Internet is based on IP addresses,not on domain names. When you type techlineinfo.com, your computer connects to the server of techlineinfo.com. Each and every domain names has separate ip addresses. Domain names are easy to remember as compared to IP addresses. Computers know only zeros and ones, hence every name (domain name) must be converted to numbers (ip addresses). Domain Name System (DNS) is a technology which translate or associate domain name to IP addresses. You can equate domain name servers with your phone book. A single DNS server may not be able to resolve the ip address of a requested domain name. DNS has its own network of DNS servers to locate the correct ip address. If one server can’t identify the ip address, it passes the request to another server of it’s network and this requests pass to different servers until the correct ip address is returned.
Why a good DNS server is important for you
DNS server is the key factor that decides your browsing experience. Most of the internet users use the DNS servers of their internet service providers (ISPs). If the DNS servers of your ISP is not updated frequently or not much powerful to handle multiple requests, it can significantly affect your browsing experience. When you type example.com in your browser the browser checks whether the ip address associated with that domain is available in your computer’s DNS cache (Will explain about DNS cache in coming paragraph) or not. If it is a new address, then the request will go to the DNS server which is configured in your network adapter or router (if it is set “Select DNS address automatically, DNS server of your ISP will be selected).
Now the DNS server checks for requested domain name, if it can’t find the address it will pass the request to the name servers on internet central directory or any other DNS server associated with the ISPs network. Once the address is resolved, it will update it’s cache and send back the IP address to browser for making connection. The next time someone visits the same website, DNS server will resolve the address from its own cache.
If a website (say excample.com) has updated their name servers, or a new domain name is registered, it will take around 72 hrs to propagate the same to the world wide DNS server networks. A non updated DNS server will point to the old servers only, hence you will get server not found errors.
DNS Cache
DNS Cache is a kind of database which stores the name servers and domain names of the visited urls from a computer. It stores the resolved addresses in cache and serves when you retype the address to enable a faster browsing experience. You can display the dns information stored in your dns cache by typing ipconfig /displaydns in command prompt.
Here your DNS cache serves as temporary DNS server. If some sites are not opening in your computer, it may be due to the outdated DNS cache, you can clear the DNS records in your cache by ipconfig /flushdns command in command prompt.
I know Open DNS and Google DNS and why to search for another?
We can see that techies always suggest to use open DNS or Google DNS for better browsing experience. Up to a certain extend Open and Google DNS can serves better than your ISP DNS servers, but it depends . There are several other free as well as premium DNS servers which gives better browsing experience.
Find the fastest DNS Server for your network connection with DNS Jumper
DNS Jumper is an awesome piece of portable software helps you to search and select the fastest DNS server for your internet connection to increase browsing speed. DNS Jumper has the following features:
- Select a free DNS server from the list. You can add or delete that records.
- Option to find fastest DNS server for your internet connection through ping test.
- Check the access time of your present DNS servers.
- Option to select separate / all network connections.
- One click DNS flush
- Facility to apply settings directly to your network cards . You need not to messup with control panel- network connection settings.
- Supports 21 languages.
Download DNS Jumper from here
You need not to install the software, this portable software can be executed from its extracted folder. After opening the program, you can optionally select All or desired network adaptors. See the figure
After that just click the Fastest DNS button , a popup window will display the scanning information with access time of pre loaded DNS servers. It will automatically select the two fastest DNS servers for your network Connection
After the scan apply the selected fastest DNS server and save settings by clicking the Apply Dns button.
You can also use another application named DNS Benchmark to search and find the best DNS servers for your internet connection.
DNS Servers and Security issues
As we discussed earlier DNS servers can be equated to a phone book. If some one deliberately edit your phone book entries then what can be the result? Your calls will be landed on some other numbers. If your DNS servers are infected with malwares, your request for facebook.com can fetch some other site. Internet starts with DNS, an infected DNS system presents an altered web world. Hence the importance of a good secured DNS server is always paramount. Open DNS (208.67.222.222 &208.67.220.220) Google DNS (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4), Symantec DNS etc (198.153.152.1 & 198.153.194.1) are some examples of known secured DNS servers.
Shall I change my DNS server to get good download speed and better media streaming ?
No, DNS servers can’t increase your download speed. Just coming back to the phone book example again. A well organized phone book can only facilitate fast number search, after dialing it goes out of the picture. Quality of your call depends upon several other factors. After resolving the domain name- server address, DNS server goes out of the picture, then download speed depends upon other factors like your allotted bandwidth by ISP, server capacity, number of active users in that particular server etc. Hence don’t change your DNS server to increase download speed.
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