<!doctype html><htmllang=enclass=no-js><head><metacharset=utf-8><metaname=viewportcontent="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><metaname=descriptioncontent="An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server."><metaname=authorcontent="Headscale authors"><linkhref=https://juanfont.github.io/headscale/development/ref/dns/rel=canonical><linkhref=../acls/rel=prev><linkhref=../remote-cli/rel=next><linkrel=iconhref=../../assets/favicon.png><metaname=generatorcontent="mkdocs-1.6.1, mkdocs-material-9.5.49"><title>DNS - Headscale</title><linkrel=stylesheethref=../../assets/stylesheets/main.6f8fc17f.min.css><linkrel=stylesheethref=../../assets/stylesheets/palette.06af60db.min.css><linkrel=preconnecthref=https://fonts.gstatic.comcrossorigin><linkrel=stylesheethref="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,300i,400,400i,700,700i%7CRoboto+Mono:400,400i,700,700i&display=fallback"><style>:root{--md-text-font:"Roboto";--md-code-font:"Roboto Mono"}</style><script>__md_scope=newURL("../..",location),__md_hash=e=>[...e].reduce(((e,_)=>(e<<5)-e+_.charCodeAt(0)),0),__md_get=(e,_=localStorage,t=__md_scope)=>JSON.parse(_.getItem(t.pathname+"."+e)),__md_set=(e,_,t=localStorage,a=__md_scope)=>{try{t.setItem(a.pathname+"."+e,JSON.stringify(_))}catch(e){}}</script><metaproperty=og:typecontent=website><metaproperty=og:titlecontent="DNS - Headscale"><metaproperty=og:descriptioncontent="An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server."><metaproperty=og:imagecontent=https://juanfont.github.io/headscale/development/assets/images/social/ref/dns.png><metaproperty=og:image:typecontent=image/png><metaproperty=og:image:widthcontent=1200><metaproperty=og:image:heightcontent=630><metacontent=https://juanfont.github.io/headscale/development/ref/dns/property=og:url><metaname=twitter:cardcontent=summary_large_image><metaname=twitter:titlecontent="DNS - Headscale"><metaname=twitter:descriptioncontent="An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server."><metaname=twitter:imagecontent=https://juanfont.github.io/headscale/development/assets/images/social/ref/dns.png></head><bodydir=ltrdata-md-color-scheme=defaultdata-md-color-primary=whitedata-md-color-accent=indigo><inputclass=md-toggledata-md-toggle=drawertype=checkboxid=__drawerautocomplete=off><inputclass=md-toggledata-md-toggle=searchtype=checkboxid=__searchautocomplete=off><labelclass=md-overlayfor=__drawer></label><divdata-md-component=skip><ahref=#dnsclass=md-skip> Skip to content </a></div><divdata-md-component=announce></div><divdata-md-color-scheme=defaultdata-md-component=outdatedhidden></div><headerclass=md-headerdata-md-component=header><navclass="md-header__inner md-grid"aria-label=Header><ahref=../..title=Headscaleclass="md-header__button md-logo"aria-label=Headscaledata-md-component=logo><imgsrc=../../logo/headscale3-dots.svgalt=logo></a><labelclass="md-header__button md-icon"for=__drawer><svgxmlns=http://www.w3.org/2000/svgviewbox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M3 6h18v2H3zm0 5h18v2H3zm0 5h18v2H3z"/></svg></label><divclass=md-header__titledata-md-component=header-title><divclass=md-header__ellipsis><divclass=md-header__topic><spanclass=md-ellipsis> Headscale </span></div><divclass=md-header__topicdata-md-component=header-topic><spanclass=md-ellipsis> DNS </span></div></div></div><formclass=md-header__optiondata-md-component=palette><inputclass=md-optiondata-md-color-mediadata-md-color-scheme=defaultdata-md-color-primary=whitedata-md-color-accent=indigoaria-label="Switch to dark mode"type=radioname=__paletteid=__palette_0><labelclass="md-header__button md-icon"title="Switch to dark mode"for=__palette_1hidden><svgxmlns=http://www.w3.org/2000/svgviewbox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M128a44000-444400044440004-444000-4-4m010a66001-6-6660016-6660016666001-66m8-9.31V4h-4.69L12.698.694H4v4.69L.6912415.31V20h4.69L1223.3115.3120H20v-4.69
</span></code></pre></div><p>Restart your headscale instance.</p></div><divclass=tabbed-block><divclass="language-json highlight"><spanclass=filename>extra-records.json</span><pre><span></span><code><spanid=__span-1-1><aid=__codelineno-1-1name=__codelineno-1-1href=#__codelineno-1-1></a><spanclass=p>[</span>
</span></code></pre></div><p>Headscale picks up changes to the above JSON file automatically.</p><divclass="admonition tip"><pclass=admonition-title>Good to know</p><ul><li>The <code>dns.extra_records_path</code> option in the <ahref=../configuration/>configuration file</a> needs to reference the JSON file containing extra DNS records.</li><li>Be sure to "sort keys" and produce a stable output in case you generate the JSON file with a script. Headscale uses a checksum to detect changes to the file and a stable output avoids unnecessary processing.</li></ul></div></div></div></div></li><li><p>Verify that DNS records are properly set using the DNS querying tool of your choice:</p><divclass="tabbed-set tabbed-alternate"data-tabs=2:2><inputchecked=checkedid=__tabbed_2_1name=__tabbed_2type=radio><inputid=__tabbed_2_2name=__tabbed_2type=radio><divclass=tabbed-labels><labelfor=__tabbed_2_1>Query with dig</label><labelfor=__tabbed_2_2>Query with drill</label></div><divclass=tabbed-content><divclass=tabbed-block><divclass="language-shell highlight"><pre><span></span><code><spanid=__span-2-1><aid=__codelineno-2-1name=__codelineno-2-1href=#__codelineno-2-1></a>dig<spanclass=w></span>+short<spanclass=w></span>grafana.myvpn.example.com
</span></code></pre></div></div></div></div></li><li><p>Optional: Setup the reverse proxy</p><p>The motivating example here was to be able to access internal monitoring services on the same host without specifying a port, depicted as NGINX configuration snippet:</p><divclass="language-nginx highlight"><spanclass=filename>nginx.conf</span><pre><span></span><code><spanid=__span-4-1><aid=__codelineno-4-1name=__codelineno-4-1href=#__codelineno-4-1></a><spanclass=k>server</span><spanclass=w></span><spanclass=p>{</span>
