View Full Version : Geek zone - anybody using OpenDNS service?
Was looking at this lately, seemed pretty interesting.
I wasnt expecting the performance boost though in browsing experience purely by changing DNS servers to the OpenDNS servers!
Very snappy performance.
www.opendns.com (http://www.opendns.com)
ThEGr33k
09-07-09, 10:54 PM
This is interesing...
But really how slow is typing in a site and the site being connected. Im pretty sure it cant make the connection you get from your ISP that much quicker since you have to go through your ISP's Routers before you get released onto the internet...
Just sends your DNS queries to another server other than the ones used by your ISP, in my case BT. It seems much much faster.
ThEGr33k
09-07-09, 11:29 PM
Just sends your DNS queries to another server other than the ones used by your ISP, in my case BT. It seems much much faster.
I might try it just to see. Will let you know. :D
This has made me finally look into why my sky connection at home gives me poor pings. Apprently its because they have something called "interleaving" (http://www.avforums.com/forums/internet-service-providers-isps/843912-sky-broadband-trying-get-better-ping.html) on and this makes connections more reliable but makes it so pings suffer. I rarely get pings in games below 100ms! Makes UT3 a pig to play.
Ive sent them a message asking for this Interleaving to be turned off. Fingers crossed the person who gets the message has a clue!
timwilky
10-07-09, 07:07 AM
I use opendns as I had problems with the virginmedia servers being out of date.
This is interesing...
But really how slow is typing in a site and the site being connected. Im pretty sure it cant make the connection you get from your ISP that much quicker since you have to go through your ISP's Routers before you get released onto the internet...
It makes a big difference, the traffic to and from your machine will take the same route but its just the task of resolving names to IP addresses.
If you load something like BBCNews you might be surprised just how many name lookups occur to display the content. A few additional milliseconds here and there can add up when you have a page containing adds etc.
So, the connection will be no faster but the process to display the page takes less time. If you asked me 48 hours ago I would have said 'tosh', but I tried it and I'm pleasantly surprised by the results.
ThEGr33k
10-07-09, 07:35 AM
It makes a big difference, the traffic to and from your machine will take the same route but its just the task of resolving names to IP addresses.
If you load something like BBCNews you might be surprised just how many name lookups occur to display the content. A few additional milliseconds here and there can add up when you have a page containing adds etc.
So, the connection will be no faster but the process to display the page takes less time. If you asked me 48 hours ago I would have said 'tosh', but I tried it and I'm pleasantly surprised by the results.
Aye I know what a DNS is :p Just didnt realise just one page would require many look ups but then thinking about it I should have known... :rolleyes:
This is interesing...
But really how slow is typing in a site and the site being connected. Im pretty sure it cant make the connection you get from your ISP that much quicker since you have to go through your ISP's Routers before you get released onto the internet...
A working router can deal with traffic a lot quicker than a broken (DNS) server.. ;)
Its also worth keeping in mind OpenDNS isn't so open, it is a company and they re-direct misspelled domains to their servers. (Although, I believe you can log in and turn this off for you IP). You can also turn on logging to see what DNS queries you perform along with some other tools too.
Dan
Aye I know what a DNS is :p Just didnt realise just one page would require many look ups but then thinking about it I should have known... :rolleyes:
Sorry, didnt mean to teach you how to suck eggs but there are varying levels of geekdom :-)
timwilky
10-07-09, 07:48 AM
Aye I know what a DNS is :p Just didnt realise just one page would require many look ups but then thinking about it I should have known... :rolleyes:
Further to Sudoxe comment about a working router. My router caches DNS queries. so although there may be a large number of lookups, once one is done, further lookups for that DNS entry are resolved locally.
Further to Sudoxe comment about a working router. My router caches DNS queries. so although there may be a large number of lookups, once one is done, further lookups for that DNS entry are resolved locally.
yeah, Windows does the same thing by default.
ThEGr33k
10-07-09, 08:00 AM
Aye, im most of the way through Cisco CCNA and have a few other computer Quals to throw in. So I think im high in the g33k ladder :p ha ha
ThEGr33k
10-07-09, 08:01 AM
Further to Sudoxe comment about a working router. My router caches DNS queries. so although there may be a large number of lookups, once one is done, further lookups for that DNS entry are resolved locally.
What router you running? Im guessing my crappy BT home hub dont have that :p Is there no way to get the computer to cache them?
What router you running? Im guessing my crappy BT home hub dont have that :p Is there no way to get the computer to cache them?
Windows XP (or newer) has a 'DNS client' service. Its a DNS local cache for both negative and positive name lookups.
timwilky
10-07-09, 08:12 AM
What router you running? Im guessing my crappy BT home hub dont have that :p Is there no way to get the computer to cache them?
I use a Netgear FVS538 as an NAT device/firewall/VPN end point etc, If I wanted to use a computer for caching DNS on my home network a quick linux with Bind would suffice.
:laughat:Aye, im most of the way through Cisco CCNA and have a few other computer Quals to throw in. So I think im high in the g33k ladder :p ha ha
edit: Sorry, i'm not being nasty to you! The CCNA is a good starting point for network stuff, however it has been somewhat devalued over the last 7 years or so due to boot camps and a lot of people cheating. I've seen a lot of people turn up for interviews with a bag full of qualifications and no idea what to do with them in the real world.
real world exp :)
self certified geek
ThEGr33k
10-07-09, 03:36 PM
:laughat:
edit: Sorry, i'm not being nasty to you! The CCNA is a good starting point for network stuff, however it has been somewhat devalued over the last 7 years or so due to boot camps and a lot of people cheating. I've seen a lot of people turn up for interviews with a bag full of qualifications and no idea what to do with them in the real world.
I guess there is a lot to learn and there is nothing beats propper experience. I think I might struggle a little if thrown in at the deep end. :(
SoulKiss
10-07-09, 03:38 PM
Aye, im most of the way through Cisco CCNA and have a few other computer Quals to throw in. So I think im high in the g33k ladder :p ha ha
lol - I thought that 10 years ago when I got my CCNA...
You have much to learn young Padawan.
Oh and I just run my own DNS server...
Ive sent them a message asking for this Interleaving to be turned off. Fingers crossed the person who gets the message has a clue!
Sorry m8 sky wont turn interleaving off, they know about it but wont turn it off, get put through to tier 3 and ask for your max delay to be set to 8, this is the best a gamer can hope for with sky.
I left UKFSN with pings of 20 to go to the crap that sky has and now stuck in a contract. The max delay should get your pings down to 40-60 it did for me.
ThEGr33k
10-07-09, 04:43 PM
Sorry m8 sky wont turn interleaving off, they know about it but wont turn it off, get put through to tier 3 and ask for your max delay to be set to 8, this is the best a gamer can hope for with sky.
I left UKFSN with pings of 20 to go to the crap that sky has and now stuck in a contract. The max delay should get your pings down to 40-60 it did for me.
Oh right... ok np
Aye, im most of the way through Cisco CCNA and have a few other computer Quals to throw in. So I think im high in the g33k ladder :p ha ha
ccna, fist full of microsoft certs (mcse) HND in networking. went to uni done 2 years of networking got board done another year of embedded computer systems, blagh, blagh.
dont make me a computer professional though..
p.s. would have finished uni but wife fell ill..
Bluefish
10-07-09, 07:37 PM
you lot wanna get a life, get a motorbike or something. :p
you lot wanna get a life, get a motorbike or something. :p
hey if it wasnt for nerds like us you wouldnt have a forum :-)
Bluefish
10-07-09, 07:56 PM
hey if it wasnt for nerds like us you wouldnt have a forum :-)
haha true, but then would have more time for other things.
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