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Help - Just setting up

Hi, I have just followed the instructions to set up NEXTDNS on my router by changing the DNS address. I followed the IPV4 (with linked IP). Easy enough. It seems that all devices now have the protection. I'm struggling however with identifying each device with its own IP. My understanding is that we could set a different restriction level on each device. The advice is to follow the SETUP tab to identify each device but it makes no sense to me :(  I hope that makes sense. Any help is appreciated.

5 replies

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    • Ruby_Balloon
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Since you have it configured at the router via linked ip then only that linked ip will show in the logs, all your local devices share your external/public IP via the router even though they have individual internal IPs. 

    You can create multiple configurations, customize them, and decide which device(s) will use which config(s) but you have to setup the config(s) first before you can setup the device(s) unless you're only using a single config.

    In order to identify your devices, you will either need  to setup your device(s) to use DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), DNS-over-TLS (DoT),  or the NextDNS app.

    For example, I have a single config that is setup at the router level but I only setup my Android phone to use DoT and my Windows desktop to use the NextDNS Windows app (with the option enabled to send the device name). So while I have anywhere from 7-12 devices connected to the router, only the two aforementioned devices (phone & desktop) are identified [see attached]

    • Nicola_Robinson
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thank you Greg for your reply. In the end I decided to set up two configurations, one for parent, one for child and assign the associated DNS on the devices, instead of the router. This allows me to have varied levels of restriction.

    I still have not yet figured out how to identify the device and it is not such a big issue now but  it would still be nice to be able too. I tried the app but didn't like that it shows in the notifications when ON.

    You said you set up your Android to use DoT.  Could you explain how I would do this? Does it interfere with the DNS I have assigned on that device? (Sorry, I don't have an indepth understanding of IT).

    Thanks

      • Ruby_Balloon
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nicola Robinson If you follow the "Android" setup guide, there's a private DNS guide (requires Android version 9.0 or later). Also using private DNS would eliminate the need to manually enter the DNS servers at the manual/static/IPv4 network level

      If you're on an earlier version of Android then you either have to use IPv4 or possibly a 3rd party DNS app from the play store (like Nebulo)

    • Nicola_Robinson
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Sorry I don't think I was clear in my reply :)  I have already set up the android device with the static DNS. I am still trying to find a way to identify the device by name for analytics and logs, without using the app.

    • brenneke
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    If you have already set up Private DNS on your Android device you will have entered a line like this:

    123456.dns.nextdns.io

    So now add your device name at the beginning of that line to have it show in logs & analytics:

    yourdevicename-123456.dns.nextdns.io

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