Want to Speed Up Your Users' Internet? Look at Your DNS Server

The Domain Name System (DNS) is crucial to how your users experience the internet. Each fourth dimension users demand to achieve a website, their PC needs to interpret whatever they type in an accost bar into an IP address. Problem is, almost people can't remember IP addresses and so they'd rather blazon in the name of a website or other internet location by proper noun.

IT Watch bug art So, after users blazon in something such equally "PCMag.com," their computers send that name out to a DNS server, which looks upwards the IP address and sends that address back to the users' PCs. Once the computers accept that information, the users can navigate to the website.

The DNS Slowdown

As you can imagine, each time the DNS server has to wait upward an address, it takes fourth dimension. Information technology also takes time for the asking to reach the server and fourth dimension for it to travel dorsum over the net to the estimator. This delay is referred to as "latency" and enough of information technology can cause users to swamp your helpdesk inbox with problem tickets concerning "boring internet."

While a unmarried folio might load fairly fast, most webpages consist of several, perhaps dozens, of individual items, many with their own internet address. Added together, these delays tin can really slow things down. Some websites that characteristic a lot of advertisements, for example, tin can be incredibly dull as each ad takes its time to load.

Fortunately, a few DNS server operators are working on this problem past speeding up their role of the process, offering lookup services with as footling latency every bit possible. Cloudflare, for example, has just announced that information technology will be providing DNS services from 150 locations globally. In a movement reminiscent of edge cloud computing, these service providers are not only spreading out the calculating load but they're also putting their servers as close equally possible to users, which means "travel time" latency is minimized.

One such DNS service provider is Cloudflare DNS. This provider'south servers have the aforementioned IP address (ane.one.ane.1), which your router can find on the internet past using search algorithms that choose the shortest path first.

Better Security

Another nice benefit of these new services is a higher level of security beyond typical managed endpoint safeguards because they encrypt users' DNS requests. Past encrypting incoming requests, other services forth the way, including your internet service provider (ISP), can't read what's beingness requested.

"Business organisation or Information technology departments can update their routers and take reward of 1.1.1.1," explained Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and Principal Operating Officeholder (COO) of Cloudflare. "We're working with dissimilar ISPs to get in even easier to access."

Zatlyn said that in that location's no charge for an organization to use the Cloudflare DNS service, and she stressed the importance of encrypting the DNS requests. "Nosotros're a privacy-beginning DNS resolver," she said, mentioning further that Cloudflare is working to encourage widespread adoption, which is why there'due south no charge. Still, while whatsoever business concern can utilise the Cloudflare DNS services, information technology will work better for some than others.

"Some businesses accept no thought who they're getting DNS from," Zatlyn said, "while some want all sorts of filtering." She said that, as it currently stands, the Cloudflare DNS is probably non appropriate for large businesses that demand a lot of control over what websites are resolved and which are not.

"What we do in our core services is that we provide a large, strategic global network in 150 cities around the world—beyond the US, Canada, Europe, and mainland China," Zatlyn said. "Nosotros're very close to where people are connecting to the cyberspace. Because we're closer, we're faster."

A Growing Number of Players

Cloudflare isn't the merely company offering fast and secure DNS. Google has been offering a public DNS service at IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and eight.8.4.four. There's also Quad9, which offers a service that's similar to Cloudflare'due south but which also blocks malicious websites. Past blocking malicious websites, Quad9 prevents malware from reaching its control and control servers, and it prevents coin-mining attacks into the bargain.

Quad9 also has an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) DNS service that offers the aforementioned fast name resolution and the same security features. It also has an unsecure address for users who desire the fast proper name resolution simply not the filtering. Similar the Cloudflare service, Quad9, which was adult with the help of IBM, is free.

Cisco offers OpenDNS, which is available for businesses of all sizes likewise as for individual users. It's costless for individuals and very minor businesses but there is a charge for other services. OpenDNS is role of the Cisco Umbrella offer, which provides a wide range of capabilities designed to secure business users. For larger companies that need the filtering and other capabilities that Zatlyn mentioned, this might be the answer.

All 3 services are free to private users, which means that you can try them out and meet if they make sense. Ane potential departure is latency considering the farther you are from the service's nearest DNS server, the greater the potential latency.

Remember, latency is additive. Your overall lost time to latency in your business organisation is the sum of the latency for all users. And the overall lost time for each user is the sum of the delay for each website, each time a user visits it. This is added to the time information technology takes your other internet-connected devices to get name resolution each time they need it. And then even a small difference can add together up to a lot.