Linux – Bind dnsmasq DNS to just localhost (127.0.0.1)

dnsmasqdomain-name-systeminternal-dnslinuxlinux-networking

I would like to ask a question about configuring of dnsmasq DNS server. I know about such configuration option as "listen-address". But even if I set this option to "listen-address=127.0.0.1" dnsmasq still open port on both internal 127.0.0.1:53 and external 192.168.x.x:53 sides.

So I would like to ask if it is possible to configure dnsmasq so that it opens port 53 just for localhost (127.0.0.1) like for example it is possible for MySQL database.

# Configuration file for dnsmasq.

port=53
proxy-dnssec
no-resolv
no-poll
server=127.0.0.1#[some port here]
server=127.0.0.1#[some another port here]
listen-address=127.0.0.1
no-hosts

Best Answer

I had to add "bind-interfaces" to the config file, so that interface and listen-address had the desired effect. E.g.:

listen-address=127.0.0.1
interface=lo
bind-interfaces

This will have the desired effect of listening only on localhost. I was running into issues, since I was running a public dns (that resolves just my own domains) on the public ip of the server, but I wanted to run dnsmasq on localhost, too. So if I remove "bind-interfaces", I will get "dnsmasq: failed to create listening socket for port 53: Address already in use", as it tries to listen on the public IP.

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