Hello Hello.
I have a computer running Alpine which I use as a personal computer
and also workstation and server. In here, DNS stops working from time to
time. I am looking for a small and simple solution for DNS caching.
I also have FreeBSD servers and VMs. So if there is an option which
is available on both Operating Systems, it'll be very good. If not,
I won't have a problem learning two.
So, bring up your recommendations!
Thanks in advance,
Farooq.
Ahoy,
I’d suggest looking at Unbound or dnsmasq. Both are lightweight, available
on Alpine and FreeBSD, and should do what you’re looking for.
Unbound would be my preference, and I’ve set it up on a few Alpine servers.
It can operate as a full recursive resolver or simply cache responses from
upstream DNS servers. It also has a useful serve-expired option, which
allows it to return cached results when upstream DNS is unavailable.
- Alpine: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Setting_up_unbound_DNS_server
- Documentation: https://unbound.docs.nlnetlabs.nl/
dnsmasq is a little simpler, particularly if all you want is a forwarding
cache. It also handles local DNS records and DHCP if you need those.
- https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html
FreeBSD actually includes a local version of Unbound in the base system, so
that’s another reason I’d lean towards it.
One thing worth checking is why DNS stops working in the first place. If
something is overwriting /etc/resolv.conf, adding a cache won’t necessarily
fix the problem.
T
On Thu, Oct 8, 2026 at 10:56 Farooq Karimi Zadeh <hapu@riseup.net> wrote:
> Hello Hello.>> I have a computer running Alpine which I use as a personal computer> and also workstation and server. In here, DNS stops working from time to> time. I am looking for a small and simple solution for DNS caching.>> I also have FreeBSD servers and VMs. So if there is an option which> is available on both Operating Systems, it'll be very good. If not,> I won't have a problem learning two.>> So, bring up your recommendations!>> Thanks in advance,> Farooq.>
On 10/8/26 13:33, Thomas Reid wrote:
> Ahoy,> > I’d suggest looking at Unboundor dnsmasq. Both are lightweight, > available on Alpine and FreeBSD, and should do what you’re looking for.> > Unbound would be my preference, and I’ve set it up on a few Alpine > servers. It can operate as a full recursive resolver or simply cache > responses from upstream DNS servers. It also has a useful |serve- > expired| option, which allows it to return cached results when upstream > DNS is unavailable.> > * Alpine: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/> Setting_up_unbound_DNS_server <https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/> Setting_up_unbound_DNS_server>> * Documentation: https://unbound.docs.nlnetlabs.nl/ <https://> unbound.docs.nlnetlabs.nl/>> > dnsmasq is a little simpler, particularly if all you want is a > forwarding cache. It also handles local DNS records and DHCP if you need > those.> > * https://thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html <https://> thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html>> > FreeBSD actually includes a local version of Unbound in the base system, > so that’s another reason I’d lean towards it.> > One thing worth checking is why DNS stops working in the first place. If > something is overwriting |/etc/resolv.conf|, adding a cache won’t > necessarily fix the problem.> > T> > > On Thu, Oct 8, 2026 at 10:56 Farooq Karimi Zadeh <hapu@riseup.net> <hapu@riseup.net>> wrote:> > Hello Hello.> > I have a computer running Alpine which I use as a personal computer> and also workstation and server. In here, DNS stops working from time to> time. I am looking for a small and simple solution for DNS caching.> > I also have FreeBSD servers and VMs. So if there is an option which> is available on both Operating Systems, it'll be very good. If not,> I won't have a problem learning two.> > So, bring up your recommendations!> > Thanks in advance,> Farooq.>
The reason sometimes DNS stops working most likely is the connections in
here. I'm based in Iran. So such these are the new normal.
Thanks for your recommendation.