Google Gets Into The DNS Business

chief

Prime VIP
Google Gets Into The DNS Business



Google just announced Google Public DNS, a new service that lets consumers use Google as their DNS service provider. The benefits to users are a theoretically faster and more stable browsing experience, and some additional security against malware type sites. The benefit to Google – tons more data, and lots of potential revenue. Here are the basic instructions on how to use it (and Google has even provided phone support).
The service competes directly with Sequoia and Greylock backed OpenDNS, a four year old service that has had tremendous usage and revenue growth. OpenDNS is resolving 20 billion DNS queries per day, and has 15 million end users. Here’s an overview of how OpenDNS works.
In 2008 OpenDNS was making $20,000/day in revenue when they were resolving just 7 billion daily queries.
Here’s how money is made – when users enter a URL that can’t resolve, the service puts up its own landing page with search results and advertisements. And companies are very willing to pay for DNS services like these to stop employees from hitting malware sites (they are simply blocked), or other sites (porn, Facebook, etc.).

 

chief

Prime VIP
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What is Google Public DNS?


Google Public DNS is a free, global [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_system"]Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service, that you can use as an alternative to your current DNS provider.
To try it out:

  • Configure your network settings to use the IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS servers or
  • Read our configuration instructions.
If you decide to try Google Public DNS, your client programs will perform all DNS lookups using Google Public DNS.

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Why does DNS matter?

The DNS protocol is an important part of the web's infrastructure, serving as the Internet's phone book: every time you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. Complex pages often require multiple DNS lookups before they start loading, so your computer may be performing hundreds of lookups a day.

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Why should you try Google Public DNS?

By using Google Public DNS you can:

 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
Great ! I've been using opendns for some time now.
will give google dns a try.
 

chief

Prime VIP
main wi hunne change kar lita.
flush dns to baad te koi speed change nai lagga...
2-4 din tak sai pata laggu
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
I too switched, It is FAST, ping to uncached domains is about 100ms faster.
vaise bhi aje google dns servers opensdns jinne stressed ni hone.
 

chief

Prime VIP
google has the resources to set up a dns server in india. which will be more beneficial to us :)
but open dns has its own benefits

Why didn't it work?

The Oops page may be cached by your browser, even if you're using OpenDNS. Try these additional tests first:

  1. Visit internetbadguys.com. It should be blocked as a phishing site. Otherwise, it will tell you that it's a demonstration site.
  2. Visit craigslist.og. You should be taken to the classifieds site. If you are not using OpenDNS, you will get your default browser error page.
 

chief

Prime VIP
(Update: Google isn’t redirecting to search results like OpenDNS does. odd)

Update:
OpenDNS has responded to the new Google service here.

Update 2: I spoke with Prem Ramaswami, the product manager for Google Public DNS. He the goals are speed, security and validty of DNS responses. They will follow DNS protocols to the letter, he says, which means no blocking, hijacking or filtering of queries at all. It’s all about speed. Prem points out this page that goes into technical detail on the speed improvements – and they’re sharing this with the community.
 
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