[Dnsmasq-discuss] dnsmasq unresponsive to /etc/hosts queries during WAN network outages

[starlight at binnacle.cx]

Running 'dnsmasq' 2.57 on a CentOS server here
rather than on a router.

Whenever the WAN link goes down, usually for
maintenance by the service provider, 'dnsmasq'
stops responding to local /etc/hosts queries
along with wide-area queries.  This has the
effect of preventing numerous local activities
from functioning, including 'telnet', 'ssh',
and local 'sendmail' messaging.

Is there any way to configure 'dnsmasq' so
that it will respond timely to such queries
even when all remote DNS servers are not
responding?

The current configuration follows below.
No command-line options are passed during
startup.

Thank you for your help.



cache-size=10000
no-resolv
server=2001:470:20::2
domain-needed
dhcp-authoritative
dhcp-leasefile=/tmp/dhcp.leases
dhcp-option=44,172.29.87.19
dhcp-range=172.29.87.100,172.29.87.149,255.255.255.0,12h
dhcp-range=172.29.88.100,172.29.88.149,255.255.255.0,12h
read-ethers