Does OpenDNS work for Azure IaaS VMs? Is my specific use case free?

[ahhyep]

Good Morning!!

I have been searching on this site but couldn't really find an answer I was looking for. I have an Azure VM that some people use to RDP to. I would like to block malicious sites and adult sites. Would I be able to use this with the openDNS free tier, and would I be able to do some from within Azure? I could not find this use case anywhere.

Thanks in advance!

[mattwilson9090]

Considering that you are talking about an Azure VM and people RDP'ing into it, this sounds like you are using it for business. The free OpenDNS product is otherwise know as OpenDNS Home, and is not allowed to be used in business.

That said, assuming Azure let's you use the recursive DNS provider of your choice there is no technical reasons that OpenDNS would not work for you. Just be aware, it cannot be used to filter incoming connections, only DNS lookups that would be initiated on that VM, such as if someone remoted into it, and then using that remote desktop were doing internet based activities from it.

[rotblitz]

According to this KB article only VMWare ESX or ESXi server and Microsoft Hyper-V for Microsoft Server 2008 R2, Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2 are fully supported.  However, mattwilson9090's approach should work.

More documentation: https://support.umbrella.com/hc/en-us/sections/206618528

Or generally for Cisco Umbrella: https://support.umbrella.com/hc/en-us/categories/204187888

"Is my specific use case free?"

Most likely not if you want configurable content filtering and security filtering.

Or maybe yes.  You can go for "Premium DNS" but configure the FamilyShield addresses instead of the normal ones.