[Dnsmasq-discuss] new dnsmasq user wondering about dnsmasq applicability

[Bill C Riemers]

On 09/05/2012 09:54 AM, Bob Stanton wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am a complete newbie to Dnsmasq and to this mailing list so please excuse me if I am unfamiliar with your list protocol.
>
> I have loads of Linux sysadmin experience but have never done DNS admin before.

One key question, is your goal to serve DNS information to the internet, or within your organization?   e.g. Do you need the whole world to be able to connect to your DNS server and lookup the names and IP addresses, or do you just need the servers within your organization to know about each other.

If the answer is just within your organization, then dnsmasq will probably workout for you.   Otherwise, you are stepping outside the realm in which the code is optimized and designed for.   I tend to think of dnsmasq more as a very smart DNS cache/proxy, than an actual DNS server.   e.g. Sort of what squid is to apache. Although in this case, dnsmasq is slightly more than just a dns cache/proxy in that it does have enough ability to serve up dns information local to it's configuration.   So it would be more like what you would get if you combined squid+lighttpd.  You have the ability to server-up DNS, but not to do some of the more advance features you may need.


>
> Can I use Dnsmasq to provide DNS services for about 100 servers?

Certainly.  I can say I've seen it work with several thousand.   Of course that is with running multiple dnsmasq servers...

>
> Can I use multiple Dnsmasq servers?  Are they set up with one authoritative server?

Yes and no.   You can definitely run multiple dnsmasq servers. There is not really the concept of authoritative.   Basically you can have a slave dnsmasq servers that does nothing but cache.   Or you can have multiple dnsmasq servers that are configured with the same information.   You cannot however, have multiple dnsmasq servers configured with the same information, but then automatically update their information based on one server.   You could of course do something automatic to copy the configuration, but if you really need that, chances are dnsmasq is not the right solution for you.

>
> Can I use geo-location?
Hmmm.  I don't know.