HELP - Local DNS Cache for Faster Browsing

[cool_techie_tvm]

I tried the steps outlined at http://news.softpedia.com/news/Local...ng-43341.shtml

The webpage provides us with step by step instructions on configuring dnsmasq in ubuntu. But its not working out (for me!!) The webpages dont load up. Now am back to Opendns.

Help me please

[QwertyManiac]

I use dnsmasq too and I followed the steps by Carthik here. Works for me, and this looks like the same nearly too.

[cool_techie_tvm]

Yea, its the same. But it isnt working for me. Am on Bridged pppoe connection. Opendns works fine for me though.

[QwertyManiac]

My prepend line however, reads as:

prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1,208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220;

[The_Devil_Himself]

din't work for me.dig to yahoo.com was 30msc the first time and 27-28msc the next 4-5 times I tried.

edit:woot! finally got it working!.

make sure 127.0.0.1 entry is at the top and thats it.

[cool_techie_tvm]

@QwertyManiac Try welcome.opendns.com Does the welcome page open up? If it does then dnsmasq aint working and u are on opendns.

Originally Posted by The_Devil_Himself

make sure 127.0.0.1 entry is at the top and thats it.

U mean to say the /etc/resolv.conf should have nameserver 127.0.0.1 at the top of the list? I did try like that too. But not working.

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^system--->administration--->network.open dns tab and drag and drop 127.0.0.1 to the top of the list and then try digging yahoo\google again.

[QwertyManiac]

^^
That would probably reset automatically each reboot if you're using DHCP.

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^nope it didn't,that means I am not using DHCP. (sorry but I am a complete n00b in networking).

[cool_techie_tvm]

I dragged the 127.0.0.1 to the top of the list, pages are loading fine, but i guess its through opendns. Dnsmasq still not working.

But i found something interesting. When i try dig yahoo.com on the terminal initially it showed 302ms as the query time, but on the second try its showing 1ms. Does that mean dnsmasq is in action ?

[mehulved]

Always keep the nameservers in the order you want to query them.
Initially the DNS server maybe a bit slow since the cache hasn't been created yet.
To check which DNS server has replied to the query, check the Server section of dig, it looks something like this

;; SERVER: 61.1.96.71#53(61.1.96.71)

cool_techie_tvm, yes your localdns server is in action. It was slower the first time as the cache is yet to be created, second time it just had to look up in the cache so was way faster.

[cool_techie_tvm]

Thanks

But another query. I fireup terminal, type in dig yahoo.com I get
;; Query time: 335 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)

On the same terminal window i type in dig yahoo.com (again) and i get
;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)

Did u notice the time difference? Also both the look ups were did locally, yet there is marked difference. Also when i type in http://welcome.opendns.com/ i get the welcome page of opendns. Hence i am confused. Dnsmasq or opendns in action ?

[The_Devil_Himself]

mine is sure dnsmasq cos I haven't used opendns.

[praka123]

@cool_techie_tvm:ur local cache is working! enjoy

[gary4gar]

its not working for me,

# Configuration file for dnsmasq.
#
# Format is one option per line, legal options are the same
# as the long options legal on the command line. See
# "/usr/sbin/dnsmasq --help" or "man 8 dnsmasq" for details.

# The following two options make you a better netizen, since they
# tell dnsmasq to filter out queries which the public DNS cannot
# answer, and which load the servers (especially the root servers)
# uneccessarily. If you have a dial-on-demand link they also stop
# these requests from bringing up the link uneccessarily.

# Never forward plain names (without a dot or domain part)
#domain-needed
# Never forward addresses in the non-routed address spaces.
#bogus-priv


# Uncomment this to filter useless windows-originated DNS requests
# which can trigger dial-on-demand links needlessly.
# Note that (amongst other things) this blocks all SRV requests,
# so don't use it if you use eg Kerberos.
# This option only affects forwarding, SRV records originating for
# dnsmasq (via srv-host= lines) are not suppressed by it.
#filterwin2k

# Change this line if you want dns to get its upstream servers from
# somewhere other that /etc/resolv.conf
#resolv-file=

# By  default,  dnsmasq  will  send queries to any of the upstream
# servers it knows about and tries to favour servers to are  known
# to  be  up.  Uncommenting this forces dnsmasq to try each query
# with  each  server  strictly  in  the  order  they   appear   in
# /etc/resolv.conf
#strict-order

# If you don't want dnsmasq to read /etc/resolv.conf or any other
# file, getting its servers from this file instead (see below), then
# uncomment this.
#no-resolv

# If you don't want dnsmasq to poll /etc/resolv.conf or other resolv
# files for changes and re-read them then uncomment this.
#no-poll

# Add other name servers here, with domain specs if they are for
# non-public domains.
#server=/localnet/192.168.0.1

# Example of routing PTR queries to nameservers: this will send all 
# address->name queries for 192.168.3/24 to nameserver 10.1.2.3
#server=/3.168.192.in-addr.arpa/10.1.2.3

# Add local-only domains here, queries in these domains are answered
# from /etc/hosts or DHCP only.
#local=/localnet/

# Add domains which you want to force to an IP address here.
# The example below send any host in doubleclick.net to a local
# webserver.
#address=/doubleclick.net/127.0.0.1

# If you want dnsmasq to change uid and gid to something other
# than the default, edit the following lines.
#user=
#group=

# If you want dnsmasq to listen for DHCP and DNS requests only on
# specified interfaces (and the loopback) give the name of the
# interface (eg eth0) here.
# Repeat the line for more than one interface.
#interface=
# Or you can specify which interface _not_ to listen on
#except-interface=
# Or which to listen on by address (remember to include 127.0.0.1 if
# you use this.)
listen-address=127.0.0.1
# If you want dnsmasq to provide only DNS service on an interface,
# configure it as shown above, and then use the following line to
# disable DHCP on it.
#no-dhcp-interface=

# On systems which support it, dnsmasq binds the wildcard address,
# even when it is listening on only some interfaces. It then discards
# requests that it shouldn't reply to. This has the advantage of
# working even when interfaces come and go and change address. If you
# want dnsmasq to really bind only the interfaces it is listening on,
# uncomment this option. About the only time you may need this is when
# running another nameserver on the same machine.
#bind-interfaces

# If you don't want dnsmasq to read /etc/hosts, uncomment the
# following line.
#no-hosts
# or if you want it to read another file, as well as /etc/hosts, use
# this.
#addn-hosts=/etc/banner_add_hosts

# Set this (and domain: see below) if you want to have a domain
# automatically added to simple names in a hosts-file.
#expand-hosts

# Set the domain for dnsmasq. this is optional, but if it is set, it
# does the following things.
# 1) Allows DHCP hosts to have fully qualified domain names, as long
#     as the domain part matches this setting.
# 2) Sets the "domain" DHCP option thereby potentially setting the
#    domain of all systems configured by DHCP
# 3) Provides the domain part for "expand-hosts"
#domain=thekelleys.org.uk

# Uncomment this to enable the integrated DHCP server, you need
# to supply the range of addresses available for lease and optionally
# a lease time. If you have more than one network, you will need to
# repeat this for each network on which you want to supply DHCP
# service.
#dhcp-range=192.168.0.50,192.168.0.150,12h

# This is an example of a DHCP range where the netmask is given. This
# is needed for networks we reach the dnsmasq DHCP server via a relay
# agent. If you don't know what a DHCP relay agent is, you probably
# don't need to worry about this.
#dhcp-range=192.168.0.50,192.168.0.150,255.255.255.0,12h

# This is an example of a DHCP range with a network-id, so that
# some DHCP options may be set only for this network.
#dhcp-range=red,192.168.0.50,192.168.0.150

# Supply parameters for specified hosts using DHCP. There are lots
# of valid alternatives, so we will give examples of each. Note that
# IP addresses DO NOT have to be in the range given above, they just
# need to be on the same network. The order of the parameters in these
# do not matter, it's permissble to give name,adddress and MAC in any order

# Always allocate the host with ethernet address 11:22:33:44:55:66
# The IP address 192.168.0.60
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,192.168.0.60

# Always set the name of the host with hardware address
# 11:22:33:44:55:66 to be "fred"
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,fred

# Always give the host with ethernet address 11:22:33:44:55:66
# the name fred and IP address 192.168.0.60 and lease time 45 minutes
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,fred,192.168.0.60,45m

# Give the machine which says it's name is "bert" IP address
# 192.168.0.70 and an infinite lease
#dhcp-host=bert,192.168.0.70,infinite

# Always give the host with client identifier 01:02:02:04
# the IP address 192.168.0.60
#dhcp-host=id:01:02:02:04,192.168.0.60

# Always give the host with client identifier "marjorie"
# the IP address 192.168.0.60
#dhcp-host=id:marjorie,192.168.0.60

# Enable the address given for "judge" in /etc/hosts
# to be given to a machine presenting the name "judge" when
# it asks for a DHCP lease.
#dhcp-host=judge

# Never offer DHCP service to a machine whose ethernet
# address is 11:22:33:44:55:66
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,ignore

# Ignore any client-id presented by the machine with ethernet
# address 11:22:33:44:55:66. This is useful to prevent a machine
# being treated differently when running under different OS's or
# between PXE boot and OS boot.
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,id:*

# Send extra options which are tagged as "red" to
# the machine with ethernet address 11:22:33:44:55:66
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,net:red

# Send extra options which are tagged as "red" to
# any machine with ethernet address starting 11:22:33:
#dhcp-host=11:22:33:*:*:*,net:red

# Ignore any clients which are specified in dhcp-host lines
# or /etc/ethers. Equivalent to ISC "deny unkown-clients".
# This relies on the special "known" tag which is set when 
# a host is matched.
#dhcp-ignore=#known

# Send extra options which are tagged as "red" to any machine whose
# DHCP vendorclass string includes the substring "Linux"
#dhcp-vendorclass=red,Linux

# Send extra options which are tagged as "red" to any machine one
# of whose DHCP userclass strings includes the substring "accounts"
#dhcp-userclass=red,accounts

# Send extra options which are tagged as "red" to any machine whose
# MAC address matches the pattern.
#dhcp-mac=red,00:60:8C:*:*:*

# If this line is uncommented, dnsmasq will read /etc/ethers and act
# on the ethernet-address/IP pairs found there just as if they had
# been given as --dhcp-host options. Useful if you keep
# MAC-address/host mappings there for other purposes.
#read-ethers

# Send options to hosts which ask for a DHCP lease.
# See RFC 2132 for details of available options.
# Common options can be given to dnsmasq by name: 
# run "dnsmasq --help dhcp" to get a list.
# Note that all the common settings, such as netmask and
# broadcast address, DNS server and default route, are given
# sane defaults by dnsmasq. You very likely will not need 
# any dhcp-options. If you use Windows clients and Samba, there
# are some options which are recommended, they are detailed at the
# end of this section.

# Override the default route supplied by dnsmasq, which assumes the
# router is the same machine as the one running dnsmasq.
#dhcp-option=3,1.2.3.4

# Do the same thing, but using the option name
#dhcp-option=option:router,1.2.3.4

# Override the default route supplied by dnsmasq and send no default
# route at all. Note that this only works for the options sent by
# default (1, 3, 6, 12, 28) the same line will send a zero-length option 
# for all other option numbers.
#dhcp-option=3

# Set the NTP time server addresses to 192.168.0.4 and 10.10.0.5
#dhcp-option=option:ntp-server,192.168.0.4,10.10.0.5

# Set the NTP time server address to be the same machine as
# is running dnsmasq
#dhcp-option=42,0.0.0.0

# Set the NIS domain name to "welly"
#dhcp-option=40,welly

# Set the default time-to-live to 50
#dhcp-option=23,50

# Set the "all subnets are local" flag
#dhcp-option=27,1

# Send the etherboot magic flag and then etherboot options (a string).
#dhcp-option=128,e4:45:74:68:00:00
#dhcp-option=129,NIC=eepro100

# Specify an option which will only be sent to the "red" network
# (see dhcp-range for the declaration of the "red" network)
# Note that the net: part must precede the option: part.
#dhcp-option = net:red, option:ntp-server, 192.168.1.1

# The following DHCP options set up dnsmasq in the same way as is specified
# for the ISC dhcpcd in
# http://www.samba.org/samba/ftp/docs/textdocs/DHCP-Server-Configuration.txt
# adapted for a typical dnsmasq installation where the host running
# dnsmasq is also the host running samba.
# you may want to uncomment them if you use Windows clients and Samba.
#dhcp-option=19,0           # option ip-forwarding off
#dhcp-option=44,0.0.0.0     # set netbios-over-TCP/IP nameserver(s) aka WINS server(s)
#dhcp-option=45,0.0.0.0     # netbios datagram distribution server
#dhcp-option=46,8           # netbios node type
#dhcp-option=47             # empty netbios scope.

# Send RFC-3397 DNS domain search DHCP option. WARNING: Your DHCP client
# probably doesn't support this......
#dhcp-option=option:domain-search,eng.apple.com,marketing.apple.com

# Send RFC-3442 classless static routes (note the netmask encoding)
#dhcp-option=121,192.168.1.0/24,1.2.3.4,10.0.0.0/8,5.6.7.8

# Send vendor-class specific options encapsulated in DHCP option 43. 
# The meaning of the options is defined by the vendor-class so
# options are sent only when the client supplied vendor class
# matches the class given here. (A substring match is OK, so "MSFT" 
# matches "MSFT" and "MSFT 5.0"). This example sets the
# mtftp address to 0.0.0.0 for PXEClients.
#dhcp-option=vendor:PXEClient,1,0.0.0.0

# Send microsoft-specific option to tell windows to release the DHCP lease
# when it shuts down. Note the "i" flag, to tell dnsmasq to send the
# value as a four-byte integer - that's what microsoft wants. See
# http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/a70f1bb7-d2d4-49f0-96d6-4b7414ecfaae1033.mspx?mfr=true
#dhcp-option=vendor:MSFT,2,1i

# Send the Encapsulated-vendor-class ID needed by some configurations of
# Etherboot to allow is to recognise the DHCP server.
#dhcp-option=vendor:Etherboot,60,"Etherboot"

# Send options to PXELinux. Note that we need to send the options even
# though they don't appear in the parameter request list, so we need
# to use dhcp-option-force here. 
# See http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php#special for details.
# Magic number - needed before anything else is recognised
#dhcp-option-force=208,f1:00:74:7e
# Configuration file name
#dhcp-option-force=209,configs/common
# Path prefix
#dhcp-option-force=210,/tftpboot/pxelinux/files/
# Reboot time. (Note 'i' to send 32-bit value)
#dhcp-option-force=211,30i

# Set the boot filename for BOOTP. You will only need 
# this is you want to boot machines over the network and you will need
# a TFTP server; either dnsmasq's built in TFTP server or an
# external one. (See below for how to enable the TFTP server.)
#dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0

# Enable dnsmasq's built-in TFTP server
#enable-tftp

# Set the root directory for files availble via FTP.
#tftp-root=/var/ftpd

# Make the TFTP server more secure: with this set, only files owned by
# the user dnsmasq is running as will be send over the net.
#tftp-secure

# Set the boot file name only when the "red" tag is set.
#dhcp-boot=net:red,pxelinux.red-net

# An example of dhcp-boot with an external server: the name and IP
# address of the server are given after the filename.
#dhcp-boot=/var/ftpd/pxelinux.0,boothost,192.168.0.3

# Set the limit on DHCP leases, the default is 150
#dhcp-lease-max=150

# The DHCP server needs somewhere on disk to keep its lease database.
# This defaults to a sane location, but if you want to change it, use
# the line below.
#dhcp-leasefile=/var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases

# Set the DHCP server to authoritative mode. In this mode it will barge in
# and take over the lease for any client which broadcasts on the network,
# whether it has a record of the lease or not. This avoids long timeouts
# when a machine wakes up on a new network. DO NOT enable this if there's
# the slighest chance that you might end up accidentally configuring a DHCP
# server for your campus/company accidentally. The ISC server uses
# the same option, and this URL provides more information:
# http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/dhcp/authoritative.php
#dhcp-authoritative

# Run an executable when a DHCP lease is created or destroyed.
# The arguments sent to the script are "add" or "del", 
# then the MAC address, the IP address and finally the hostname
# if there is one. 
#dhcp-script=/bin/echo

# Set the cachesize here.
#cache-size=150

# If you want to disable negative caching, uncomment this.
#no-negcache

# Normally responses which come form /etc/hosts and the DHCP lease
# file have Time-To-Live set as zero, which conventionally means
# do not cache further. If you are happy to trade lower load on the
# server for potentially stale date, you can set a time-to-live (in
# seconds) here.
#local-ttl=

# If you want dnsmasq to detect attempts by Verisign to send queries
# to unregistered .com and .net hosts to its sitefinder service and
# have dnsmasq instead return the correct NXDOMAIN response, uncomment
# this line. You can add similar lines to do the same for other
# registries which have implemented wildcard A records.
#bogus-nxdomain=64.94.110.11

# If you want to fix up DNS results from upstream servers, use the
# alias option. This only works for IPv4.
# This alias makes a result of 1.2.3.4 appear as 5.6.7.8
#alias=1.2.3.4,5.6.7.8
# and this maps 1.2.3.x to 5.6.7.x
#alias=1.2.3.0,5.6.7.0,255.255.255.0


# Change these lines if you want dnsmasq to serve MX records.

# Return an MX record named "maildomain.com" with target
# servermachine.com and preference 50
#mx-host=maildomain.com,servermachine.com,50

# Set the default target for MX records created using the localmx option.
#mx-target=servermachine.com

# Return an MX record pointing to the mx-target for all local
# machines.
#localmx

# Return an MX record pointing to itself for all local machines.
#selfmx

# Change the following lines if you want dnsmasq to serve SRV
# records.  These are useful if you want to serve ldap requests for
# Active Directory and other windows-originated DNS requests.
# See RFC 2782.
# You may add multiple srv-host lines.
# The fields are <name>,<target>,<port>,<priority>,<weight>
# If the domain part if missing from the name (so that is just has the
# service and protocol sections) then the domain given by the domain=
# config option is used. (Note that expand-hosts does not need to be
# set for this to work.)

# A SRV record sending LDAP for the example.com domain to
# ldapserver.example.com port 289
#srv-host=_ldap._tcp.example.com,ldapserver.example.com,389

# A SRV record sending LDAP for the example.com domain to
# ldapserver.example.com port 289 (using domain=)
#domain=example.com
#srv-host=_ldap._tcp,ldapserver.example.com,389

# Two SRV records for LDAP, each with different priorities
#srv-host=_ldap._tcp.example.com,ldapserver.example.com,389,1
#srv-host=_ldap._tcp.example.com,ldapserver.example.com,389,2

# A SRV record indicating that there is no LDAP server for the domain
# example.com
#srv-host=_ldap._tcp.example.com

# The following line shows how to make dnsmasq serve an arbitrary PTR
# record. This is useful for DNS-SD. (Note that the
# domain-name expansion done for SRV records _does_not
# occur for PTR records.)
#ptr-record=_http._tcp.dns-sd-services,"New Employee Page._http._tcp.dns-sd-services"

# Change the following lines to enable dnsmasq to serve TXT records.
# These are used for things like SPF and zeroconf. (Note that the
# domain-name expansion done for SRV records _does_not
# occur for TXT records.)

#Example SPF.
#txt-record=example.com,"v=spf1 a -all"

#Example zeroconf
#txt-record=_http._tcp.example.com,name=value,paper=A4


# For debugging purposes, log each DNS query as it passes through
# dnsmasq.
#log-queries

# Log lots of extra information about DHCP transactions.
#log-dhcp

# Include a another lot of configuration options.
#conf-file=/etc/dnsmasq.more.conf
#conf-dir=/etc/dnsmasq.d

~$ dig www.google.com

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2 <<>> www.google.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 58549
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.google.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.google.com.		30	IN	CNAME	google.navigation.opendns.com.
google.navigation.opendns.com. 30 IN	A	208.67.217.230
google.navigation.opendns.com. 30 IN	A	208.67.217.231

;; Query time: 341 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.220.220#53(208.67.220.220)
;; WHEN: Tue Dec 11 10:39:40 2007
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 104

gaurish@gaurish-desktop:~$ dig www.google.com

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2 <<>> www.google.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 42585
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.google.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.google.com.		30	IN	CNAME	google.navigation.opendns.com.
google.navigation.opendns.com. 30 IN	A	208.67.217.231
google.navigation.opendns.com. 30 IN	A	208.67.217.230

;; Query time: 342 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.220.220#53(208.67.220.220)
;; WHEN: Tue Dec 11 10:39:43 2007
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 104

gaurish@gaurish-desktop:~$

gaurish@gaurish-desktop~$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.222.222

the thing is when i 127.0.0.1 to this file, but it gets rested everytime i restart my network :S

[mediator]

U dont need to restart the network when editing the 'resolv.conf'! Put 127.0.0.1 or IP of ur local machine. Neways check this out!

[gary4gar]

dude, that does not matter as soon as i restart my computer( the settings goes way)

[praka123]

@gary:edit ur /etc/ppp/peer/dsl-provider file and comment out by putting a "#" infront of "usepeerdns" option then restart networking,dnscache and connect.

[gary4gar]

Originally Posted by praka123

@gary:edit ur /etc/ppp/peer/dsl-provider file and comment out by putting a "#" infront of "usepeerdns" option then restart networking,dnscache and connect.

there no such file as dsl-provider in /etc/ppp/peer

[mediator]

I think u r having some dynamic configuration. Try static configuration i.e static IPs n all n then fill ur resolv.conf!

[praka123]

/etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider. or /etc/ppp/options -try any of them.

[gary4gar]

Originally Posted by praka123

/etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider. or /etc/ppp/options -try any of them.

etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider. does not exist
and in /etc/ppp/options there there is no such option relating to usepeerdns which i should comment


ATM using +i flag on /etc/resolve.conf
using chattr, but that a bad practice anyway .

-$cat /etc/interfaces

 auto lo
iface lo inet loopback


iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.3
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

auto eth0

[praka123]

oh!ur using router dialer!i forgot
I think you should read "man pppd" for some options.
even better,u remove network-manager and network-manager-gnome.that solves many such unexpected things!then try resetting /etc/resolv.conf using chattr -i command.

[gary4gar]

Originally Posted by praka123

oh!ur using router dialer!i forgot
I think you should read "man pppd" for some options.
even better,u remove network-manager and network-manager-gnome.that solves many such unexpected things!then try resetting /etc/resolv.conf using chattr -i command.

removed network-manager and network-manager-gnome & did chattr -i /etc/resolve.conf

restarted networking & dnsmasq, and its working fine now!
thanks a lot
however i have not rebooted yet, but mostly likely is will works right

[praka123]

^hai stop hidden mode @gary is irritating.