Configure DNSMASQ for Unblock-US / Unotelly (Use your own DNS Server instead)

Discussion in 'Networking Guides' started by Nimrod, Apr 27, 2014.

  1. Nimrod

    Nimrod Exotic Vendor

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    Configure DNSMASQ for Unblock-US / Unotelly (Avoid using their DNS servers for general traffic).

    Unblock-US and Unotelly offer a fantastic DNS service which allows you to browse Netflix, Hulu and other services as if you are from the US without actually having to VPN you're traffic through them. They do this by taking over the job of DNS from your router or ISP and direct any traffic to say Netflix.com to hit their proxy servers, and traffic for say facebook.com to go to the normal Facebook service. This is great in principle, however there is always the risk that in this place of trust at any moment they could flip a switch (either intentionally or if they got hacked for example) and suddenly redirect traffic from say your online banking provider to their servers and collect the data.

    While I don’t think either of them would ever do it intentionally as they would instantly lose all their customers, it's the worry that down the line if they got hacked it could open a security issue. The way round this is to either host your own DNS (or if you have an open-source router like DD-WRT or Tomato which has a configurable DNS server provided) and use that to intelligently send DNS upstream traffic to Unblock-US or Unotelly (depending on which one you use) and sending the remainder of the traffic out to your ISP’s DNS Servers or Google’s Public DNS. That way, you can get the best of both words, use the great service these companies provide by at the same time have peace of mind that if they got hacked the most they could get out of you is your Netflix or Hulu logins.

    To do this, we use a great piece of open source software called dnsmasq which is a small, lightweight and efficient DNS server for small networks.

    Before you continue, you will need an account with either Unblock-US or Unotelly already. If you don’t currently have one I would personally strongly recommend Unblock-US as it has a free 7 day trial with no credit card or details needed allowing you to see if you like the service. Once your free trial has expired you can then choose to add Payment details and move onto the paid plan (5 dollars a month).

    You can sign up for a free 7 day trial at: Unblock-US Homepage - free 7 day trial


    Let's get started:

    If you have Linux installed, it’s just a case of installing dnsmasq via your favorite package manager.

    If you're using Mac OSX, you can install the Linux version via Homebrew. Instead of me detailing this, there is a great guide here I recommend following: Using Dnsmasq for local development on OS X

    If you're using a Tomato or DD-WRT based router, you already have dnsmasq installed at a Network level so can use that.

    Sadly dnsmasq doesn't exist for Windows, however you may be able to find some other free or paid alternatives (If you share by replying, I’ll update the guide accordingly).

    Once installed on Mac OSX or Linux, you can configure it by editing:

    Code:
    /etc/dnsmasq.conf on Linux
    Or 
    /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf on Mac OSX
    configure dnsmasq config.PNG
    And add the below lines of code:

    Code:
    server=/netflix.com/208.122.23.22
    server=/netflix.com/208.122.23.23
    server=/unblock-us.com/208.122.23.22
    server=/unblock-us.com/208.122.23.23
    server=/hulu.com/208.122.23.22
    server=/hulu.com/208.122.23.22
    Note the 208.122.23.22 and .23 IP’s are for Unblock-US (preferred supplier) however if you are using UnoTelly, you need to swap them for the IP’s of their DNS Cluster, List here: UnoDNS Global DNS Clusters

    If you are using Tomato / DD-WRT then you just need to place it in the dnsmasq config like so:

    Tomato DNS Config.PNG

    (To get there: Advanced Settings > DHCP / DNS and find Dnsmasq / Custom configuration)​

    Once done, you are set to go! All you need to do now is configure all your relevant devices (Smart TV’s, Consoles and computers) to use the new DNS Server. You can either do this on a device by device bases or you can do it at a router level so all devices using DHCP will use the new DNS Server.

    IP Config Custom DNS Windows.PNG

    Go fourth and enjoy. Any questions just reply below.

    Don't want to use dnsmasq? You can acheive a similar result on a per device bases using a HOSTS file. Full Guide here:
    Using Unblock-us without switching DNS Server (Watch Netflix outside the US)
     
    Rick, xzKinGzxBuRnzx and InsaneNutter like this.

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