1. Enable Logging in PowerDNS Recursor Config
2. Edit Systemd Unit File for PowerDNS to Allow Syslog
3. Enable Logging in rsyslog Config File

The following links were helpful in setting things up.

https://doc.powerdns.com/recursor/running.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxadmin/comments/9lc4jl/logging_queries_in_pdnsrecursor/

Enable logging in PowerDNS Recursor Config

First we need to find the line that says “disable-syslog” and uncomment/change it to

disable-syslog=no

Next find the line that says “quiet” and uncomment/change it to

quiet=no

Some other lines you may want to check and change

logging-facality=1
loglevel=6

Edit Systemd Unit File for PowerDNS to allow Syslog

Next we need to modify the Systemd unit file to allow PowerDNS Recursor to log to syslog.

systemctl edit --full pdns-recursor.service

On the ExecStart Line, remove the part that says

--disable-syslog

The resulting line should look something like

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_recursor --socket-dir=%t/pdns-recursor --socket-dir=%t/pdns-recursor --daemon=no --write-pid=no --log-timestamp=no

Save the file.

Enable Logging in rsyslog Config File

Edit the rsyslog file

sudo vim /etc/rsyslog.conf

Add the following line

local1.*        /var/log/pdns_recursor.log

This should now log all of the PowerDNS Recursor log info to “/var/log/pdns_recursor.log”

Restart the rsyslog and PowerDNS Recursor service

sudo systemctl restart rsyslog
sudo systemctl restart pdns-recursor

You should now see DNS request in the log file.

tail /var/log/pdns_recursor.log

They should also show up in the “/var/log/messages”