DNS

the internet's phone book

Table of Contents

DNS (Domain Name Servers) are like the internet's phone book.

Just like you'd use a phone book to find someone's telephone number, a computer needs a DNS server to ask the IP address for each request you make with a name (ie a website).

The 3 main DNS providers, beyond your ISPs' (Internet Service Provider) which is usually not good, are:

DNS Provider Primary Server Secondary Server
OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220
Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
Google 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

OpenDNS

from Cisco. Free.
Provides filtering, analytics and reporting if desired (though turned off by default, for data privacy).

Primary: 208.67.222.222
Secondary: 208.67.220.220

Changes

31 Dec 2022 ping tests:

Ping loop (see Pingee)

13:10:40 OK      208.67.220.220: 19.83ms
13:10:42 OK      1.1.1.1: 93.14ms
13:10:43 OK      1.0.0.1: 20.63ms
13:10:44 OK      8.8.8.8: 13.91ms
13:10:45 OK      8.8.4.4: 18.77ms
13:10:46 OK      208.67.222.222: 18.85ms
13:10:47 OK      208.67.220.220: 20.05ms
13:10:48 OK      1.1.1.1: 95.95ms
13:10:49 OK      1.0.0.1: 22.12ms
13:10:50 OK      8.8.8.8: 14.56ms
13:10:51 OK      8.8.4.4: 13.82ms
13:10:52 OK      208.67.222.222: 20.49ms
13:10:53 OK      208.67.220.220: 20.87ms
13:10:54 OK      1.1.1.1: 33.76ms
13:10:55 OK      1.0.0.1: 21.06ms
13:10:56 OK      8.8.8.8: 17.02ms
13:10:57 OK      8.8.4.4: 16.27ms
13:10:58 OK      208.67.222.222: 20.5ms
13:10:59 OK      208.67.220.220: 21.94ms
13:11:00 OK      1.1.1.1: 33.78ms
13:11:01 OK      1.0.0.1: 26.58ms
13:11:02 OK      8.8.8.8: 12.99ms
13:11:03 OK      8.8.4.4: 15.64ms
13:11:04 OK      208.67.222.222: 23.74ms
13:11:05 OK      208.67.220.220: 20.6ms
13:11:10 NOK     1.1.1.1: None
13:11:11 OK      1.0.0.1: 22.53ms
13:11:12 OK      8.8.8.8: 13.98ms
13:11:13 OK      8.8.4.4: 16.91ms
13:11:14 OK      208.67.222.222: 19.28ms
13:11:15 OK      208.67.220.220: 18.69ms
13:11:16 OK      1.1.1.1: 29.85ms
13:11:17 OK      1.0.0.1: 20.9ms
13:11:18 OK      8.8.8.8: 14.24ms
13:11:19 OK      8.8.4.4: 17.14ms
13:11:20 OK      208.67.222.222: 17.94ms
13:11:21 OK      208.67.220.220: 21.56ms
13:11:23 OK      1.1.1.1: 34.88ms
13:11:24 OK      1.0.0.1: 18.69ms
13:11:25 OK      8.8.8.8: 13.14ms
13:11:26 OK      8.8.4.4: 16.33ms
13:11:27 OK      208.67.222.222: 24.02ms
13:11:28 OK      208.67.220.220: 21.89ms
13:11:29 OK      1.1.1.1: 32.43ms
13:11:30 OK      1.0.0.1: 23.03ms
13:11:31 OK      8.8.8.8: 15.13ms
13:11:32 OK      8.8.4.4: 16.65ms
13:11:33 OK      208.67.222.222: 20.19ms
13:11:34 OK      208.67.220.220: 20.07ms
13:11:35 OK      1.1.1.1: 51.86ms
13:11:36 OK      1.0.0.1: 20.87ms
13:11:37 OK      8.8.8.8: 15.78ms
13:11:38 OK      8.8.4.4: 18.24ms
13:11:39 OK      208.67.222.222: 18.08ms
13:11:40 OK      208.67.220.220: 20.19ms

1.1.1.1, my current DNS provider, shows intermittent issues (see 13:11:10 above).

Google DNS are the fastest, though I shy away from using Google products where/when I can.

I'll switch to OpenDNS for now.

03 Jan 2023

Interesting observation:
Before switching to OpenDNS, when I was using Cloudflare as my DNS, I was getting better ping time from OpenDNS (see above).
After switching to OpenDNS, I'm getting better ping time from Cloudflare:

0/14400 10:32:39 OK      208.67.222.222: 66.55ms
0/14400 10:32:40 OK      208.67.220.220: 25.02ms
0/14400 10:32:41 OK      1.1.1.1: 19.89ms
0/14400 10:32:42 OK      1.0.0.1: 23.42ms
0/14400 10:32:43 OK      8.8.8.8: 13.66ms
0/14400 10:32:44 OK      8.8.4.4: 18.07ms

1/14400 10:32:45 OK      208.67.222.222: 44.46ms
1/14400 10:32:46 OK      208.67.220.220: 19.74ms
1/14400 10:32:47 OK      1.1.1.1: 24.31ms
1/14400 10:32:49 OK      1.0.0.1: 21.86ms
1/14400 10:32:50 OK      8.8.8.8: 15.36ms
1/14400 10:32:51 OK      8.8.4.4: 13.75ms

2/14400 10:32:52 OK      208.67.222.222: 33.29ms
2/14400 10:32:53 OK      208.67.220.220: 19.48ms
2/14400 10:32:54 OK      1.1.1.1: 20.43ms
2/14400 10:32:55 OK      1.0.0.1: 21.23ms
2/14400 10:32:56 OK      8.8.8.8: 14.89ms
2/14400 10:32:57 OK      8.8.4.4: 14.75ms

I'm also getting more intermittent issues it seems:

18:44:13 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
18:51:29 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
18:57:01 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
18:58:13 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
19:32:05 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
19:39:00 NOK 1.0.0.1: None
19:44:35 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
19:55:53 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
21:30:09 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
21:31:21 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
21:34:49 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
21:50:21 NOK 208.67.222.222: None
22:04:15 NOK 208.67.222.222: None

It's frustrating as I'm now operating with a load-balanced internet connection Load Balancing my internet connection so I had hoped for more stability.

Might need to do some more diligent testing & experimenting.

04 Jan 2023

More failed pings with OpenDNS. 1s fails only though, eg:

12901/14400 08:46:44 OK          208.67.222.222: 36.79ms
12901/14400 08:46:45 OK          208.67.220.220: 18.82ms
12901/14400 08:46:46 OK          1.1.1.1: 19.37ms
12901/14400 08:46:47 OK          1.0.0.1: 22.05ms
12901/14400 08:46:49 OK          8.8.8.8: 13.89ms
12901/14400 08:46:50 OK          8.8.4.4: 17.13ms

12902/14400 08:46:55 NOK         208.67.222.222: None
12902/14400 08:46:56 OK          208.67.220.220: 20.91ms
12902/14400 08:46:57 OK          1.1.1.1: 18.68ms
12902/14400 08:46:58 OK          1.0.0.1: 25.44ms
12902/14400 08:46:59 OK          8.8.8.8: 12.26ms
12902/14400 08:47:00 OK          8.8.4.4: 13.64ms

12903/14400 08:47:01 OK          208.67.222.222: 49.49ms
12903/14400 08:47:02 OK          208.67.220.220: 21.33ms
12903/14400 08:47:03 OK          1.1.1.1: 21.36ms
12903/14400 08:47:04 OK          1.0.0.1: 21.81ms
12903/14400 08:47:05 OK          8.8.8.8: 13.2ms
12903/14400 08:47:06 OK          8.8.4.4: 17.55ms

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