Installing SmartDNS on Arch Linux

SmartDNS is a DNS proxy server for Linux that can help you to access geo-restricted websites and services. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing SmartDNS on Arch Linux using the command line.

Prerequisites

• A machine running Arch Linux
• Basic knowledge of the command line interface

Step 1 - Install SmartDNS

Start by installing the SmartDNS package by executing the following command in the terminal:

sudo pacman -S smartdns

This command will install the latest version of SmartDNS on your Arch Linux machine.

Step 2 - Configure SmartDNS

After installing SmartDNS, you need to configure it according to your needs. Create a configuration file named "smartdns.conf" in the /etc/ directory by executing:

sudo nano /etc/smartdns/smartdns.conf

Then copy and paste the following configuration:

# Upstream DNS servers to forward to
server {
    1.1.1.1
    8.8.8.8
}

# DNS resolution rules
domain example.com example.net {
    # Override the DNS server on this domain with 1.2.3.4
    nameserver 1.2.3.4
}

# Log level
log-level info

In this example, we set Cloudflare's and Google's DNS servers as upstream servers. We also set example.com and example.net domains to always use 1.2.3.4 as the DNS server. Change these values to match your requirements.

Once you have created the configuration file, save the changes.

Step 3 - Start SmartDNS

Start the SmartDNS service by executing:

sudo systemctl start smartdns

This command will start the SmartDNS service and activate the configuration file that you created earlier. Additionally, you can enable the SmartDNS service to start automatically on boot with:

sudo systemctl enable smartdns

Step 4 - Verify SmartDNS

You can verify that SmartDNS is working by opening any website that was previously restricted to your location. If the website loads without any issues, then you have successfully installed and configured SmartDNS on Arch Linux.

In case you experience any issues, you can check SmartDNS logs by executing:

sudo journalctl -fu smartdns

This command will show you the logs of the SmartDNS service, which should help you diagnose the problem.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to install and configure SmartDNS on Arch Linux. SmartDNS is a powerful tool that can help you to unblock geo-restricted websites and services, and with this guide, you should be able to start using it quickly and easily.