# faster dns?



## stayplation3 (May 27, 2012)

i used a program to find the best dns server thats free for me to use. but just like virtual private servers, is there a way to buy a private dns server? i want the fastest dns as possible. im willing to pay for it


----------



## Maban (May 27, 2012)

What do you need a superfast DNS server for?


----------



## puma99dk| (May 27, 2012)

Maban said:


> What do you need a superfast DNS server for?



maybe to bypass blocking of websites.


----------



## francis511 (May 27, 2012)

You mean like a paid proxy ? I doubt you can get much of an improvement over services like opendns or google dns. I`m currently using comodo secure dns


----------



## stayplation3 (May 27, 2012)

when i use a good dns it makes it so theres almost no lag in call of duty on the ps3


----------



## 3870x2 (May 27, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> when i use a good dns it makes it so theres almost no lag in call of duty on the ps3



I think you might be confused on exactly what a DNS server is used for.  If you are not confused, my sincerest apologies.


----------



## Kreij (May 27, 2012)

I'm not sure it's the speed of the DNS server so much as maybe a different route to the destination tht is less congested or has fatter pipes.

Unless the DNS server(s) are overloaded wherever he's at.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 27, 2012)

yes thats what i mean i want a super low ping idc how much bandwidth the server has but if 38ms is my best so far im sure theres one i can find thats less than 10ms i just dont know where to look


----------



## newtekie1 (May 27, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> when i use a good dns it makes it so theres almost no lag in call of duty on the ps3



The DNS has nothing to do with lag in games.


----------



## 3870x2 (May 27, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> yes thats what i mean i want a super low ping idc how much bandwidth the server has but if 38ms is my best so far im sure theres one i can find thats less than 10ms i just dont know where to look



38 is pretty much the best case scenario.  Hell, you are probably in the top 2% with that ping.

I consider anything below 70 excellent latency.

I can also tell you that less than 10 is quite impossible unless you are just nodes away in the same city of the server.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> The DNS has nothing to do with lag in games.



then why do so many people change to a better dns for less lag in games?






^yet i get 75-300ms in mmorpgs and shooter that are hosted in the same location as the speed test. when others get lower pings than me. what can i do besides get a better dns?


----------



## newtekie1 (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> rofl then explain why everyone changes to a better dns for less lag in games.
> 
> http://www.speedtest.net/result/1975163956.png
> ^yet i get 75-300ms in mmorpgs and shooter that are hosted in the same location as the speed test. when others get lower pings than me. what can i do besides get a better dns?



They are idiots and don't understand what a DNS does?

The only thing your DNS does is translate a domain name into an IP address so your computer can communicate with the server at that IP address.  So when you type in www.techpowerup.com, your computer queries the DNS server for www.techpowerup.com, and the DNS server tells your computer 208.43.3.154. At this point you are done with the DNS server, it does nothing else.  Then your computer uses 208.43.3.154 to talk to the server.

Here, this is what happens to ping when you change your DNS to two very different DNS servers.  The first is my ISP's DNS server which is extremely fast for me, the other is Googles's which is a lot slower:





Notice how average ping is basically unchanged?


----------



## 3870x2 (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> then why do so many people change to a better dns for less lag in games?
> 
> http://www.speedtest.net/result/1975163956.png
> ^yet i get 75-300ms in mmorpgs and shooter that are hosted in the same location as the speed test. when others get lower pings than me. what can i do besides get a better dns?



Never heard of this.  I change to different DNSs because I don't trust the ones my ISP uses.

As it so happens, my ISP DNS has failed for more than a week and no one who doesnt know how to change their DNS in this area has internet currently.

use google:
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4


----------



## Kreij (May 28, 2012)

Great IT team at your ISP 3870 
Probably just need to clear the cache and let it rebuild. lol


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

no it drastically reduces lag in shooters like cod on the ps3. go change the dns on ur ps3 or xbox and play cod and you will notice a huge difference with almost no lag at all.
but back to my question. does any1 know where to get a good dns? maybe my own?


----------



## 3870x2 (May 28, 2012)

Kreij said:


> Great IT team at your ISP 3870
> Probably just need to clear the cache and let it rebuild. lol



Thinking the same thing.  If I were to guess, they had larger issues at hand, and blocked the DNS to reduce traffic.

The only alternative is that their network techs really don't know what they are doing.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

no1 knows?


----------



## Kreij (May 28, 2012)

3870x2 said:


> The only alternative is that their network techs really don't know what they are doing.



I know more than the network techs at my ISP.
That being said, I help them troubleshoot problems when I can.

Sorry Stayplation, I think that choosing a good DNS (and route) is going to be specific to your location.
You probably want to run a trace route to the server when you change as ping isn't everything.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

but i cant just pay for a better one? i got the best one that namebench said but i want a better one


----------



## newtekie1 (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> no it drastically reduces lag in shooters like cod on the ps3. go change the dns on ur ps3 or xbox and play cod and you will notice a huge difference with almost no lag at all.
> but back to my question. does any1 know where to get a good dns? maybe my own?



I'm a network engineer, and I can tell you that is impossible.  Any lag reduction you are seeing is either a placebo effect or coincidence.  The DNS you use has no affect on gameplay, and the DNS server isn't even used beyond providing the IP address for the server, there is no way possible increasing how fast that happens would affect gameplay.


----------



## CaptainFailcon (May 28, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> I'm a network engineer, and I can tell you that is impossible.  Any lag reduction you are seeing is either a placebo effect or coincidence.  The DNS you use has no affect on gameplay, and the DNS server isn't even used beyond providing the IP address for the server, there is no way possible increasing how fast that happens would affect gameplay.



incorrect but correct
psn/xlive use different domains to route to different servers if you change the resolver you can get routed to a different server because the p3/xbox do the lookup strictly based on dns most games wont see a effect in game-play  but the connection to PSN/Xbox live could be better OR worse. 
BUT if the game using PSN/xlive servers to handel the match-making it would be possible for there to be a difference depending on what DC you get routed to but you are talking less then 50ms in most cases


----------



## Bot (May 28, 2012)

i would try namebench
http://code.google.com/p/namebench/

http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm
this one i like a bit better


----------



## 95Viper (May 28, 2012)

Just my opinion, I think you're barking up the wrong tree.
newtekie1 is correct in the assessment made.

And, also, once your system retrieves the resolved name, it stores it in your DNS cache and uses it.
So, basically, unless you or your system flushes the cache or the info changes, your system does not have to retrieve the resolved name from the remote DNS server.

What is the DNS cache?


> When you type a web address into your web browser and press ENTER, you are sending a query to a DNS server. If the query is successful, the website you want opens; if not, you'll see an error message. A record of these successful and unsuccessful queries is stored in a temporary storage location on your computer called the DNS cache. DNS always checks the cache before querying any DNS server, and if a record is found that matches the query, DNS uses that record instead of querying the server. This makes queries faster and decreases network and Internet traffic.



If you wish to make a local dns server at home you can use windows server, linux, and other OSes.
Here is some info for RedHat, however, I doubt it will help your online gaming.

And, you may wish to do some reading up on the subject.
Here is a start... DNS Name Server Concepts and Operation. Set aside some time, as, it is a lot of reading.

You may just wanna do a little more testing (Gibson Research Corporation's Domain Name Speed Benchmark).
Pick the fastest and live with it.
You can use this to switch between DNS servers for testing or just picking the ones you like: Dns Jumper v1.0.4 by Sordum.net

You might want to look to other avenues to improve your on-line gaming experience.
EX: change your isp to one of better quality service, increase your speed, tweak your network settings, move, etc.

Good luck on saving that millisecond here and there.


----------



## v12dock (May 28, 2012)

Google's dns servers are horribly slow for me. Like said in the post above use the http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm and see which is fastest.


----------



## newtekie1 (May 28, 2012)

v12dock said:


> Google's dns servers are horribly slow for me. Like said in the post above use the http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm and see which is fastest.



That is a great tool, but make sure you do the ~30 test to make a custom DNS server list first, then use it to find the fastest out of those.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

lol someone needs to open google and see how many people get way less lag with a good dns on cod.


----------



## slyfox2151 (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> lol someone needs to open google and see how many people get way less lag with a good dns on cod.



HaHa... some one needs to google what a DNS is/does.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System


a quicker DNS will not affect your ingame ping at all.


----------



## stayplation3 (May 28, 2012)

doesnt matter what it does i just know what the effect of changing it to a good one is


----------



## Maban (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> doesnt matter what it does i just know what the effect of changing it to a good one is



Then change it to a good one and stop arguing with networking professionals.


----------



## slyfox2151 (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> doesnt matter what it does i just know what the effect of changing it to a good one is



well if you knew what it does (and what latency actually is) then you would know where to find the best performing dns server.


----------



## Mindweaver (May 28, 2012)

The guys are right.. but if you want to find the fastest *DNS*. The simplest solution to your problem is to open the command prompt, and do a *tracert DNS* on each *DNS* to see which one has the shorts hops, and the quickest response time. 

*Example - to find how many hops to www.techpowerup.com type tracert www.techpowerup.com at the command prompt.*


----------



## v12dock (May 28, 2012)

I am using Level3's DNS servers


----------



## 95Viper (May 28, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> lol someone needs to open google and see how many people get way less lag with a good dns on cod.



A few out of millions tout this (clouded) solution; but, show me the proof... that the dns server change is the reason and not, maybe, a routing change, dns/other servers (speed, redundancy, capabilities, connections, etc.), bandwidth usage (capacity/congestion), or etc. are not the real cause/effect.
And, a single spot test is not proof... you will need to monitor the connection over time, not the initial connection itself.

Yes, it may help with the address lookup and one DNS server maybe better/faster/more thorough than another, but, it is not going to improve the connection you are using at the time you are using it.
A DNS lookup is only going to affect the original or updated address search.
You need to google and read and understand the complete process going on.

You know, it is hard to get someone to understand something when they won't accept the truth.

There is a lot more to the pipeline (from you to the destination) than what you see on the surface.
I have neither the patience nor time to explain it all, maybe someone else will.  
My only advice to you would be; take classes, read on the subject, listen, and comprehend what information you gather.

You should not ask a question, then tell everyone who answers they are wrong.
You probably will find a few who will rub your back and tell you what you want to hear.

Now, I have found a decent paper on the subject and if you actually read it, it may help explain what you are seeing.  Be sure to make note of "Redundancy - Many servers with the same answers".

The Internet Domain Name
System Explained for Non-Experts
Internet Society Member Briefing #16
By Daniel Karrenberg


----------



## Rhyseh (May 29, 2012)

stayplation3 said:


> doesnt matter what it does i just know what the effect of changing it to a good one is



You've just had two pages of network professionals explaining to you that a DNS will not affect your gaming performance..... and now you can add another one to the list.

Think of DNS as an address book. All it does is tell you the address of a location, it doesn't tell you how to get there and has no impact on how fast you get there.... A faster DNS may increase how quickly you get this address, however this lookup will only be done once. After that it's up to your ISP to decide the best route for you to get there.


----------



## Steevo (May 30, 2012)

I prefer to use the statistics provided to me by the firewalls like.....

lookup hits
DNS resolve time


And the fact that sonicwalls provide transparent DNS caching so if another computer makes a request on a stored name it takes less than 1ms to provide it.


BTW OpenDNS provided the best results for me, although I already knew that due to the statistics provided by my firewalls.


208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220


----------



## Aquinus (May 30, 2012)

Game services don't need to solve DNS addresses, and once your computer queries a DNS server, it won't check it again until the record is locally deleted or it times out. The only thing a local DNS server could help with is the initial connection that gets made, otherwise you're adding another DNS server to the chain of DNS servers you have to hit before you find the domain you want. Plus, once a connection is made, it doesn't matter, the IP is used, not the hostname. DNS resolves occasionally and never more than once during a single session of gaming.

It sounds like someone needs to learn how DNS and BIND works.
Good book
Good Wikipedia Article


----------



## acerace (May 30, 2012)

Lol.


----------

