unbound.conf and host_entries.conf lan static ip data and ptr lost on reboot

[boneclock]

Hi. I'm running the following versions: OPNsense 18.7.1_3-amd64; FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-p12; OpenSSL 1.0.2o 27 Mar 2018

I trying to set up a VirtualBox environment on a laptop with OPNsense and Unbound as my router and dns to provide internet access to the lan.  The VirtualBox lan-side server hosts have static ips and the VirtualBox lan-side desktops have dhcp configs.  I'm not able to reference one host from another using their hostnames.  I'm trying to avoid adding each hostname to a local /etc/hosts file. 

The hosts that use dhcp can be referenced by hostname.  The ones with static ips can not.

I tried adding the static ip hosts in /var/unbound/unbound.conf and /var/unbound/host_entries.conf in separate attempts to enable the lan hosts to resolve each other by name.  Both times, the entries were removed on reboot.  The OPNsense host data and ptr records are retained in unbound.conf.

I'm missing something.  How do I set up the configuration to operate properly?

Thanks!