Multiple DNS server settings

Look in your Network preference pane.

Select the interface you are using (AirPort, Ethernet, etc.) and click the Advanced button in the lower right hand corner, then select the "DNS" tab.

The settings shown for DNS servers are what you are actually using.

If they're in bold, they were entered manually on your Mac; if they're shown in grey, they were provided by your DHCP server.

in addition to the previous post. I strongly RECOMMEND to only use the DNS provided by the ISP. you can call your ISP and even ask for it.

as soon as its setup in network preferences. DNS will be added automatically and does not need to be added manually unless you are doing static IP

kisuke3 wrote:
in addition to the previous post. I strongly RECOMMEND to only use the DNS provided by the ISP. you can call your ISP and even ask for it.

I disagree.

Most ISPs treat DNS service only as something they have to provide, and often an ISP's own DNS servers are slow, use outdated software and in general make for a less pleasing browsing experience than manually setting your system to use the DNS servers provided by OpenDNS or Google:

http://www.opendns.com
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

slferris wrote:
However, I'm not quite sure what I should do with the DNS address values in my Airport Extreme and my DSL router. In the Airport Extreme should I just leave those fields blank and allow them to be filled in with whatever grayed out addresses will appear (where do they come from)? On the DSL router, should I just select "dynamic" instead of "static"?

If the DNS values in Mac network preferences rule, does it really matter what the DNS values are on the Airport and DSL router devices are?

DHCP servers generally provide the addresses of DNS servers along with IP addresses to DHCP clients.

Depending on which device on your network is providing DHCP service to it, you may or may not need to bother setting DNS server addresses in any of your devices manually.

For example, if you just want to use the DNS servers provided by your ISP, in most cases you would not set any DNS server addresses, as your DSL router and the AirPort Extreme would just pass along the DNS server addresses passed along to them.

kisuke3 wrote:

in addition to the previous post. I strongly RECOMMEND to only use the DNS provided by the ISP. you can call your ISP and even ask for it.

I disagree.

Most ISPs treat DNS service only as something they have to provide, and often an ISP's own DNS servers are slow, use outdated software and in general make for a less pleasing browsing experience than manually setting your system to use the DNS servers provided by OpenDNS or Google:

That's all too true. I've had no end of trouble with Mediacom's DNS servers over the past year. It can sometimes take over a minute for an address to resolve on their servers. Once I started using open DNS servers, the problem went away. However, I've found Google's open DNS servers to be not much better than Mediacom's. They're usually slow and frequently fail to resolve at all. OpenDNS is much better and there are many other open DNS servers out there.

I've set the same DNS servers on both my router and in my network settings. It seems to be faster that way, but that's just my perception and I haven't done any testing to see if it really does make a difference.

slferris wrote:
The DNS server addresses in my Mac system preferences are set as you recommended in your response.

However, I'm not quite sure what I should do with the DNS address values in my Airport Extreme and my DSL router. In the Airport Extreme should I just leave those fields blank and allow them to be filled in with whatever grayed out addresses will appear (where do they come from)? On the DSL router, should I just select "dynamic" instead of "static"?

try plugging in your mac directly to your DSL modem or cable modem. by passing any router or airport extreme base station. under network preferences check your location if its under automatic,if its not set it to automatic. This should fill up the numbers like gateway, ipv4 and DNS automatically. you can create a new location if you want but select using DHCP if they didn't provide you a static IP.

get the following
a) DNS
b) gateway
c) IP address - just to confirm if you are using a modem or a modem router
d) also check to see if you can access the internet.

- if you are using a modem router then its already doing the NAT for you hence putting your airport to bridge would be your next step if you are using a modem.

If the DNS values in Mac network preferences rule, does it really matter what the DNS values are on the Airport and DSL router devices are?

Thanks very much for your timely response and help.

- well it depends. prior to getting your airport, how do you connect to the internet?do you have to put in a username and password in network prefs?or its automatically connected as soon as you turn on the machine?
- the DNS supplied by the ISP will be put in automatically in your network preferenes but greyed out.

slferris wrote:
The DNS server addresses in my Mac system preferences are set as you recommended in your response.

However, I'm not quite sure what I should do with the DNS address values in my Airport Extreme and my DSL router. In the Airport Extreme should I just leave those fields blank and allow them to be filled in with whatever grayed out addresses will appear (where do they come from)? On the DSL router, should I just select "dynamic" instead of "static"?

try plugging in your mac directly to your DSL modem or cable modem. by passing any router or airport extreme base station. under network preferences check your location if its under automatic,if its not set it to automatic. This should fill up the numbers like gateway, ipv4 and DNS automatically. you can create a new location if you want but select using DHCP if they didn't provide you a static IP.

get the following
a) DNS
b) gateway
c) IP address - just to confirm if you are using a modem or a modem router
d) also check to see if you can access the internet.

- if you are using a modem router then its already doing the NAT for you hence putting your airport to bridge would be your next step if you are using a modem.

If the DNS values in Mac network preferences rule, does it really matter what the DNS values are on the Airport and DSL router devices are?

Thanks very much for your timely response and help.

- well it depends. prior to getting your airport, how do you connect to the internet?do you have to put in a username and password in network prefs?or its automatically connected as soon as you turn on the machine?
- the DNS supplied by the ISP will be put in automatically in your network preferenes but greyed out.

William Kucharski wrote:

kisuke3 wrote:
in addition to the previous post. I strongly RECOMMEND to only use the DNS provided by the ISP. you can call your ISP and even ask for it.

I disagree.

Most ISPs treat DNS service only as something they have to provide, and often an ISP's own DNS servers are slow, use outdated software and in general make for a less pleasing browsing experience than manually setting your system to use the DNS servers provided by OpenDNS or Google:

http://www.opendns.com
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

- for the sake of a healthy conversation. i would have to disagree with your answer. although OpenDNS is a solution to browsing problem, this is not an ultimate solution and would not mean its superior to ISP DNS. i use both. the problem with OpenDNS is that
a)it will route your searches to bad domains(most of the time)
b)its not as fast as ISP DNS
c)you won't get optimum results for sites and services that serve up different DNS results depending on where the request came from. The net result is that your request is handled by a server on another continent, instead of in the same city. This is usually not optimal.
d) LIMITED SUPPORT as this is beyond boundaries of an ISP since you are not using theirs.

i dont have anything against OpenDNS. as a matter of fact I use both, i just don't think we should disregard ISP DNS. yes there are problems sometimes but that does not mean we shouldn't use it. its a case to case basis

kisuke3 wrote:
- for the sake of a healthy conversation. i would have to disagree with your answer. although OpenDNS is a solution to browsing problem, this is not an ultimate solution and would not mean its superior to ISP DNS. i use both. the problem with OpenDNS is that
a)it will route your searches to bad domains(most of the time)

Bad domains? Have you used OpenDNS?

The only thing OpenDNS will do is route you to their page instead of returning a domain not found error when you specify an improper or invalid domain.

b)its not as fast as ISP DNS

Perhaps in Japan, but it's faster than every US ISP I've ever tested - ironic as OpenDNS' servers are several hops away from ISP's servers.

Let's also not forget that pitifully few ISP DNS servers process SRV records properly despite them being an IETF recommendation for about nine years now.

c)you won't get optimum results for sites and services that serve up different DNS results depending on where the request came from. The net result is that your request is handled by a server on another continent, instead of in the same city. This is usually not optimal.

Depends on the site in question, but yes, that can be the case.

d) LIMITED SUPPORT as this is beyond boundaries of an ISP since you are not using theirs.

You'd have problems finding support personnel who even know what DNS is at most ISPs, at least in the United States. 😟

i dont have anything against OpenDNS. as a matter of fact I use both, i just don't think we should disregard ISP DNS. yes there are problems sometimes but that does not mean we shouldn't use it. its a case to case basis

Once again at least in the US the number of ISPs that are actually on the ball and treat DNS service as anything but a necessity and devote needed equipment and bandwidth to them is, unfortunately, much smaller than it should be.

The bottom line is, if you find Internet browsing to be slow for you, it certainly makes sense to try OpenDNS or Google Public DNS and see if it speeds it up for you.

If not, of course there's no reason to bother (unless you want OpenDNS' filtering capabilities.)