Canaries exclusively communicate with your Canary Console over DNS by default. This is done by encapsulating all the data the Birds send as DNS requests. For more on how we achieved this with a proprietary method. See our DNS Tunnelling page.
Introducing DNS over HTTPS (DoH), available in most Canaries from version 3.0.0 and up, DoH enables all communications to be done over the HTTPS protocol. Whilst the Canaries already employ a custom encryption method for all data sent, DoH applies another layer of encryption on top of that increasing the level of privacy and security by preventing eavesdropping and manipulation of any DNS requests.
Container Canaries do not support DoH as their networking is handled entirely by their host.
Your Canary will use Cloudflare's DoH service as default, this can however be changed to your preference in the setup dialogue.
We provide an option to set up an HTTP Proxy, this is completely optional and only needs to be configured if you require all HTTP/s traffic to be redirected through your local proxy first.
If your environment requires DoH to be configured and are unable to manage your Bird through the Console, configure DoH locally on the Bird either through the local web interface or the interactive menu on your Virtual Canary.
DoH Setup through Console
Step 1: Log in to your Console
Step 2: Select your Canary and enable DoH
Click on the Canary you would like to set up DoH for.
Click on the Configure Canary button.
Enable DoH by clicking on the toggle. The options will be populated with Cloudflare's DoH service by default, you can change this to your preferred provider by completing the text fields.
Step 3: Deploy the new configuration
Once you've made the DoH changes, you will then need to click on Deploy new configuration.
Step 4: Wait for the Canary to reboot and reconnect
Your DoH configuration will be pushed down to your Canary. Once it gets to 100%, your Canary will then reboot and connect back to your Console with the new configuration.
DoH Setup on a Virtual Canary
Step 1: Boot your Virtual Canary
Step 2: Log in with username
Insert the username canary and hit "Enter"
Step 3: Enter the Canary Console password
Type out the password found on your Canary Consoles and hit "Enter"
Step 4: Navigate to DNS over HTTPS (DoH)
Scroll down to DNS over HTTPS (DoH) and hit "Enter"
Step 5: Enable DoH and configure your provider
The options will be populated with Cloudflare's DoH service by default, you can change this to your preferred provider by completing the text fields, once complete "Tab" to Enable DoH and hit "Enter" (Please note to add http:// prefix to the Proxy address, eg. http://192.168.0.1:8080)
DoH Setup on the local Web UI over Bluetooth/Config mode.
This is not the recommended route. You should only go down this route if the Canary will not be able to make DNS requests on your network without DoH enabled.
Step 1: Put the Canary into Config mode and open the Web UI
Connect to your Canary over the Bird's UI by taking the Canary back into config mode and then using the relevant 4-minute setup guide from our help section here.
Step 2: Enable DoH and select a provider
Enable DoH by clicking on the checkbox. The options will be populated with Cloudflare's
DoH service by default, you can change this to your preferred provider by completing the text fields.
Once logged in to your Console, return to the Canary configuration tab, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Deploy new configuration.
Step 3: Log in to the Console
Your re-configured Canary now needs to update its settings with the Console. Open another browser tab to your Console and log in.
Step 4: Canary update in the settings
Your Canary will then locate your Console that was Opened in another browser tab and update the Canary settings.
Step 5: Check LED status to verify configuration
Your Canary will then reboot and the LED Status will go orange shortly after powering on, briefly flash to red and then switch to green.
If the LED status goes orange and then stays red, there has possibly been a misconfiguration, you can simply put the Canary into the Bluetooth config mode (blue LED) and reconfigure it as per the above steps.