Set up DNS forwarding with dnsmasq¶
Here you will install and configure dnsmasq as a DNS forwarder, used to
resolve all your custom top-level domains to 127.0.0.1. With it, you
won’t need to update /etc/hosts file to add new host names as they
will be dynamically resolved.
1 Install¶
1.1 If using macOS with Homebrew¶
brew install dnsmasq
1.2 If using macOS with MacPorts¶
sudo port install dnsmasq
2 Configure¶
2.1 Update configuration file¶
Edit configuration file /opt/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf (MacPorts) or
/usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf (Homebrew) and replace the
existing configuration with the following content:
no-resolv
address=/ez/127.0.0.1
address=/php56/127.0.0.1
address=/php70/127.0.0.1
address=/php71/127.0.0.1
address=/php72/127.0.0.1
address=/php73/127.0.0.1
address=/php74/127.0.0.1
address=/php80/127.0.0.1
address=/php81/127.0.0.1
address=/php82/127.0.0.1
address=/php83/127.0.0.1
address=/php84/127.0.0.1
address=/sf/127.0.0.1
address=/wp/127.0.0.1
Default configuration will still be available for reference in
/opt/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf.example (MacPorts) or
/usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf.default (Homebrew).
2.2 Add DNS resolver configuration¶
Add DNS resolver configuration for your custom top-level domains by executing on the command line:
sudo mkdir -v /etc/resolver
cd /etc/resolver
echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" | sudo tee ez php56 php70 php71 php72 php73 php74 php80 php81 php82 php83 php84 sf wp > /dev/null
3 Start¶
3.1 If using macOS with MacPorts¶
sudo port load dnsmasq
This will also start the server automatically after a reboot.
3.2 If using macOS with Homebrew¶
sudo brew services start dnsmasq
This will also start the server automatically after a reboot.
4 Update network connections¶
Open Network configuration in System Preferences, click Advanced on your
network connection, select DNS tab and add 127.0.0.1 as a DNS
server.
Repeat this with all network connections you are using to connect to the Internet, excluding VPN connections.
5 Test¶
Test resolving by pinging a bogus domain on your custom top-level domain.
Execute on the command line:
ping asdfghjkl.sf
You should get a response from 127.0.0.1:
PING asdfghjkl.sf (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.028 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.045 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.130 ms
^C
--- asdfghjkl.sf ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.028/0.068/0.130/0.045 ms
If you received output similar to the above, it means dnsmasq is correctly configured for the given domain. Successfully test all configured top-level domains, and you’re finished with this part of the setup.