How to manually set-up DNS look-up in Firefox?

[digitalwanderer]

Dang it, anyone got a second to tell me in baby words how to set up a more reliable DNS look-up in Firefox? I can cruise EB & B3D right now and that's it since my DNS server went down.

Oh, and could you include a few of the world's most reliable DNS servers too please? Thank you!

 

[_xxx_]

"Most reliable" != fastest, so watch out.

Here's a list I use, but it might be no help for you being so far away (lag possible):
http://www.stanar.de/

 

[[maven]]

DNS is provided by your ISP. There are public servers, but in general your ISPs DNS servers should be preferred. Secondly, DNS is something you set-up with the TCP-IP stack (e.g. on the router or DSL-modem or on the network card), not the individual applications (like Firefox).

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks, I really don't know much about this as I never play with it unless it ain't working.

 

[_xxx_]

Try looking here: control panel/network/<LAN-connection, maybe with some fancy name>/preferences, choose TCP/IP, preferences. Enter the IP's for the DNS-server (not more than two preferably, generates overhead). That's it. If you have a SW-firewall running, you might have to allow these to pass.

 

[wireframe]

(not more than two preferably, generates overhead).

First time I ever heard of this. Care to elaborate?

 

[Gubbi]

(not more than two preferably, generates overhead).

Secondary and tertiary servers are only asked if the first one fails, so no overhead.

Cheers
Gubbi

 

[_xxx_]

First time I ever heard of this. Care to elaborate?

Just passin what I've heard. I have no idea if it's really true, but noone would have 20 entries there anyway... :smile:

 

[wireframe]

Just passin what I've heard. I have no idea if it's really true, but noone would have 20 entries there anyway... :smile:

For all I know, on Windows it's just a simple failover list (like it should be). If DNS 1 fails (time out) you go to DNS 2, but I am not sure for how long it locks in on a backup name server. Normally you won't see more than three entries for DNS and the logical reason for this would be that name servers are supposed to be few, they are precious, and if three of them have failed for you it is likely that something major is going on and the DNS is the last of your worries. (In other words, you may actually only have two for real use (ISP) and your third entry is for a DNS on another network in case yours are down.)

BTW, Windows XP has suffered from DNS "poisoning" (the DNS cache is compromised and false IPs have been injected into the cached resolution list) and it also has a quirk with false negatives. If you are having DNS issues, or if you want to try a new DNS, it is probably a good idea to flush the history and let it rebuild. This can be done by issuing the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

 

[_xxx_]

BTW, Windows XP has suffered from DNS "poisoning" (the DNS cache is compromised and false IPs have been injected into the cached resolution list) and it also has a quirk with false negatives. If you are having DNS issues, or if you want to try a new DNS, it is probably a good idea to flush the history and let it rebuild. This can be done by issuing the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

Sweet! Thanks for the tip, I had some troubles with cached ip's which I resolved through some dirty tricks

 

[wireframe]

Sweet! Thanks for the tip, I had some troubles with cached ip's which I resolved through some dirty tricks

There are some registry entries that control the behavior of false responses and these can be tweaked to prevent false negatives slowing you down. Unfortunately I don't recall the procedure or have the web pages handy. I'm pretty sure it's in the MS KnowledgeBase.

EDIT:

This is in a larger scheme of controlling how the DNS cache works. You can disable it (probably not a good idea) and control some of these parameters, like timeout periods etc. (I'm pretty sure about that but not absolutely certain)

 

[Gubbi]

<snip>
ipconfig /flushdns

Or just disable the (broken-ass) DNS service all together.

Cheers
Gubbi