Securing Your Home Network with DoH on a Raspberry Pi: A Comprehensive Guide

DNS over HTTPS (DoH) enhances your online privacy and security by encrypting your DNS queries. This guide details how to set up a DoH resolver on your Raspberry Pi, turning it into a privacy-focused DNS server for your home network.

Why Use DoH on a Raspberry Pi?

Traditional DNS requests are sent in plain text, making them vulnerable to eavesdropping and manipulation. DoH encrypts these requests, protecting your browsing history and preventing DNS spoofing and other attacks. Using a Raspberry Pi as your DoH server offers several advantages:

• Increased Privacy: Your DNS queries are encrypted, hidden from your ISP and potential attackers.
• Improved Security: Protection against DNS spoofing and other attacks.
Control and Customization: You have complete control over your DNS settings and can choose a provider that aligns with your privacy preferences.
• Local Network Control: Manage DNS for all devices on your home network.
• Cost-Effective: A Raspberry Pi is a relatively inexpensive solution.

Choosing a DoH Provider

Several reputable DoH providers exist. Your choice depends on your priorities, such as speed, privacy policies, and geographic location. Popular options include:

• Cloudflare (1.1.1.1): Known for its speed and privacy-focused policies.
• Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8): A widely used and reliable option.
• Quad9 (9.9.9.9): Focuses on security and blocking malicious domains.
• NextDNS: Offers advanced features and customization options (requires account creation).

Setting up DoH on your Raspberry Pi

This guide will use dnsmasq, a lightweight and versatile DNS forwarder. First, ensure your Raspberry Pi is updated:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Next, install dnsmasq:

sudo apt install dnsmasq -y

Now, configure dnsmasq to use DoH. We'll use Cloudflare as an example. Open the configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

Add the following lines to the end of the file, replacing 1.1.1.1 with your chosen DoH provider's address if different. Make sure the `server` line is *uncommented* (remove the `#` at the beginning if present):

server=8.8.8.8#Google Public DNS
#server=9.9.9.9#Quad9
#server=1.1.1.1#Cloudflare
listen-address=127.0.0.1
interface=wlan0 #Change to your wifi interface name if not wlan0
listen-address=::1
interface=eth0 #Change to your wired interface name if not eth0

Save and close the file. Then, restart dnsmasq:

sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq

Configuring Your Network

The final step is to configure your network to use your Raspberry Pi as the DNS server. This process varies depending on your router's configuration. Generally, you'll need to find the DHCP settings in your router's administration panel and set the DNS server address to your Raspberry Pi's IP address.

Find your Raspberry Pi's IP address using:

hostname -I

Verification

To verify that DoH is working correctly, you can use online tools that analyze your DNS queries. These tools will show that your requests are encrypted and routed through your chosen DoH provider.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, double-check your configuration files, ensure dnsmasq is running, and verify that your network devices are correctly using your Raspberry Pi's IP address as their DNS server.

This guide provides a basic setup. For more advanced configurations and features, refer to the dnsmasq documentation and your chosen DoH provider's website.