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English Forums => 26.1, 26,4 Series => Topic started by: cinergi on June 06, 2026, 02:01:38 PM

Title: Kea + Unbound + Bind for local name resolution
Post by: cinergi on June 06, 2026, 02:01:38 PM
Hello,

Just wondering if anyone is using Kea DHCP together with Unbound for default DNS resolution and Bind for local zone resolution via dynamic RFC2136 updates from Kea?  This seems like an elegant way to get local resolution of DHCP-assigned addresses while using Kea instead of dnsmasq.  But does it work well in practice?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Kea + Unbound + Bind for local name resolution
Post by: meyergru on June 06, 2026, 03:33:47 PM
We discussed this back and forth already and not an exact answer to your question, but:

IMHO, the easiest way is to just use Kea DHCP static reservations, where the names of the host entries can directly be used in Unbound directly when you check "Register DHCP Static Mappings". That way, there is no need for any additional DNS resolver and you can control which names are being registered, which cannot be done if the hosts themselves present their names.

The only disadvantage I can see is that you have to create static reservations for all hosts you need to be resolvable, because there is no equicalent of ISC dynamic DHCP bindings in OpnSense's implementation of Kea DHCP yet.

However, I need exactly those hosts to have static IPs as well, so I do not miss anything. Also, more often than not, I also want to have aliases for hosts, sometimes to have different services on the same one, so I need to configure those in Unbound anyway.
Title: Re: Kea + Unbound + Bind for local name resolution
Post by: nero355 on June 06, 2026, 04:52:24 PM
Quote from: meyergru on Today at 03:33:47 PMThe only disadvantage I can see is that you have to create static reservations for all hosts you need to be resolvable, because there is no equicalent of ISC dynamic DHCP bindings in OpnSense's implementation of Kea DHCP yet.
Doesn't the new KEA DDNS feature solve that issue ?!