In the unraid (pre-7.0) VPN manager the advanced settings allow you to configure the peer DNS server, which i want to make sure peers use my PiHole as the DNS server

 

 

this sets the DNS setting in the wireguard config

 

 

 

But, WireGuard also allows you to append search domains to this `DNS=` setting to provide search domains to your clients. This would look like 

 

`DNS=10.0.0.12, lan.MYDOMAIN.network`

 

This mimics how my router provides the search domain `lan.MYDOMAIN.network` to clients which allows me to do stuff like type `photos/` in the address bar and have it resolve to `photos.lan.MYDOMAIN.network`

 

But the unraid textbox for this Peer DNS Server does not allow me to type non-IP domains. which means i cannot add `lan.MYDOMAIN.network` to the search domains for my wireguard clients.

 

 

Is there another textbox or setting i can use to add the search domain? This seems like a miss in the unraid UI, artificially restricting the settings.

Edited January 19, 20251 yr by Taako

You would need to set that to your pihole ip address and router ip not the search domain..... As the FQDN lookup goes over mdns via muticast...
wireguard is restarting the setting and the unraid webui can only follow the wiregaurd setting and options...

In Unraid's WireGuard implementation, the "Peer DNS Server" field is designed to accept IP addresses of DNS servers, not domain names. This means that entering a local search domain (e.g., mydomain.local) directly into this field isn't supported and will result in a validation error. This behavior aligns with the standard WireGuard configuration, where the DNS directive can include both IP addresses and search domains. However, Unraid's interface currently restricts this field to IP addresses only.

 

To enable local domain name resolution for VPN clients, you can specify the IP address of your local DNS server in the "Peer DNS Server" field. For instance, if your router at 192.168.1.1 handles DNS queries for your local network, entering 192.168.1.1 in this field will allow VPN clients to resolve local hostnames. However, without the ability to set a search domain, clients will need to use fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) like hostname.mydomain.local instead of just hostname.

 

As a workaround, you can manually configure the search domain on each VPN client device. This process varies depending on the client's operating system:

Windows:

Open the Control Panel and navigate to "Network and Sharing Center."

Click on "Change adapter settings."

Right-click your WireGuard adapter and select "Properties."

Select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click "Properties."

Click "Advanced," go to the "DNS" tab, and add your search domain under "DNS suffix for this connection."

macOS:

Open "System Preferences" and select "Network."

Choose your WireGuard connection and click "Advanced."

Navigate to the "DNS" tab and add your search domain in the "Search Domains" section.

Linux:

Edit the appropriate network configuration file (e.g., /etc/resolv.conf or your network manager's configuration) to include the line:

search mydomain.local

By configuring the search domain on each client, you enable the resolution of local hostnames without requiring FQDNs. This approach ensures that your VPN clients can effectively resolve local domain names while using Unraid's WireGuard VPN.

...

the new standard is to use .home.arpa for a search domain ...

you may befit from this:

as you can manipulate unraids host file to add the other fqdn to unriad...

You may also benefit from killing unraids avahi and using the docker in host

as this sounds like you want reflector enabled across wg0

 

Edited January 21, 20251 yr by bmartino1
Data - Typo