with Unbound. Since I was expecting it to get published by Linux Magazine, the document is very Linux focused, but most of it applies to OpenBSD.

What will you find in the article?

So let’s cut to the chase. This article includes a brief explanation of how the name resolution hierarchy of the Internet works. This is, why when you type operationalsecurity.es in your browser’s URL bar you can be expected to be directed to this site. There is also an explanation about what DNSSEC is and how it may keep your name resolution secure (and why it may not). Finally, there are detailed instructions for building your own DNS server using Unbound, which will allow you to speed the name resolution in your network, filter advertisements and dangerous websites with third party blacklists, and use unofficial DNS hierarchies that the powers that be don’t want you to use.