pdnsd is a proxy DNS server with permanent caching (the cache contents are written to hard disk on exit) that is designed to cope with unreachable or down DNS servers (e.g., in dial-in networking). Add this to /etc/rc.d/rc.local: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.pdnsd ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.pdnsd start fi Add this to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.pdnsd ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.pdnsd stop fi