dnsdist

High-performance DNS load balancer from PowerDNS that distributes queries across backend servers while providing DoS protection, caching, and support for encrypted DNS protocols (DoH, DoT, DoQ, DNSCrypt).

Overview

dnsdist is a DNS-aware, DoS-aware load balancer that receives DNS queries and intelligently routes them to backend servers based on configurable policies. It operates at the DNS protocol level, enabling sophisticated traffic management, abuse prevention, and protocol translation.

Key Capabilities

• Load Balancing: Distribute queries across multiple DNS backends
• DoS Protection: Dynamic blocking, rate limiting, eBPF filtering
• Multi-Protocol: Do53, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-QUIC, DNSCrypt
• Response Caching: Built-in packet cache with stale serving
• Dynamic Configuration: Runtime changes via Lua console
• Monitoring: Prometheus metrics, REST API, Carbon export

Installation