[SOLVED] How to configure the systemd DNS resolver?

I admit that one of the reasons I am asking this question is frustration. So yes, I'm venting, but not only. Venting: I am happy with systemd's service management features, but Bionic also uses it for managing the DNS client. I don't understand the benefit of that, but more importantly, after spending countless hours trying to become knowledgeable about service management, I feel that I am back at square one, having to read through countless man pages and Poettering blogs to cut through the systemd-resolve thicket.

So here is my real question. I run a DNS server at home, at IP address 192.168.1.16. This is what I get on my Xubuntu VM (based on Bionic):

$ host odroid.home 192.168.1.16
Using domain server:
Name: 192.168.1.16
Address: 192.168.1.16#53
Aliases: 

odroid.home has address 192.168.1.16

The above is expected. The below is not:

$ host odroid.home
Host odroid.home not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# This file is managed by man:systemd-resolved(8). Do not edit.
...
nameserver 127.0.0.53
options edns0

What confuses me: My name server 192.168.1.16 seems to be configured:

$ systemd-resolve --status
Global
          DNSSEC NTA: 10.in-addr.arpa
                      16.172.in-addr.arpa
... stuff...
                      home
                      internal
                      intranet
                      lan
                      local
                      private
                      test

Link 2 (enp0s3)
      Current Scopes: DNS
       LLMNR setting: yes
MulticastDNS setting: no
      DNSSEC setting: no
    DNSSEC supported: no
         DNS Servers: 192.168.1.16
                      1.1.1.1

Basically, I want to know how I can tell the systemd resolver to actually use what I configured. Yes, there are ways to take ownership of /etc/resolv.conf back from systemd, but what is the intended method?

Originally Posted by berndbausch I admit that one of the reasons I am asking this question is frustration. So yes, I'm venting, but not only. Venting: I am happy with systemd's service management features, but Bionic also uses it for managing the DNS client. I don't understand the benefit of that, but more importantly, after spending countless hours trying to become knowledgeable about service management, I feel that I am back at square one, having to read through countless man pages and Poettering blogs to cut through the systemd-resolve thicket. So here is my real question. I run a DNS server at home, at IP address 192.168.1.16. This is what I get on my Xubuntu VM (based on Bionic): $ host odroid.home 192.168.1.16 Using domain server: Name: 192.168.1.16 Address: 192.168.1.16#53 Aliases: odroid.home has address 192.168.1.16 The above is expected. The below is not: $ host odroid.home Host odroid.home not found: 3(NXDOMAIN) $ cat /etc/resolv.conf # This file is managed by man:systemd-resolved(8). Do not edit. ... nameserver 127.0.0.53 options edns0 What confuses me: My name server 192.168.1.16 seems to be configured: $ systemd-resolve --status Global DNSSEC NTA: 10.in-addr.arpa 16.172.in-addr.arpa ... stuff... home internal intranet lan local private test Link 2 (enp0s3) Current Scopes: DNS LLMNR setting: yes MulticastDNS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no DNS Servers: 192.168.1.16 1.1.1.1 Basically, I want to know how I can tell the systemd resolver to actually use what I configured. Yes, there are ways to take ownership of /etc/resolv.conf back from systemd, but what is the intended method?

Check your listeners on your client machine. I suspect it is running a local "cache only" dns server and is forwarding to your network DNS server. This is pretty common on some of the *buntu based distributions these days. As long as it is forwarding and working properly, I do not see that as a problem. Is it resolving external hosts properly?

Originally Posted by wpeckham Check your listeners on your client machine. I suspect it is running a local "cache only" dns server and is forwarding to your network DNS server. This is pretty common on some of the *buntu based distributions these days. As long as it is forwarding and working properly, I do not see that as a problem. Is it resolving external hosts properly?

It's only now that I am getting around looking at it again. Short version: It works. Longer version: The good people at the Archlinux wiki have, once again, made it easy to understand what happens. In my case, /etc/resolv.conf was symlinked to /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf, which points to the local resolver from my question. This local resolver turns out to be systemd-resolve.

Now the million-dollar question is: To which DNS server does systemd-resolve forward requests? Simple: This is configured in /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.

$ cat /etc/systemd/resolved.conf
...
[Resolve]
DNS=192.168.1.16
FallbackDNS=1.1.1.1
Domains=home
...

And that's all there is to it, at least as far as I am concerned.

Thanks wpeckham and the Archlinux team.