Google Launches Public DNS

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/introducing-google-public-dns.html' target='_blank'>http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009...public-dns.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"When you type www.wikipedia.org into your browser's address bar, you expect nothing less than to be taken to Wikipedia. Chances are you're not giving much thought to the work being done in the background by the Domain Name System, or DNS. Today, as part of our ongoing effort to make the web faster, we're launching our own public DNS resolver called Google Public DNS, and we invite you to try it out. Most of us aren't familiar with DNS because it's often handled automatically by our Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it provides an essential function for the web. You could think of it as the switchboard of the Internet, converting easy-to-remember domain names - e.g., www.google.com - into the unique Internet Protocol (IP) numbers - e.g., 74.125.45.100 - that computers use to communicate with one another."</em></p><p>In a nutshell, Google is offering to replace the DNS you're probably using right now from your ISP - the advantage to you being more speed. Some people are raising concerns over the <a href="http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/privacy.html" target="_blank">privacy policy</a>, which seems to indicate that for 24-48 hours, Google has the option to use information such as which Web sites you visit to shape which AdSense ads they show you. I'm not sure if that's a big deal, though just to be on the safe side I think I'm going to give <a href="http://www.opendns.com/start/" target="_blank">OpenDNS</a> another try.</p>

[doogald]

I've been using OpenDNS for a while now, and love it. It's fast, it gets fixed when DNS security issues get reported, and, if you sign up for a (free) account, it has fantastic filtering options, among other things, to keep out known malware sites, pornography, just about anything you can think of.

[Jason Dunn]

An interesting response here from the founder of OpenDNS:

http://blog.opendns.com/2009/12/03/opendns-google-dns/

[crimsonsky]

I'm with Doogald here on OpenDNS. Been using it for years and see no compelling reason to go with Google.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm with Doogald here on OpenDNS. Been using it for years and see no compelling reason to go with Google.

I used OpenDNS for a few weeks about two years ago, and it wasn't compatible with Windows Home Server - I'm going to give it another try and we'll see...I hope the WHS guys have fixed the issue.

[Josh Sorenson]

I'm using it and it seems pretty good, the whle privacy thing is a bit of a concern but not really. I don't do anything I wouldn't want others seeing.

[leslietroyer]

I also have been using Open DNS for a couple of years.. quicker than Comcast + you get all the filtering...

LEs

[doogald]

Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/12/google-public-dns-service-not-ideal-for-everyone.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) has a pretty good story about this, as well as some reasons why you may not be able to, or may not want, to use Google's DNS service.

Unfortunately, despite the anycasting, advanced caching, and extensive security features, Google Public DNS is not the ideal DNS service. For one thing, it's not called "experimental" for nothing. From my home, I can't reach 8.8.8.8. [note: this is one of the two DNS server addresses] Packets end up ping-ponging between the addresses 9.9.9.18 and 9.9.9.17. Apparently some routing engineer at Google is a bit dyslexic. (It does work from another location that I have access to.) Also, despite Google's claim that it provides NXDOMAIN responses whenever a domain name doesn't exist, its servers actually respond with REFUSED when looking up a name that goes with a private address (such as in the 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x ranges). My Mac doesn't seem to like this, so it keeps repeating those requests over and over. OpenDNS, which also runs a network of public, open DNS servers, doesn't have this problem. OpenDNS also allows users to set up malware blocking and NXDOMAIN redirection through a dashboard.