# Google Public DNS



## Bob Hubbard

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

Replaces doggy ISP DNS with what looks to be a more stable one run by Google.


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## Carol

What in the world are they doing with all this info they are gathering?  :idunno:


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## Bob Hubbard

Honestly, don't care.
The DNS though is free, you don't need a google account, and it works screamingly fast.
This isn't the first time Verizon screwed up their DNS...hell, most of their level 1 'techs' don't even know what DNS is.  They want to send a tech out on Monday to swap my gear out.

If it's my gear, why does simply changing the DNS fix the problem?  Yeah....


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## Carol

Bob Hubbard said:


> Honestly, don't care.
> The DNS though is free, you don't need a google account, and it works screamingly fast.
> This isn't the first time Verizon screwed up their DNS...hell, most of their level 1 'techs' don't even know what DNS is.  They want to send a tech out on Monday to swap my gear out.
> 
> If it's my gear, why does simply changing the DNS fix the problem?  Yeah....



I just tried this on a friend's PC (Fairpoint, formerly Verizon) and it seemed to fix up a few issues with sluggishness she was having, that I thought was spyware/maware related.

Haven't noticed a difference with mine, but this is something I'm definitely keeping in the toolkit for the future.


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## mmartist

I'm using it for 2 years. It's fast and stable.


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## Dansolo

I recommend using OpenDNS as a primary DNS server and Google as a secondary. By the way, don't set these on your PC unless your PC is directly connected to your modem. If you're using a router, set the DNS servers in that.

OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Google: 8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8

You can use both OpenDNS or both Google if you want. If you mix them, you can use either one from each.

I like OpenDNS because it filters out some malware sites. It is not even close to replacing a virus scanner (I recommend Avira AntiVir, ESET NOD32, Microsoft Security Essentials and Kaspersky, btw. AVG, Norton, McAfee and most others are junk.) and definitely doesn't replace common sense, but every little bit helps.

You can actually get an account with OpenDNS and set your own personal rules on sites to block and stuff. Not really necessary for the home user, but an interesting option for some uses.


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## rlobrecht

We found that using Google and OpenDNS caused performance issues with iTunes and Netflix streaming. The reason given was that the DNS server gives hints to your location, so the content could be streamed from a server close to you.


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## Dansolo

rlobrecht said:


> We found that using Google and OpenDNS caused performance issues with iTunes and Netflix streaming. The reason given was that the DNS server gives hints to your location, so the content could be streamed from a server close to you.



Not actually true. IP geolocation is not done via a DNS server but via your own IP. In fact, almost every DNS request that you do results in multiple DNS servers being contacted due to how DNS itself works (unless your DNS server has cached the result - many DNS servers do have caching, which is why Anonymous' stupid plan to bring down the internet this past Saturday would have never worked). I'm not sure why you'd have issues streaming because I use Netflix and Hulu just fine on OpenDNS. Both run quite well other than all the stupid ads that Hulu has. As for iTunes, can't really answer that because I will never install or own an Apple product. Ever. But I don't think that OpenDNS or Google DNS should affect iTunes, either.


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## Carol

rlobrecht said:


> We found that using Google and OpenDNS caused performance issues with iTunes and Netflix streaming. The reason given was that the DNS server gives hints to your location, so the content could be streamed from a server close to you.





Dansolo said:


> Not actually true. IP geolocation is not done via a DNS server but via your own IP. In fact, almost every DNS request that you do results in multiple DNS servers being contacted due to how DNS itself works (unless your DNS server has cached the result - many DNS servers do have caching, which is why Anonymous' stupid plan to bring down the internet this past Saturday would have never worked). I'm not sure why you'd have issues streaming because I use Netflix and Hulu just fine on OpenDNS. Both run quite well other than all the stupid ads that Hulu has. As for iTunes, can't really answer that because I will never install or own an Apple product. Ever. But I don't think that OpenDNS or Google DNS should affect iTunes, either.



Google only offers a caching service...they don't offer authoritative DNS servers.  However, I found something interesting.

This fascinated me because I have been using Google's DNS server for a few applications at work.  I have become a fan of Google's DNS so I put a couple of networking tools to the test and did some experiments.  Generally what I have found is Google's DNS is marginally slower (network stats show a difference but human perception could not), but more consistent, than my ISP-who-shall-not-be-named's DNS.   

One server in New Jersey has been running Google's DNS for almost a year.  One server in Boston has been running my ISP's DNS for about a year.  Both connections are approx. the same speed, servers approx the same age....all things are as equal as they can be for an imprompu test.  A movie runs 2 hours -- I didn't run a 2 hour test but I did run a 2 minute test.

I'll be danged.   I received a notably poorer, and more inconsistent response from Netflix using Google's DNS.  Apparently they were watching me as I was watching them, and when they routed me over to their UK server (!!) I thought it was time to shut down my toys and get back to my real job  

I repeated the test on another streaming media site and did NOT see the same disparity of behaviour.

Verdict?

I think rlobrecht is correct It does seem that Netflix is making some sort of routing decisions based partly on DNS information.  

I'm getting a headache just thinking about that one.  I think I'll stick with making emergency communications work.  Less stress


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## Bob Hubbard

Time Warners DNS takes 48-72 hrs to update regardless of TTL.  Googles seems to update within a few minutes, depending on what the TTL is.
Winner - Google.
Loser - anyone on Time Warner.


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## Carol

Our system doesn't usually use DNS -- but I switched to Google DNS for all the systems that do use it...its been impressive. I've got it running in places where I don't exactly want to be worrying about network configs *cough* *cough* afghanistan *cough* *cough*


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