Recently in Google Public DNS Category

If I had not been plagued by slow, hanging DNS servers at some of the locations from which I do my computing, I wouldn't be so excited by Google's new public DNS service.

Since I am a victim of slow DNS (and I already pick/choose my DNS servers in some instances to mitigate this problem), I thought Google's DNS service to be a worthy idea.

Today I decided to try it. For those who don't want to click over to my original article who know how to change the DNS servers in their computer's network-connection information, the Google servers are at:

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

I plugged those into one of my network profiles today (with the new, improved NetworkManager app in GNOME, it's easy to create new "connections," and I did just that.

And after a few hours using the Google DNS servers, I can safely say that the service is ultra-fast.

The time between hitting the Enter key (after typing in a Web address) and having the page begin to build is so short that it's difficult to measure.

And lowering the time for DNS lookup makes Web browsing that much more seamless.

Just to see what Google is doing with "bad" URLs, i.e. those that are not registered domain names, I typed in a few. Would I be taken to a Google search page for the term (the way some DNS services deal with faulty URLs? No. I got the standard "Server not Found" message in Firefox.

That's good. It means Google isn't overtly abusing the fact that I'm using it for DNS.

Some of the chatter I've heard about Google DNS regards whether or not Google is logging the DNS queries of the service's users. I'm not sure about that. And that situation does warrant further investigation.

But whether or not Google is logging and/or using the DNS queries made by an individual user to target ads to that user, be aware that any other DNS server you use can do the same thing with that information.

Once again, it all comes down to how much any of us trusts Google. According to the company, it just wants to make the Web-surfing experience better, with the payoff being a better experience equaling more Web use and therefore more potential exposure to Google ads.

For now I'll continue using Google DNS, but as usual I'll be keeping my eye on what people are discovering/learning/opining about the service. And I'll bet that since Google is offering DNS service, Microsoft, Yahoo and perhaps even Apple might consider similar offerings. Could happen, I suppose.

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this at the moment, but Google is now offering a pair of DNS servers that you can use in lieu of whatever you're using now for DNS lookup.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, DNS stands for Domain Name System and is basically the way your computer takes the alphanumeric Web address you type into your browser, such as http://google.com, and figures out where to look in a strictly numeric way on the Internet for the content you're requesting, which at this moment in time on my system is http://74.125.45.100.

It's what makes the World Wide Web usable for those of us who aren't fond of memorizing series' of numbers to take us where we want to go.

For those who want to try Google's DNS service themselves, here's a Tech Republic article about it.

Hint from me: If you have no idea how to configure the DNS server information on your system, be it Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD or other, don't start now.

But if you do have experience configuring your DNS server info — and especially if you have had trouble with DNS (as I have), this might be a credible way to go.

At one of the places I do my computing, the DNS service is lousy. It's slow and barely works. In that case, I use the DNS servers that my home ISP provides — servers that conveniently work anywhere.

For others who have trouble either with the DNS where they happen to be at the moment or who need an alternative for some other reason, I recommend OpenDNS.

One of the concerns over DNS is its susceptibility to spoofing — i.e. a rogue or compromised DNS server taking you not to the Web site you wish to go but instead to another server designed to part you with either your identity or your money.

For instance, say you wanted to go to http://bankofamerica.com to ... do some banking. A compromised DNS server could take that alphanumeric address and point you anywhere, even to a fake BofA server that wants to get your account information from you.

Not that this is happening on a mass scale. Most "phising" attacks send you e-mail that directs you to a rogue server and doesn't need compromised DNS to rip you off.

But there are DNS attacks, and I guess Google is offering this service in part to extend its brand into another critical part of the Internet.

Whether this is good or bad, I don't know. But I like having choices for DNS, and I will be keeping a close watch on Google's foray into this realm.

Want to change your DNS servers?

Google's new DNS servers
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

(Those are easy to remember, no?)

OpenDNS' servers
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Note: I have used OpenDNS' service a bit in the past. And I've recommend that others use it when they're having trouble with other DNS servers.

I'm not using it now because I prefer the DNS servers of my ISP, but as I said above, choice is good — very good.