Setting DNS on Airport Extreme 802.11ac time capsule

I have my router configured to do NAT.

Ok, then that would be "NAT and DHCP," so it is getting its DNS server input from your ISP. These would normally appear "grayed out" to let you know that they have been pre-assigned via the ISP DHCP server. You can easily overwrite them, as you did, if you entered the OpenDNS servers. Any DNS servers you configure on your Extreme will be "pushed" to any network client connecting to the Extreme and that client is also configured as a DHCP client (its default).

IPv6 adoption is being rolled out at different paces depending on the size of the market. As you can imagine, Montana's overall population is less than that of any major (or not so major) city in California, so I don't see IPv6 being available in most of the state. Most likely, you will see it start being rolled out to the larger cities over time.

Could you try going to https://www.macintouch.com and see what happens. The main page loads quickly, but if I click any of the internal links they resolve VERY slowly, if at all.

The link opened very quickly for me as well and any link on that page was somewhat slower. It will depend on how many links are embedded on each of those subsequent pages as a DNS lookup will be required for each one of them. That's why "busy" pages, with lots of ads and links on them take longer to load. Try ESPN for example.

You can also determine which DNS servers are the "best" to use for your location. You may find that your ISP's or OpenDNS, or Google DNS, may not be. I know of at least two ways to do so:

1. namebench: This runs on a Mac, but has not been updated if a few years and may not work with the latest versions of macOS.
2. DNSBench: This one runs on a Windows device.

Hi Jim,

I suggest you let the AirPort Extreme use the DNS servers provided by your ISP. It's unlikely you are having a DNS problem because then internet access to all sites would be affected as opposed to just one site (you mention a problem only with Macintosh.com). I believe the problem is with the address macintosh.com. It does not resolve for me either. If you open a terminal window from Launch Pad and type:

nslookup Macintosh.com

you will see the message: server can't find macintosh.com: SERVFAIL. At least it did for me... You will also see the IP address of the DNS servers doing the look up. So I suggest you double check the web address.

The IP address 1.1.1.1 is a valid DNS server.

+1 to Johnnyspike's reply to you. The "macinstosh.com" domain does not resolve for me either, regardless of which DNS servers I use.

As far as "grayed out" servers, these would be those provided by the upstream router from your AirPort Extreme ... most likely, those provided by your ISP. Especially if you have your Extreme configured as a DHCP client.

IPv6 is a "whole different animal." If your ISP is providing you with IPv6 service, then the "correct" setting for your Extreme would be "Automatic." "Link-local only" would only allow IPv6 traffic on your local network and would be the appropriate setting if they don't provide you with this service.

Hi Jim,

No worries on providing the wrong web address. These things happen all the time in the world of computing. The address works no problem for me. Looks like an interesting site. I'm curious. Could you check please if you have a SOCKS proxy enabled. This is a problem I have experienced. If it is, de-select it. To check: From SYSTEM PREFERENCES, go to NETWORK | ADVANCED | PROXIES | SOCKS PROXY.

Hi Jim,

No worries on providing the wrong web address. These things happen all the time in the world of computing. The address works no problem for me. Looks like an interesting site. I'm curious. Could you check please if you have a SOCKS proxy enabled. This is a problem I have experienced. If it is, de-select it. To check: From SYSTEM PREFERENCES, go to NETWORK | ADVANCED | PROXIES | SOCKS PROXY.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the information. So this rules out a proxy issue I experienced and have being reading about in some posts. A proxy server performs functions on behalf of your computer. Imagine, in an election, if you could not vote so you authorized someone to vote on your behalf. That would be a proxy vote. In the work place, proxy servers are often employed to fetch web pages from the internet on behalf of desktops in the office. Users think they are going to the internet but in fact the proxy server is getting the page. There are many good reasons for having proxy servers; control - you can authenticate users and block users from going to the internet; performance - the proxy server caches frequent web requests; security - you can scan web content at the proxy server. Sometimes in the workplace you may want to access an internal server without going to the proxy. In that case, one would employ the "bypass local proxy" setting. The addresses you see there are placed by default. Their meaning is a bit too complex to explain here but suffice to say they are harmless. There is an anomaly I have seen where something in the Mac sets the SOCKS Proxy server (SOCKS refers to a proxy with enhanced security features). But, since there is no actual proxy server on the network, there is nothing to receive the web request from the desktop. The result: the user sees a blank internet page. This is certainly some kind of bug or perhaps caused by malicious software.

Interesting that your iPhone has no issues accessing the same site over the same wireless network. This rules out your network and points to something on the desktop. However, I have no clue what would slow the web pages of a specific web address while allowing the rest to perform normally. I'll think on it some more but it is perplexing.

No problem at all using an AirPort Extreme and the Google DNS servers.......8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Sorry Bob, I meant that for Jim. I'm new to this so not sure how to respond back to Jim. I'll give it another try...