GitHub - Cottand/leng: :zap: fast dns server, built to block advertisements and malware servers
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:zap: fast dns server, built to block advertisements and malware servers - GitHub - Cottand/leng: :zap: fast dns server, built to block advertisements and malware servers

A few months ago I went on a quest for a DNS server and was dissatisfied with current maintained projects. They were either good at adblocking (Blocky, grimd…) or good at specifying custom DNS (CoreDNS…).

So I forked grimd and embarked on rewriting a good chunk of it for it to address my needs - the result is leng.

  • it is fast
  • it is small
  • it is easy
  • you can specify blocklists and it will fetch them for you
  • you can specify custom DNS records with proper zone file syntax (SRV records, etc)
  • it supports DNS-over-HTTPS so you can stay private
  • it is well-documented
  • can be deployed on systemd, docker, or Nix

I have been running it as my nameserver in a Nomad cluster since! I plan to keep maintaining and improving it, so feel free to give it a try if it also fulfils your needs

  • Nico@r.dcotta.euOPEnglish
    116·
    1 year ago

    Yes (much simpler) and also allows you to specify custom DNS, which is very useful for more advanced self-hosted deployments - this is something PiHole is just not built to address

    • ShunkW@lemmy.worldEnglish
      321·
      1 year ago

      How is PiHole not built for custom DNS? It literally has an entire management page for that.

      • chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.netEnglish
        9·
        1 year ago

        Last I used PiHole many years back, it was possible to use it as DHCP but not possible to add custom DNS records like TXT, SRV, etc. . Perhaps that’s what OP is trying to solve for?

          • Nico@r.dcotta.euOPEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            Including SRV records? I found that some servers (blocky as well) only support very basic CNAME or A records, without being able to specify parameters like TTL, etc.

            I also appreciate being able to define this in a file rather than a web UI

            • AndyM@feddit.deEnglish
              11·
              1 year ago

              It’s based on dnsmasq. You could always specify custom records, even before there was an option in the web interface. Just create a config file in /etc/dnsmasq.d

              Just look up these options: host-record cname srv-host

              • Nico@r.dcotta.euOPEnglish
                4·
                1 year ago

                Thanks! I didn’t know you could do that. I’ll see how it compares to my current solution

            • Eideen@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              1 year ago

              I do it via dnsmasq, that Pi uses.

              I have a ansible playbook, that i use to sync my Piholes.

            • ChickenBoo@lemmy.jnks.xyzEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              You can do the basic records via file. /etc/pihole/custom.list is a hosts formatted file for records so you don’t have to use a gui.

      • Nico@r.dcotta.euOPEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Like chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net said - I want to be able to add my own records (SRV, A, CNAME…) so that I can point to the services hosted in my VPN. CoreDNS is good for this but it doesn’t also do adblocking. If PiHole can do this, I don’t know how.

        I also don’t need a web UI, DHCP server, and so on: I just want a config file and some prometheus metrics

        • jherazob@kbin.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          Tangential partial offtopic aside: Unless i’m misunderstanding, you’re setting this up behind your home router and allowing it on your various devices using a VPN. Am i right? Any details, or even better, guides, on how to replicate this setup? I guess the DNS records on Leng are to be able to call services inside your home LAN by name instead of IPs, which is a nice quality of life upgrade.