Official OPNsense course: DNS & High Availability

Master DNS, Caching & High Availability on OPNsense with Hands-On Labs

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What you'll learn

  • Understand how DNS works in real networks and the difference between recursive and forwarder DNS
  • Configure and manage Unbound DNS (DNS Resolver) on OPNsense
  • Implement DNS Forwarding and understand when to use it
  • Optimize DNS performance using caching and analyze DNS query behavior
  • Apply DNS security features such as DNSSEC
  • Design and deploy High Availability (HA) using CARP on OPNsense
  • Configure failover for WAN and VLAN environments to ensure network continuity
  • Implement DHCP in High Availability scenarios
  • Synchronize configurations between OPNsense firewalls
  • Troubleshoot DNS and High Availability issues in real-world scenarios
  • Build complete lab environments to simulate production-ready network designs

Requirements

  • Basic understanding of networking concepts (IP addressing, subnets, routing)
  • Familiarity with VLANs and basic firewall concepts is recommended
  • No prior experience with OPNsense is required (everything is explained step by step)
  • A computer capable of running a virtual lab environment (VirtualBox, VMware, or similar)
  • Willingness to practice through hands-on labs to fully benefit from the course
Description
This official OPNsense course is designed to provide you with in-depth, hands-on knowledge to confidently deploy, manage, and troubleshoot DNS services and High Availability (HA) environments in real-world networks. Throughout the course, you will learn how DNS operates within modern infrastructures and how to configure both Unbound DNS as a recursive resolver and DNS Forwarder services, while understanding key concepts such as caching, performance optimization, and DNSSEC for enhanced security. On the High Availability side, you will build robust and resilient network architectures using CARP, ensuring seamless failover for WAN and VLAN environments, synchronizing firewall configurations, and minimizing downtime during failures. The course also covers DHCP High Availability, allowing you to maintain continuous IP address assignment even in fault scenarios. All topics are delivered through practical, step-by-step labs where you will simulate real network conditions, test failover mechanisms, and validate configurations from client devices, ensuring you gain not only theoretical understanding but also strong practical skills. By the end of this course, you will be able to design and implement stable, secure, and scalable OPNsense deployments suitable for enterprise networks, ISPs, and advanced home labs, making it ideal for network engineers, system administrators, and security professionals who want to master DNS and High Availability using OPNsense in production environments.

Who this course is for:

  • Network engineers who want to master DNS and High Availability using OPNsense
  • System and network administrators managing firewall and DNS infrastructures
  • Security engineers looking to implement resilient and secure network designs
  • ISP engineers working with DNS services and redundant network architectures
  • IT professionals who want hands-on experience with real-world OPNsense deployments
  • Anyone preparing to deploy or maintain highly available firewall and DNS environments
  • Students with basic networking knowledge who want to advance into practical networking labs


Your Instructor


Maher Haddad
Maher Haddad

Hello everyone. My name is Maher Haddad and I am a Certified MikroTik Trainer, Cisco Authorized Instructor and LigoWave Authorized Trainer.

I have decided to make this online school to share my knowledge to the community. All my courses are based on theory and hands-on LABS so you can practise while learning.

More than 100K happy students have joined mynetworktraining.com up to year 2022.


I hope you will enjoy watching my courses.


Course Curriculum


  Domain Name System (DNS)
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  OPNsense DNS
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  High Availability and Redundancy on OPNsense
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Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 14 days and we will give you a full refund.

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