OpenNIC is an alternate DNS root.
Contents
Simple configuration
The easiest way to set up OpenNIC is to edit resolv.conf and add one of OpenNIC's DNS servers to the list. The closest server to campus is 69.164.208.50, which is located in Net Access Corporation's Newark, New Jersey datacenter and has a ping of about 17 ms from most on-campus locations.
Advanced configuration
If you run your own DNS server, you may want to instead use OpenNIC's DNS servers only for OpenNIC TLDs and use a DNS server that is closer to you for other domains.
Dnsmasq
Add these lines to your Dnsmasq configuration file:
server=/bbs/69.164.208.50 server=/dyn/69.164.208.50 server=/fur/69.164.208.50 server=/free/69.164.208.50 server=/geek/69.164.208.50 server=/glue/69.164.208.50 server=/gopher/69.164.208.50 server=/indy/69.164.208.50 server=/ing/69.164.208.50 server=/micro/69.164.208.50 server=/null/69.164.208.50 server=/oss/69.164.208.50 server=/parody/69.164.208.50 server=/dyn/69.164.208.50
You can replace 69.164.208.50 with any of the other OpenNIC DNS servers if you so choose.
Unbound
To configure OpenNIC to work with the Unbound recursive DNS server, simply add these to your unbound.conf:
forward-zone: name: "bbs" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "fur" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "free" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "geek" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "glue" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "gopher" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "indy" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "ing" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "micro" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "null" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "oss" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50 forward-zone: name: "parody" forward-addr: 69.164.208.50
You can replace 69.164.208.50 with one of the other DNS servers listed on the OpenNIC site if you wish.