Frequently Asked Questions

NexoralDNS is a self-hosted DNS management and surveillance system designed for local area networks (LANs). It allows you to monitor all DNS traffic, create custom internal domains, block unwanted domains, and gain complete visibility into your network's DNS requests.

Yes, NexoralDNS is open source and free to use for personal and commercial purposes within your local network. Some advanced features may be available as premium add-ons in the future.

No! NexoralDNS is strictly designed for LAN use only. Hosting it on cloud platforms or exposing it to the public internet will result in DNS spoofing detection by ISPs, automatic blocking, and potential legal issues. Always keep NexoralDNS within your private network.

NexoralDNS requires Docker and Docker Compose. It runs on any system that supports Docker, including Linux, macOS, and Windows. Minimum recommended specs: 2GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 10GB storage.

Installation is simple! Just run: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexoral/NexoralDNS/main/Scripts/install.sh | bash - This will automatically install Docker if needed, download the latest version, and start all services.

Run the update command: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexoral/NexoralDNS/main/Scripts/install.sh | bash -s update This will pull the latest images and restart services while preserving your data.

While technically possible, it's not recommended as they would compete for port 53. NexoralDNS includes ad-blocking capabilities, so you likely won't need another DNS-based ad blocker.

Run the remove command: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexoral/NexoralDNS/main/Scripts/install.sh | bash -s remove This will stop all services, remove containers, and optionally delete all data.

After installation, the dashboard is available at http://localhost:4000 or http://<your-server-ip>:4000 from other devices on your network.

Log into your router's admin panel, find the DNS settings (usually under LAN or DHCP settings), and set the primary DNS server to the IP address of the machine running NexoralDNS. The DNS port is 53.

In the dashboard, go to Domains → Add Domain. Enter your custom domain (e.g., myapp.local) and point it to any IP address on your network. The domain will be immediately available to all devices using NexoralDNS.

Yes! NexoralDNS supports importing blocklists in various formats. Go to Dashboard → Block Lists → Import and add URLs to popular blocklists like Steven Black's hosts list or EasyList.

Check if the NexoralDNS container is running (docker ps). Ensure port 53 is not being used by another service (sudo lsof -i :53). Verify your device or router is configured to use NexoralDNS as the DNS server.

Ensure the web container is running. Check if port 4000 is accessible. Try accessing from localhost first. Check container logs: docker logs nexoraldns-web

Verify the domain is correctly configured in the dashboard. Flush DNS cache on your device (ipconfig /flushdns on Windows, sudo dscacheutil -flushcache on macOS). Ensure the device is using NexoralDNS as its DNS server.

Use docker logs to view container logs: docker logs nexoraldns-server for DNS server logs, docker logs nexoraldns-web for dashboard logs. You can also view real-time logs with the -f flag.

Yes! NexoralDNS is completely self-hosted. Your DNS queries never leave your network. No data is sent to external servers. You have complete control over your DNS data.

NexoralDNS supports upstream DNS over HTTPS when forwarding queries to external DNS servers like Cloudflare or Google. This ensures your external queries are encrypted.

The dashboard requires authentication by default. Make sure to change the default password after installation. For additional security, you can configure HTTPS using a reverse proxy like nginx or Traefik.

NexoralDNS achieves sub-5ms response times for cached queries thanks to Redis caching. First-time queries that need to be forwarded upstream may take 20-50ms depending on your upstream DNS provider.

NexoralDNS is designed for home and small business networks. It can easily handle thousands of queries per second, more than enough for networks with hundreds of devices.

No, NexoralDNS is lightweight. Typical memory usage is around 500MB-1GB including all containers. CPU usage is minimal during normal operation.