In part 2, I reconfigured my WireGuard VPN to use an Unbound DNS server on the VPN server rather than rely on a third party server I had used for the original quick and dirty configuration. It was important for me to set up a validating DNS server, which I did in that part.

In this part, I’m extending the existing configuration to include some basic block lists for known ad and tracking servers. As I’m mainly trying to use the VPN while on the road, I want to ensure that anything I end up doing using the VPN is as secure as I can make it with reasonable effort. That makes tracking and preventing malicious ads the next step. That said, I’m not planning to go for a full Pi-Hole like setup. Initially, I am trying to do is integrate one known good blocklists into the Unbound configuration and automate the process. I can get fancy with a more Pi-Hole like setup later if I want to.

In the first part, I described how I set up the basic OpenBSD WireGuard VPN server. I also hinted that I wanted to set up my own validating, filtering DNS server. With a little bit of spare time during the holidays I decided now was a good time as any.

Making sure the VPN server uses the local Unbound DNS resolver first

Before I set up Unbound itself, I need to make sure that the VPN server’s resolv.conf points at its local DNS server first.