You have the option to choose specific DNS servers for your network instead of using the DNS servers assigned by your Internet provider. The default DNS servers are usually adequate. However, you may want to assign DNS servers if the default DNS servers are performing poorly, you want WiFi clients to access DNS servers that you use for customized addressing, or you have a local DNS server on your network.
The DNS Settings section has the following fields.
Mode: Automatic or Static (default: Automatic). Switching to Static enables you to set specific DNS servers in the Primary DNS and Secondary DNS fields.
Primary DNS and Secondary DNS: If you choose to specify your DNS servers, then enter the IP addresses of the servers you want as your primary and secondary DNS servers in these fields. The DNS server settings will be pre- populated with public DNS server IP addresses. You can override the IP address with any other DNS server IP address of your choice. For example, Google Public DNS servers have the IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 while 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3 are servers from Level 3 Communications.
Force All DNS Requests To Router: Enabling this will redirect all DNS requests from LAN clients to the router's DNS server. This will allow the router even more control over IP addresses even when clients have their own DNS servers statically set.
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions): Enable DNSSEC to secure your DNS data using public-key cryptography.
Check Unsigned Replies: Use this with DNSSEC to validate that unsigned replies are allowed in the zone of the replying DNS.
Include DNS-Client-ID: Appends the MAC address of the requestor to DNS queries sent upstream (NCOS 7.25.40 and later).
Note
When using secure webfilter security with this feature enabled, make sure to enable passive dns. Activating the DNS Client ID feature restarts the DNS on the router and disables DNS caching.