[lug] dns weirdness

[Chris Riddoch]

On 12/18/06, Ben <bluey at iguanaworks.net> wrote:
> Anyone having problems with accessing Qwest's DNS servers from linux?

If your Actiontec DSL modem is anything like mine, here's what happens:

1.  The DSL modem gets Qwest's two DNS IP addresses by DHCP when it
starts the connection.  You'll be able to tell what they are on the
status page of the modem's web-based configuration tool, of course.
2.  Your computers will ask your DSL modem for whan DNS servers to
use.  The DSL modem gives out one of the Qwest servers, and itself
(usually 192.168.0.1).
3.  You do a DNS lookup from your linux box.  About 50% of the time,
you'll be querying the DSL modem instead of Qwest's servers.
4.  The DSL modem's DNS server is broken.
5.  Your lookup fails 50% of the time.

What I do instead is to setup dnsmasq[1] on my systems, and hard-code
the IP of Qwest's DNS servers into /etc/dnsmasq.conf.  This has the
added advantage of being a very easy-to-configure caching-only name
server, which speeds up your lookups when you don't have to go outside
of your own system to do it.  It's quite a lot simpler than doing the
same thing with bind.

[1]  http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/

-- 
epistemological humility
  Chris Riddoch