Experimenting with Alternate DNSs

[MarkJFine]

Currently using CloudFlare:
1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1
2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

Have set the router DNS as well as on devices (initially). Eventually I think the automatic should pick up what the router uses, but haven't seen it do that yet.

Seems to be faster than those originally selected by the router. But, we'll see how this works after a week or so wrt speed, accuracy and other errors.

[GabeU]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

Eventually I think the automatic should pick up what the router uses, but haven't seen it do that yet.

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I always wondered if that was happening for me when I'd try a different DNS, or just set my devices to Google's, which I normally use.  I would set my HughesNet modem, or 3rd party router (not presently used), to Google's DNS, and then do the same with my devices, just to be sure.  Of course, I can't set the IPv6 DNS servers in the HughesNet modem or my router, so I have to do it with my devices. 

I've been reading about Cloudflare's DNS.  It's fairly new, but people seem to like it thus far.  I'll be waiting to see how it works for you.  I tend to let those who know better than I give their opinion on things like this before I switch to them.  I did the same with uBlock Origin.  

[MarkJFine]

Seems to be fast, but am having a problem with Bing this morning... but that could just be Bing being Bing.

Edit: ...which it was. Seems ok now at 0735.

[GabeU]

@MarkJFine

Well, I caved.  I decided to try it.  I set IPv4 and IPv6 back to automatic in my desktop, and set my HughesNet modem's IPv4 DNS to Cloudflares.  I flushed and renewed the DNS cache in my desktop (rather than restarting it) and, amazingly, it does seem to be faster.  And this is on a Sunday evening, when everybody and their brother are trying to stream a movie and my overall speeds are down a good amount because of it.  

I ran nslookup to be sure my modem was using Cloudflare, and though the default server didn't quite match what it showed in an article, it was close.  The article said it should show "1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com", yet mine showed "one.one.one.one".  The article was from April 5th, so maybe it's been updated since then. 

I'm a little confused about the whole IPv4 and IPv6 thing, but the article said that if my "router" only had settings for IPv4, which is the case with the HughesNet modem, it would be fine.  It said the following... "It's worth noting that you don't need to apply the IP version 6 addresses on your router if your network is already using IP version 4."  I guess this is the case if I use the IPv4 version, which is the only one I can use in the HughesNet modem, right?  

We'll see how it goes.

Does yours show the same?    

[maratsade]

I don't have the same level of knowledge and experience about this stuff to try this  - the last time I tried a change my network didn't care for it at all.  Herp derp.

[MarkJFine]

nslookup works different in *nix, plus my DNS is set manually.

But yes, 1.1.1.1 is resolving to one.one.one.one.

[GabeU]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

nslookup works different in *nix, plus my DNS is set manually.

But yes, 1.1.1.1 is resolving to one.one.one.one.

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I keep forgetting that you aren't using Windows.  :S

[MarkJFine]

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@GabeU wrote:

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I keep forgetting that you aren't using Windows.  :S

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Well, I kind of am, in a virtual machine, which brings me to why I've stopped using it - at least on my MacBook Plus:
1. Had an issue with Bing a few days ago, which came back with a vengeance.

2. Then noticed a problem connecting to Win10's update as well as the MS Store when within the Win10 VM.

Tells me that something was jamming the DNS to MS IPs either from within or outside of the shared internet connection to the VM. Either that or the sketchy data-eating game my wife constantly plays on her phone (this is always a possibility).

The web site I administer uses Cloudflare as it's content delivery network. As a security measure, Cloudflare requires you to input an authorization token that it emails to the address on record if it doesn't recognize the IP at login. That's a major pain when that token is sent to the web site's 1&1 'info' address that I have to remotely log into to get. Even worse is that 1&1 site is awfully slow. Flushing the works requires rebooting the modem, which gives you a new IP virtually every time, therefore requiring me to have to constantly get new authorization tokens.

Don't mind if the IP resets due to weather-related things or gateway maintenance (like seemed to be occurring early yesterday morning on SDO68), but it's deffo overkill for repeated DNS issues. So, test over - failed. lol

[GabeU]

@MarkJFine

I'm not really versed on the kind of things you do, but does your post mean that you would not recommend the use of Cloudflare for a DNS service for the average user?  

Maybe I should return to Google's.  It's always worked well.  Cloudflare's did seem to be a little faster than Google's, but that was only on that one day.  It hasn't since.  Perhaps the system just didn't have that many people on at the time.  The sites I've seen talking about Cloudflare only reference a fairly small difference between the two, and with us already having high latency the small difference (30ms, give or take) probably isn't all that noticeable in real practice.  

[MarkJFine]

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@GabeU wrote:

I'm not really versed on the kind of things you do, but does your post mean that you would not recommend the use of Cloudflare for a DNS service for the average user?

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Not sure what was really causing it, so it's more of a use at your own risk, your milage may vary.

[GabeU]

Well, I don't know if it had anything to do with Cloudflare's DNS, but a little while ago I was having a heck of a time signing into DirecTV's site to pay my bill.  After a bunch of tries and getting error messages and such, I changed the HughesNet modem back to Google's DNS, unplugged the same, flushed the computer's DNS cache, shut it down, restarted the modem, then the computer, and everything worked just fine.  

I'm sticking with Google's DNS.  

[C0RR0SIVE]

For the LONGEST time I have used Norton ConnectSafe DNS...  However, apparently (just now found out moments ago...) they are retiring the free service for users for no real reason.  A lot of their routing products had those servers hard-coded in for DNS...

https://community.norton.com/en/blogs/product-update-announcements/end-life-announcement-norton-conn...

Looks like I am gonna have to find a similar DNS that works with Hughesnet. 😞

With the way Hughesnet does things, most DNS services don't exactly work properly, especially ones like OpenDNS where you can customize things.  I have always used DNS as a first basic line of defense in fighting malware threats, and ConnectSafe always worked nice in regards to that.

Norton is saying to use "Neustar" but I am hesitent, and BLEH.  Someone shoot me.

[C0RR0SIVE]

So... I tried out Neustar, pleasantly surprised in how well it worked, but at the same time, they block far more than they admit to... They classify Torrent Trackers as Malicious/Warez/Hacking, which is a bit absurd.

I suppose Neustar is great for a basic family, or a school or something, but for me... Yeah.. NO THANKS!

Le'sigh.

[GabeU]

@C0RR0SIVE

Have you checked out Comodo Secure DNS?  Just an idea.