Nationwide Charter Outage

[KG4CGC]

Charter customers across the country have lost internet access.
Posting from my phone. Need help finding info.

[KC9ECI]

According to twitter their DNS is down.


ViolinExplorer ‏@violinexplorer

Ok folks, if you're having difficulties getting online because #charter outage, change your DNS settings to google public DNS: 8 8 8 8

[ad4mg]

8.8.8.8 Google's primary DNS
8.8.4.4 Secondary Google DNS

[W4GPL]

And after you do that, use 'namebench' to discover your fastest and closest DNS. :)

http://code.google.com/p/namebench/

It's fun for both girls and boys!

[W4GPL]

And how the fsck does a nationwide ISP's resolver DNS fail? *mind boggle* It's not like a hefty complicated service.

[kf0rt]

And how the fsck does a nationwide ISP's resolver DNS fail? *mind boggle* It's not like a hefty complicated service.

I dunno, but when Comcast fails, it's DNS more often than not. Couldn't they about run that on a Raspberry Pi?

[KG4CGC]

I love you guys but I could use a translation.

[kf0rt]

I love you guys but I could use a translation.

Oh. DNS (Domain Name Service) is what connects the domain name (like hamisland.net or cnn.com) to it's IP address. The Intertubes run on IP addresses, not names, -- DNS is the "phone book" and if you lose your connection to that, you're pretty well hosed.

This is usually auto-configured and points to your ISP's DNS server. You can adjust it manually and point it to google if you want. In Win 7, go to:

Control Panel
Network and Sharing Center
Change adapter settings
(Double-click on the card that connects to the 'net)
Click on properties
Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP /IPv4)
Click on Properties.
On the next screen, you can switch to 'manual' and use whatever DNS server you want.

Fuck, they buried that deep....

[n6hcm]

I dunno, but when Comcast fails, it's DNS more often than not. Couldn't they about run that on a Raspberry Pi?

it could if you were handling a relatively small (compared to an ISP) number of users. comcast has regional DNS servers (presumably to reduce latency to customers), and these are grown-up computers.

yes, they're probably the smallest sized thing an ISP does ...

[N7YA]

I love you guys but I could use a translation.


The secondary DNS is a power bottom.

[N7YA]

Oh. Fuck, they buried that deep....


Its a powe.....nevermind....

[n2ize]

Is it possible for an individual to run their own DNS server ?

[KK4AMI]

Hey all you "Conservative Groupies", free for all in the Politics Section!!! Charles the Liberal Guard dog is down for a while, Wheee :hyper: Sorry I got carried away.

[kf0rt]

Is it possible for an individual to run their own DNS server ?

That would be the hosts file for most of us. Yeah, pretty sure you can roll your own, but someone like Jeff would have to get into the finer details of that.

[ad4mg]

Hey all you "Conservative Groupies", free for all in the Politics Section!!! Charles the Liberal Guard dog is down for a while, Wheee :hyper: Sorry I got carried away.

http://mysite.verizon.net/ad4mg/emptysign.jpg

Here's your sign. It's empty.

[kf0rt]

http://mysite.verizon.net/ad4mg/emptysign.jpg

Here's your sign. It's empty.


Make a note to transfer Carlo's bar tab to Mike.

[W4GPL]

Is it possible for an individual to run their own DNS server ?Sure. There's plenty of ways.. if you're running a RedHat based install, you can install caching-nameserver and enable it.. and point your systems to that; it'll query the root servers directly. It's not a very efficient thing to do though.

[ka8ncr]

Is it possible for an individual to run their own DNS server ?

If you have a router with third-party router software like OpenWRT or DD-WRT, there's one in there. I think OpenWRT has a DNS proxy by default.
If you have a Linux box somewhere, you can run one there. Red Hat and CentOS have setups in Yum for caching nameservers, which makes for no set-up.

I don't know what is available to run on Windows, but I'm sure there's packages for it.

I run three caching nameservers in the basement because Charter's NXDOMAIN hijacking is unacceptable for one of my software projects.

[W4GPL]

If you have a router with third-party router software like OpenWRT or DD-WRT, there's one in there. I think OpenWRT has a DNS proxy by default.Yes, but it's just 'proxying' to your predefined DNS.. so it's just simplification of the process, you're still not running any sort of actual resolver.

Comcast has non NXDOMAIN hijacking servers available, but I find UC Denver's servers to be more responsive.

[n2ize]

Sure. There's plenty of ways.. if you're running a RedHat based install, you can install caching-nameserver and enable it.. and point your systems to that; it'll query the root servers directly. It's not a very efficient thing to do though.

Actually, to be honest I have been doing just that for quite a while. I just wanted to raise the topic as one possible option My primary DNS sits on a server in my basement running BIND. I first set it up as an learning experiment. But I continued to use it when I discovered that Verizon's DNS servers engage in DNS Hijacking thus breaking the DNS protocol. When a query comes up blank they send me over to an advertisement site. For that reason I continued running bind. I only use Verizon's DNS if for some reason my own DNS is down. But it's is usually always up.

[ka8ncr]

Yes, but it's just 'proxying' to your predefined DNS.. so it's just simplification of the process, you're still not running any sort of actual resolver.

Comcast has non NXDOMAIN hijacking servers available, but I find UC Denver's servers to be more responsive.

It proxies to its own internal bind-lite.

[W4GPL]

My preference is using some local academic institution's DNS, then my own, then I resort to Google's.. or 4.2.2.2 (Level 3).

Google's is the most constantly fastest no matter where I seem to be.

[W4GPL]

That aforementioned namebench is very enlightening. I stand by it a great deal.

[W4GPL]

It proxies to its own internal bind-lite.Not the installations I've come across, most are using dnsmasq which just forwards it onto whatever you have defined as your WAN DNS. dnsmasq and the like does locally cache, but it ultimately queries non-root servers.

[ka8ncr]

Not the installations I've come across, most are using dnsmasq which just forwards it onto whatever you have defined as your WAN DNS. dnsmasq and the like does locally cache, but it ultimately queries non-root servers.

Maybe that's an irregularity of the build I have to use for the piece of shit Netgear that runs it. But even the stock dnsmasq must be doing some level of caching, it's too fast.

[W4GPL]

Yes, it caches the responses you get from your predefined up stream servers. It honors the TTL just like your upstream DNS would [in theory]. But it doesn't query the root servers.

[KC2UGV]

Is it possible for an individual to run their own DNS server ?

Yes, you can, however, for most people, it would be a bit of an overkill. The only thing would be the caching of old queries for their TTL, and would smooth-over some upstream interruptions.

[n2ize]

Yes, you can, however, for most people, it would be a bit of an overkill. The only thing would be the caching of old queries for their TTL, and would smooth-over some upstream interruptions.
See above. I've been running DNS/BIND i.e. named daemon for several years. However I wanted to raise it as a possible solution to DNS issues.

[n6hcm]

That would be the hosts file for most of us. Yeah, pretty sure you can roll your own, but someone like Jeff would have to get into the finer details of that.

you can certainly run a cacheing DNS server on your own network and then point all your computers at the server you built. no permission or special ninja skillz required.

[NA4BH]

I love you guys but I could use a translation.

What it all boils down to is:

Two guys on different sides of the ocean have to push the same buttons at the same time. Problem solved.

[KC2UGV]

See above. I've been running DNS/BIND i.e. named daemon for several years. However I wanted to raise it as a possible solution to DNS issues.

It "could" be a solution. However, DNS discussions can get loooong.