Changing DNS numbers in a router

[steve.korunic]

I an an IT guy unfamiliar with Cisco equipment, but I have a customer who has installed in their home a Cisco router (Model 867VAE-K9).

To make their home LAN family friendly, the parents want to filter out all the bad stuff for websites. I suggested to simply change their router's 2 DNS settings to that of OpenDNS, but, with no GUI for that router, I don't know how to make that change.

I have been given the logon ID and password for the router, and I know that I'll need to use the Terminal app (I'm a Mac user). However, beyond that, can anyone tell me how to effect the change, or where the instructions for doing this may be found?

[agkhan-au]

 Hi

As per your question. I suggest you to do these steps.

R1# configure terminal
R1(config)# ip dns server
R1(config)# ip domain-lookup

R1(config)# ip name-server 203.0.178.191    ##it is open dns to filter out all the bad stuff/ websites
R1(config)# ip name-server                           ### Cisco allow you to use 6 DNS name servers.

I hope you got the answer.

thanks

[Amit Shah]

Hi,

go to router's config mode by typing below commands.

R1>en

R1#config t

R1(config)#ip name-server x.x.x.x

R1(config)#ip name-server y.y.y.y

[steve.korunic]

Thanks very much for these.

Q1) To initially engage with the router, what do I type in the Terminal app's command line interface?

I am guessing it must include the router's address of '192.168.1.1' but perhaps prefixed by 'ssh' or something else, and then carrying on with what you have both indicated above.

Q2) But why is there a difference between what you both reported? Are there 2 ways to achieve the same result?

Agkhan-Au's script starts with R1# configure terminal but Amit Shah's starts with the simpler R1>en.

Q3) Also, I had intended to do this on a local Mac (using TeamViewer since I am remotely connecting) but I presume I can log in remotely directly to the router since I've been given the router's Internet IP address. If it is just as easy to engage with the router directly this way, can you please provide instruction?

Q4) For the DNS numbers, I was intending to use both from OpenDNS. The OpenDNS nameservers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Agkhan-Au, These are different from the one you indicated being 203.0.178.191. Why the difference?

Sorry to trouble you but I am a novice when it comes to Citrix and want to be sure I don't mess it up.

[agkhan-au]

steve.korunic how many computers you have in LAN or home? the above stuff for those who already had CCNA certification or had some good knowledge of networks.

My request to you, if "your users are home users" and they don't know about LAN card or network or in small office using Active directive environment. You can put DNS in DHCP services or DNS entry 203.0.178.191 "in their system's/home computer's Lan card".

it will work  buddy it will :)

[steve.korunic]

Thanks for the answer.

I expect there will be 6 or more devices (Macs and other iDevices) on the home LAN and, because these devices will be occasionally retired and replaced, it makes sense to place the DNS numbers on the Internet gateway (Cisco router) which is permanent instead of each end-user device.

I don't have any 'CCNA certification' but have general knowledge of networking. Nevertheless, I am surprised that network knowledge is even required for this task.

For most routers, a simple change in the GUI is all that is needed, but I understand I must access this Cisco router via the command line, hence this request.

So far I see there are 3 different replies. Which is correct? I thought that I could just follow some simple safe script to achieve a change in the DNS settings on the router. Is this not the case?

I need to know: -

A) Which commands to start engagement with the router. Eg. is it simply its IP address, or is it more than that?

B) Which command set to change the DNS settings to the OpenDNS name servers which are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Once the OpenDNS name servers are set, any further tweaking of the filter can be done via the user account at the OpenDNS website.

[rosaho]

This discussion has been reposted from Cisco On Demand to the Firewalling community.

[thiland]

Is the router providing DHCP services to the home computers?  If so, then you'd change the DHCP scope to deliver OpenDNS:

ip dhcp pool DHCP-LAN
 network 10.10.10.0 255.255.255.0
 default-router 10.10.10.1
 dns-server 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220

If you want the router to be the DNS server that is more complex and you'd want to look at DNS views.

ip name-server on the router doesn't seem to apply here since that changes the DNS server the router DNS client uses to query (when you ping by hostname from the router, etc.). 

[steve.korunic]

I don't want the router to be the DNS server. I just want it to use OpenDNS.com's numbers. It works for other routers.

More info about how OpenDNS works can be found at https://support.opendns.com/entries/53936430-Configuring-OpenDNS-on-your-Network