Question about dns from a dummy

This is not really a Merlin firmware question, but I think the knowledgeable folks who hang out here know the answer. The company I work for has a fancy new internet wifi system and deployed opendns domain blocking of steaming websites to cut down on bandwidth. When I specify a different dns on my adapter , how is it that it is still using opendns. Can my AC68U do the same thing and "over-ride" somebody else's dns setting at home? I always thought there was a pecking order with dns. If device has a dns server specified it will use that, if not it will use the router if one is specified, and if not the ISP one. Guess I thought wrong. How does it really work?

If you go to Parental Controls and DNS filtering you can achieve the same thing.

Search for more information on this site about that feature.

will do,
I was curious how it works on a technical level and why doesn't my dns specified in windows over ride the one set in the router as explained in method 1 of 6 http://www.wikihow.com/Bypass-OpenDNS-Internet-Security

nevermind
I see: 'This will not work if your router has been configured to block all DNS requests except OpenDNS on Port 53.'

Cake said:

nevermind
I see: 'This will not work if your router has been configured to block all DNS requests except OpenDNS on Port 53.'

Click to expand...

I don't know if that's relevant in this case. However, under the AiProtection page you'll see the DNS Filtering page.

If you set DNS Filtering to ON, and then set the Global Filtering Mode to, say, Router (there are also several third-party options eg OpenDNS Family as well as space for up to 3 custom specified ones of your choice), then every device is forced to use the router's specified DNS setting, regardless of what is set in the DNS properties in the network device's adapter settings.

You then have the option, in the client list at the bottom, to override that global filter for any specified device. As an example, my global DNS filtering is set to Router, in which, on my WAN page I specify my DNS server as 192.168.1.50, which is my local malicious-domain-blocking ("ad-blocking") Raspberry Pi. However, in my client list, I have set No Filtering for 192.168.1.50, otherwise the DNS requests get stuck in a loop and Internet access stops.

But I'm not sure exactly why the router can thereby override a device's adapter setting for DNS except that the request, if conventional i.e. has a socket address to port 53, I assume, and is easily intercepted by the router and re-addressed accordingly. I hope someone knowledgeable will comment on whether it's possible/feasible to defeat the router's DNS filtering by sending a DNS request to a server set to receive on a port other than 53, or perhaps by an encrypted DNS request.

The AiProtection DNS Filtering is a really handy feature, especially for someone like me who does not want to risk meddling in iptables and messing things up. By the way, a dummy is someone who doesn't question things or think deeper about what they see.

My employer uses a Cradlepoint 2100, I just assuming my AC68U can do the same, anyways how ever my employer does it - it really puts the hammer down. I have only found using a vpn is the only way around it. I think it is a very useful feature now that I see it in action. The receiving end anyways