How to install SmartDNS on macOS

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps required to install SmartDNS on macOS. SmartDNS is a free, open-source DNS server that provides both local DNS resolution as well as DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS capabilities.

Prerequisites

Before installing SmartDNS on your macOS device, you will need to have the following requirements:

  • A macOS device running High Sierra (10.13) or later
  • An administrative account on the device

Installation

Here are the steps to follow to install SmartDNS on macOS:

  1. Open the Terminal app on your macOS device.
  2. Install the Homebrew package manager by running the following command in the Terminal:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
  1. Once Homebrew is installed, you can then use it to install SmartDNS by running the following command in the Terminal:
brew tap pymumu/smartdns && brew install smartdns
  1. SmartDNS should now be installed on your macOS device. You can confirm this by running the following command:
smartdns -v

This should output the version of SmartDNS that was installed.

Configuration

After installing SmartDNS, you can configure it to your liking by editing its configuration file. The default location of the configuration file is /usr/local/etc/smartdns/smartdns.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using any text editor of your choice. Here are a few basic configuration options that you might want to modify:

  • server: This option specifies the DNS server(s) that SmartDNS should use for upstream DNS resolution. By default, this is set to "127.0.0.1", which means that SmartDNS will use itself as the DNS resolver. You may want to change this to your preferred DNS server(s).
  • cache-size: This option specifies the maximum number of DNS records that SmartDNS should cache. By default, this is set to 5000. You may want to increase or decrease this depending on your needs.
  • log-level: This option specifies the level of detail that SmartDNS should include in its logs. By default, this is set to "error". You may want to change this to "info" or "debug" for more detailed logging.

Conclusion

That's it! You should now have SmartDNS installed and configured on your macOS device. If you encounter any issues or have any questions, feel free to consult the SmartDNS documentation or reach out to the SmartDNS community for assistance.