Saturday, January 31, 2026

Debian 13: using unbound as DNS over https resolver in conjuction with NetworkManager and Systemd Resolved

Assume:

  • NetworkManager and Systemd-Resolved already work 

Install unbound

# apt-get install unbound

Edit /etc/systemd/resolved.conf and set:

[Resolve]
DNS=127.0.0.1:5335
Domains=~.

Make sure this line in /etc/unbound/unbound.conf

...
include-toplevel: "/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/*.conf"
...

Create and edit /etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/google-doh.conf

server:
    # Port 5335 is safer for laptops than 5353 (mDNS)
    port: 5335
    interface: 127.0.0.1
    access-control: 127.0.0.0/8 allow
    
    # Required for TLS verification
    tls-cert-bundle: "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"
forward-zone:
name: "."
    # Using DoT (Port 853) instead of DoH (Port 443)
    forward-tls-upstream: yes
    forward-addr: 8.8.8.8@853#dns.google
    forward-addr: 8.8.4.4@853#dns.google

Enable unbound and restart all services

# systemctl enable unbound
# systemctl start unbound
# systemctl restart systemd-resolved
# systemctl restart NetworkManager

Test

# resolvectl query google.com
google.com: 172.253.118.138
            172.253.118.102
            172.253.118.101
            172.253.118.113
            172.253.118.139
            172.253.118.100
            2404:6800:4003:c11::8a
            2404:6800:4003:c11::71
            2404:6800:4003:c11::64
            2404:6800:4003:c11::8b


# resolvectl query duckduckgo.com
duckduckgo.com: 20.43.161.105

-- Information acquired via protocol DNS in 54.3ms.
-- Data is authenticated: no; Data was acquired via local or encrypted transport: no
-- Data from: network