High-Octane DNS with AnalogX FastCache [Archive]

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Jason Dunn

01-03-2003, 01:11 AM

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.webattack.com/newapp.php?id=105781' target='_blank'>http://www.webattack.com/newapp.php?id=105781</a><br /><br /></div>I've been using this for a few days, and although my ISP's DNS isn't terribly slow, the software tells me I've already saved 4 minutes of my life. Cool. 8) If you connect to a painfully slow DNS, this might make your Internet experience much nicer. And it's free!<br /><br />"Speed up your internet connection by caching DNS requests. AnalogX FastCache is a caching DNS server that runs on your local machine and handles any DNS request that your computer makes. Every time you launch a web site, send an email or perform any other internet activity, your computer needs to lookup the domain name from your ISP's DNS server. It only takes a couple hundred milliseconds per request, but these seconds can add-up over time or slow you down if DNS response is slow. FastCache caches the results for a configurable number of days, so you don't have to waste time on repetitive DNS lookups. Additional features include tandem request (query primary and secondary at once), detailed statistics and more."

01-03-2003, 01:18 AM

Some other good software that AnalogX offers is a popup window killer, and a proxy server. I haven't tried anything else, but I have been using their proxy server for quite some time now.

Check out some of their other utilities at http://www.analogx.com

Steven Cedrone

01-03-2003, 02:32 AM

I use their "Atomic TimeSync" (At least I know I have a few reliable clocks in my house). My "main" PC syncs to the Atomic clock and all of my other machines sync to my main...

They do have alot of nifty applications!!!

Steve

Janak Parekh

01-03-2003, 03:11 AM

A caching DNS server is not a bad idea as long as you're willing to run an extra process and make sure you keep it up-to-date for vulnerabilities and such. :)

I use their "Atomic TimeSync" (At least I know I have a few reliable clocks in my house). My "main" PC syncs to the Atomic clock and all of my other machines sync to my main...
If you're using Windows XP, and are not joined to a Windows domain, the time sync functionality is built-in. Double-click on the clock and check out the "Internet Time" tab.

--janak

Steven Cedrone

01-03-2003, 03:48 AM

If you're using Windows XP, and are not joined to a Windows domain, the time sync functionality is built-in. Double-click on the clock and check out the "Internet Time" tab.

--janak

Mostly 2k, but thanks for the tip!!!

Steve

Joking

01-03-2003, 04:46 AM

There is something to be said for keeping a DNS server in your home LAN as well - you get the benefit of all family member's (user's) cached querys, not just your own.

Joseph King

http://www.joking.net/

Steven Cedrone

01-03-2003, 05:24 AM

There is something to be said for keeping a DNS server in your home LAN as well - you get the benefit of all family member's (user's) cached querys, not just your own.

And you can also keep an eye on where they are browsing to... :wink:

Steve

Janak Parekh

01-03-2003, 05:27 AM

And you can also keep an eye on where they are browsing to... :wink:
Yup, I do sysadmin work, and it's interesting to see what the corporate DNS server has done lookups for. ;)

--janak

Steven Cedrone

01-03-2003, 05:30 AM

Yup, I do sysadmin work, and it's interesting to see what the corporate DNS server has done lookups for. ;)

--janak

Ha!!! And how many times does www.pocketpcthoughts.com show up??? :lol:

Steve

fyiguy

01-03-2003, 05:43 AM

I use several of Analog X's programs:

MaxMem
Dll Archive
Netstat live
CookieWall
CacheBooster
PacketMon
POW!
SuperShredder

Check em out you may find them as useful as I do...

Fast Cache looked pretty cool on TechTV, but I have yet to try it...

You could kinda do the same by copying the ip address instead of the DNS registered name into the URL of Favorite Link's properties.

Remember Time is money... some have a lot, some had a lot, and some have none...

Daniel

01-03-2003, 07:33 AM

freitasm

01-03-2003, 08:48 AM

I don't understand why this... If you're using Win2k or Win XP you already have a builtin DNS cache...

Click on START, then Run, and enter CMD. Then enter IPCONFIG /DISPLAYDNS and it'll show you the current contents in your DNS Cache.

Of course it's not a DNS server per se, but it caches DNS entries until the machine is rebooted...

nirav28

01-03-2003, 04:40 PM

I'd hate to run this as a extra process on my Win XP box. But it would be nice if I can run this on my network, right behind my firewall/router. This way , any machine on my network can benifit from this. I'm a big gamer. Usually play a lot of first-person-shooter games online (PC and Xbox live). So a few millisecond can make a big difference in killing vs getting killed. Anyone know if this can be done with app?

Janak Parekh

01-03-2003, 04:43 PM

Of course it's not a DNS server per se, but it caches DNS entries until the machine is rebooted...
That's the point. A real DNS server will persistently write the cache out to disk. Plus, it doesn't share the cache with other machines on your network. But good reminder though - I keep on forgetting the "DNS Client" service is a cache.

I'd hate to run this as a extra process on my Win XP box. But it would be nice if I can run this on my network, right behind my firewall/router. This way , any machine on my network can benifit from this. I'm a big gamer. Usually play a lot of first-person-shooter games online (PC and Xbox live). So a few millisecond can make a big difference in killing vs getting killed. Anyone know if this can be done with app?
Nirav, this is not going to help with your gaming. Most games use very, very little DNS resolution - only to the master server to get the list of game servers that are running. Once you start dealing with raw IP's, there's no DNS lookup. Sorry :)

--janak