Google Public DNS

[Anthro]

What is Google Public DNS?

Google Public DNS is a free, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service, that you can use as an alternative to your current DNS provider.

• To try it out:
• Configure your network settings to use the IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS servers or
• Read our configuration instructions.

If you decide to try Google Public DNS, your client programs will perform all DNS lookups using Google Public DNS.

Why does DNS matter?

The DNS protocol is an important part of the web's infrastructure, serving as the Internet's phone book: every time you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. Complex pages often require multiple DNS lookups before they start loading, so your computer may be performing hundreds of lookups a day.

Why should you try Google Public DNS?

• By using Google Public DNS you can:
• Speed up your browsing experience.
• Improve your security..
• Get the results you expect with absolutely no redirection.

Google Public DNS

[Anthro]

To follow up on this, Google also has a project "Namebench"
It hunts down the fastest DNS servers available for your computer to use. namebench runs a fair and thorough benchmark using your web browser history, tcpdump output, or standardized datasets in order to provide an individualized recommendation. namebench is completely free and does not modify your system in any way. This project began as a 20% project at Google.
Link
namebench runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and UNIX, and is available with a graphical user interface as well as a command-line interface.

[DAE_JA_VOO]

You know, I love Google products, but as far as I understand, OpenDNS is still faster than any other public DNS.

[Nuke]

Its still faster if you built your own DNS server in Ubuntu. DNS 1ms from your PC is awesome.

[Anthro]

You know, I love Google products, but as far as I understand, OpenDNS is still faster than any other public DNS.

You will notice on that link that they tested another similar product UltraDNS
I am still in two minds though - my latency is as follows :

Code: Select all

C:\Users\XBearer>ping 8.8.8.8
Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=733ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=664ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=672ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=654ms TTL=238
Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 654ms, Maximum = 733ms, Average = 680ms
C:\Users\XBearer>ping 8.8.4.4
Pinging 8.8.4.4 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.4.4: bytes=32 time=690ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.4.4: bytes=32 time=676ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.4.4: bytes=32 time=786ms TTL=238
Reply from 8.8.4.4: bytes=32 time=368ms TTL=238
Ping statistics for 8.8.4.4:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 368ms, Maximum = 786ms, Average = 630ms

Code: Select all

C:\Users\XBearer>ping 208.67.220.220
Pinging 208.67.220.220 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 208.67.220.220: bytes=32 time=733ms TTL=51
Reply from 208.67.220.220: bytes=32 time=756ms TTL=51
Reply from 208.67.220.220: bytes=32 time=710ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 208.67.220.220:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 710ms, Maximum = 756ms, Average = 733ms
C:\Users\XBearer>ping 208.67.222.222
Pinging 208.67.222.222 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 208.67.222.222: bytes=32 time=768ms TTL=51
Reply from 208.67.222.222: bytes=32 time=731ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 208.67.222.222:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 2, Lost = 2 (50% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 731ms, Maximum = 768ms, Average =749ms

I get packet loss from OpenDNS Servers, on average a 50% loss - I have tested this numerous times.
Oh and Nuke, you're not allowed to brag without posting a tutorial !

[Nuke]

I have written a quick Bind tutorial a while ago and posted it here. Here's the link http://forums.pcformat.co.za/viewtopic. ... t=bind+dns

[Anthro]

Ahh, I actually just installed an succesfully configured Squid for Windows - this will help with DNS as well, yes ?

[Nuke]

If you point your Squid to Bind it will actually be faster. Every time you open a page through Squid you will do a few DNS lookups for the page, and Squid will do the exact same ones again. If you point both to a local DNS server it will speed up the second lookup coming from Squid a lot, seeing it was cached when your PC looked it up.

[DeathStrike]

Anyone want to explain how to setup this own dns server on a windows 7 pc? sounds interesting.

[Anthro]

I use AnalogueX Fast Cache, install set your DNS servers in the app - and then point your DNS to localhost (127.0.0.1) it will do occasional lookups, and then store those addresses for future reference

AnalogX FastCache is a caching DNS server that runs on your local machine and handles any DNS request that your computer makes, from Internet Explorer to your favorite FTP client. Once a query is made, FastCache will override the normal timeout for the item with one that you specify, so instead of saving a query for a couple of seconds, it can save it for a couple of days. Now every time you ask for it again while it's in the cache, it gives it to you instantly.

http://www.analogx.com/contents/downloa ... eeware.htm
And its freeware

[DeathStrike]

Thanks man. i will test that out later.

[M1ke]

To follow up on this, Google also has a project "Namebench"
It hunts down the fastest DNS servers available for your computer to use. namebench runs a fair and thorough benchmark using your web browser history, tcpdump output, or standardized datasets in order to provide an individualized recommendation. namebench is completely free and does not modify your system in any way. This project began as a 20% project at Google.
Link
namebench runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and UNIX, and is available with a graphical user interface as well as a command-line interface.

I recommend you guys run this first to check whether switching to a different DNS is actually better, especially considering we're miles away from their servers. For example, when I ran the test, the original SAIX servers were up to 200% faster than both OpenDNS and Google's DNS.

[Anthro]

M1ke, I must be honest - as soon as I can I am moving away from my current WISP, and getting uncapped 512 - then I am setting up my own linux box to handle this kind of stuff, basic squid+dns box.
Currently my fastest DNS is listed as a internal NATed IP on the WISP private network.

[1gn1t0r]

I don't understand. Is there any notable differences between using different DNS servers ?

[M1ke]

M1ke, I must be honest - as soon as I can I am moving away from my current WISP, and getting uncapped 512 - then I am setting up my own linux box to handle this kind of stuff, basic squid+dns box.
Currently my fastest DNS is listed as a internal NATed IP on the WISP private network.

+1

Sounds like an awesome idea man... and considering I'm heading towards uncapped myself A very good idea indeed.