As you will see, Wireshark will provide you with all the data you will need to identify the devices that are making requests on your network. This tool is phenomenal for packet capture since it has a built-in DNS filter (port 53 – DNS for TCP and UDP protocols). You knew I was going to mention Wireshark and you were right. How to check the DNS queries in your network? Wireshark
As you can see the MacBook actually uses the Asus nameservers, while the Windows PC does not (that’s how I set them up). MacOS: Open the Terminal and type grep nameserver Linux OS: You will have to check the content of the /etc/nf, so type cat /etc/nf.Scroll down until you can find the two DNS addresses. Windows OS: Open the command prompt (search for cmd and press enter) and then type ipconfig/all.If your client devices do not use the same DNS as the router, then you can check it in the following ways: You can change it to whatever you like, but regardless of your choice, then please consider adding a HTTP/SSL certificate for a bit of privacy. Go to DDNS: From the top menu select DDNS and here, you’ll be able to see that the router is registered to use the DNS server. WAN DNS Settings: By default, they should be Yes for connecting automatically to the DNS Server and None for the Privacy Protocol – for privacy reasons, you can change it to DNS over TLS. Go to Internet Connection: This section can be accessed by clicking on WAN (under Advanced Settings and then Internet Connection from the top). The IP address of the newer Asus router is 192.168.50.1. Access the GUI: Go to the IP address or enter in the URL (for a concrete presentation on how DNS works). To check the DNS server used by your router, you will need to access the GUI and, since I had an Asus router installed, I decided to use it for this presentation. In some cases, it makes sense (for specific applications), but in most situation, it’s just going to cause issues in the long run. In a home, the router should push the DNS server towards the client devices and not each device to use its own. How to check which DNS servers are used by a specific device? The best practice that lots of seasoned admins suggest is to use local DNS that forwards to an external DNS. So, a private DNS not only solves this issue, but it will also be faster to quickly access local resources. What about the private DNS servers? Why would you need those? They’re mostly used in businesses and corporations, where there are lots of local IP addresses and you can’t really expect everyone to remember them. Check DNS Servers on an Asus router.įunny thing is that this option is not on by default, you need to do it yourself (Heh, want privacy? Then enable it yourself. It even has the possibility to encrypt the DNS queries using HRRPS/SSL Certificate. For example, the Asus routers use the ASUS servers and it can been seen (and changed) under DDNS. One other reason to get your own router is that it sometimes comes with its own DNS from the manufacturers themselves. Not that Google is a saint in this regards, but at least it’s fast, very fast. But the interesting thing is that the routers provided by the ISPs can have their own DNS which seems to be used for tracking purposes. And there’s nothing wrong with that, especially if the devices connected to the network simply require Internet access. Most rely on the Google Public DNS, using one of the following IP addresses: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4. Now, most people don’t bother changing the default settings from their router or client device (be it a Desktop PC, a laptop, a smartphone or a smart fridge), so the DNS server that they use is most likely a public one. Obviously IPv4 has simpler numbers, while IPv6 made it a bit more complicated, but the idea is that the DNS keeps us sane. This way, you don’t have to type weird numbers. The DNS (Domain Name System) has the role of translating the hostname that you want to access to the IP address associated with that hostname. If you don’t know what DNS is, I will keep it short and simple.