Why is 192.168.0.1 listed as a DNS?

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Level 1

26 points

Why is 192.168.0.1 listed as a DNS?

I have a new Actiontec GT107D modem set up to do PPPoE, DHCP, NAT etc. The Time Cap is set to "bridge."

Everything works but I find that mail is just a tad slower going out. My guess is DNS checking. I see in the System Pref, Network that it lists two DNS servers, 192.168.0.1 and 68.94.156.1. The second is ATT's DNS. Why does it list my modem/router as the first one. Could that be slowing outgoing mail a bit. There is another ATT DNS server. Should I enter that as well in System Pref?

The modem set-up page shows both ATT DNS servers, but it looks like only one is passed to the Mac via the Time Cap?

It's not a big deal... just curious.

Al

iMac (21.5 with 8GB RAM, Snow Leopard), Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Dec 10, 2010 10:34 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

William-Boyd-Jr

Level 6

10,578 points

Dec 23, 2010 3:10 PM in response to al1776

al1776 wrote:
I see in the System Pref, Network that it lists two DNS servers, 192.168.0.1 and 68.94.156.1. The second is ATT's DNS. Why does it list my modem/router as the first one.

Apparently that's not unusual.

Could that be slowing outgoing mail a bit.

It might, but not necessarily. A DNS request relayed through your router should be delayed very little.

There is another ATT DNS server. Should I enter that as well in System Pref?

You could, although if AT&T ever changes the IP addresses of their DNS servers, your configuration could break.

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Answer 2

al1776 Author

Level 1

26 points

Dec 23, 2010 3:14 PM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

I agree that if ATT changes it would cause a small problem... so what I did is put the Google public DNS of 8.8.8.8 as the first one and ATT second.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

148,507 points

Dec 23, 2010 3:24 PM in response to al1776

I see in the System Pref, Network that it lists two DNS servers, 192.168.0.1 and 68.94.156.1. The second is ATT's DNS. Why does it list my modem/router as the first one.

That is because, with the TC configured as a bridge and (by default) a DHCP client, it is getting the IP information from the Actiontec router's DHCP server. Also since the TC is downstream of the Actiontec it would rely on the Actiontec for DNS services.

As you already know, you can overwrite the TC's WAN-side IP addresses by placing it into Manual, instead of DHCP Client, mode and enter any DNS IPs you desire.

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Answer 4

al1776 Author

Level 1

26 points

Dec 23, 2010 3:32 PM in response to Tesserax

I didn't know the above until after I changed the DNS on the three office machines. It took a minute on each machine and the TC didn't have to be rebooted. I suppose it is a better practice to change the DNS in just one place so I'll change it when I get a spare moment and then erase it off of the machines. Thanks.

Message was edited by: al1776

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

148,507 points

Dec 23, 2010 3:43 PM in response to al1776

That is correct! You can overwrite (in most cases) the DHCP supplied DNS IP address information at the router, bridge or client levels. This can come in handy sometimes when you are, for example, comparing performance of different DNS providers. In this case, you can configure each network device individually with the DNS info. Once you confirmed which works best, you can then remove the client-side addresses and put them on the router connected to the Internet modem to distribute them to all network clients.

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