Google Public DNS - power up your browsing

[mercier]

just discovered this. google public dns service - i tried it and it is fantastic. the pages render so much faster...and apparently it's more secure as well.
the instructions:

# In the System menu, click Preferences, then click Network Connections.
# Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:

* To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select the Wired tab, then select your network interface in the list. It is usually called eth0.
* To change the settings for a wireless connection, select the Wireless tab, then select the appropriate wireless network.

# Click Edit, and in the window that appears, select the IPv4 Settings tab.
# If the selected method is Automatic (DHCP), open the dropdown and select Automatic (DHCP) addresses only instead. If the method is set to something else, do not change it.
# In the DNS servers field, enter the Google Public DNS IP addresses, separated by a space: 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
# Click Apply to save the change. If you are prompted for a password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

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

[rob2uk]

Wow, it is *much* faster, but I had to physically disconnect my ethernet cable and then plug it back in to get it to work

[altair4]

If you've got nothing else to do you might want to play with this:

Download namebench.xxx.tgz: http://code.google.com/p/namebench/downloads/list
Extract it to say... /home/user_name/MyApps
Open Terminal and type: /home/user_name/MyApps/namebench-1.0/./namebench.py
Make yourself a nice pot of tea
When it's done running you'll get a message that looks like this:

* Saving html summary report to /tmp/namebench_2009-12-09_0657.html

That html page has a lot of info in it including something like this:

screenshot-1.0.jpg

I've run this 3 times in 3 days. Run1 indicated that google dns was 35% faster. Run2 indicated that the DNS I'm already using ( from my ISP ) was 22% faster. Run3 , this morning, indicated that OpenDNS was 4% faster. I've personally concluded that this is much ado about nothing but your results may be different and more consistent.

[reaZon]

i already use OpenDNS for my network.maybe i'll check the others some time later.

[windy_miller]

Nice script, although the tea was better than the result from OpenDNS ...

In this test, OpenDNS is 0.2% faster than your current primary DNS server

[viking777]

The script is an interesting piece of nonsense! I ran it 3 times, the first time it told me to switch to a BT server (from google), second time it told me to switch to a different BT server, third time it said my present setup was the best available. Now I doubt I could detect any difference in any of the three configurations, and of course they would just change according to the server loading. The only consistent result was that the google nameserver was nearly always the worst! (probably because I live a long way from California - and they have just got out of bed over there!)

[altair4]

The only consistent result was that the google nameserver was nearly always the worst!

Even more interesting since the utility comes from google

[viking777]

The only consistent result was that the google nameserver was nearly always the worst!

Even more interesting since the utility comes from google

Software from 'Honest John Google' - never raced or rallied.

Expect it to be withdrawn any time soon

[KeithEckstein]

If you are interested in speeding up your browsing you might be interested in my adventures with installing Squid, PDNSD and an ad filter. I detail it at http://www.InternetAccelerationAppliance.com

I'm using OpenDNS because it works for me - may take a look at Google DNS soon.

Although all our machines here run Mint (just about to take the plunge and upgrade to - I did the mini server with base Debian. I've done a pre-seeded build to make it easy.

If you've got an old box lying around - give it a go - can't hurt?

All the best

Keith Eckstein
http://www.InternetAccelerationAppliance.com

P.S. Sorry if this seems like spam - it really isn't! I'm just trying to pass on some of what I spent a long time learning - perhaps someone else out there has a slow network connection that this might be able to help?

[3ss]

If you don't mind Google caching to what websites you have been surfing. It's not that I have something to hide, but I don't feel comfortable with a private company monitoring my behaviour and using that info for their own profit. Perhaps you might be able to browse a bit faster, but I must say I don't notice those minor differences. Plus a quicker response from a DNS doesn't really make your connection faster. And if I have to give up my privacy, I tend to say "No thank you".