Google Wants to Speed Up the Web: Launches Its Own DNS Service
Google just launched the Google Public DNS. Just like OpenDNS, Google Public DNS will allow users to bypass their ISPs Domain Name Servers (DNS). DNS servers are, in many respects, the backbone of the Internet. DNS allows you to type a domain name like www.senate.gov into a browser instead of a machine-readable IP number like http://156.33.195.33/. Google argues that it wants to give consumers an alternative to their ISPs' DNS services in order to make the Internet "faster, safer and more reliable."
According to Google product manager Prem Ramaswami, the company's engineers have been working to improve DNS over the last few months. Instead of performing DNS lookups on an ISP's DNS server, Google will use its data-center and caching infrastructure to resolve these domain names.
After SPDY (which augments HTTP), this is Google's second major project that touches upon the core infrastructure of the Web.
Using Google Public DNS
Google Public DNS uses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as its IP addresses. Advanced users will surely have no problem making the necessary changes to enable Google Public DNS. The company has also released a set of step-by-step instructions for Windows, Mac and Linux users that can be found here.
A First for Google: Phone Support for a Free Product
In addition, Google is also offering phone support, which, to our knowledge, is unprecedented. Given that a mistake in changing your DNS settings could easily make accessing the Internet impossible, this is probably a good solution in this specific case.
Privacy
According to Google's FAQ, the company will only keep temporary logs and erase all the information it collects through the public DNS service within 24 to 45 hours. The company promises not to keep any information that is linked to IP addresses in its permanent logs.
As of now, it doesn't look like Google offers any additional services besides the pure DNS lookup. Unlike OpenDNS, it doesn't block malware sites or present users with a list of alternative addresses (and ads) if it can't resolve an address.
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Interesting. I'll naively ask "What's in it for them?"
Bruce, it makes the web faster. A faster web => more web usage. And more web usage is good for Google.
Posted by: bradfitz
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December 3, 2009 9:43 AM
Google trying to own even more of the internet I see. :P
Is there anything they don't have a share in?
Very nifty way to collect aggregate data on all of the websites people are actually browsing, even if Google wasn't used as the search engine.
That's what Google gets from this.
Yay! SkyNet, I mean Google, has a new service :)
yeah google is really owning the internet!
Not really seeing a speed difference but I am already on a fast connection.
Nice really nice
Cool, if I can test it on my voip line I'll surely give it a try ;)
Very spooky idea!
Free will usually cost you something in the end.
(I'm usually not this paranoid)
dns is the last distributed infrastructure left, it amazingly distribute the power of naming meaning that you trust the dns network to resolve the www.whatever.com to the actual ip address on the server.
if network moves back to the central model you will have the naming power in one place and then lets say google can add another fantastic service, for example,
if cnn.com goes off-line, and the google dns service saw that you ask for, the cnn,com site it will be able to redirect you to the cached version of the site, or shall i say, the censored version of the site.
Keep the net distributed too much power in one place is the past not the future
You gotta read the fine print. At the very bottom of Google's explanation of the new DNS service, they put in a disclaimer about speed. My understanding is that if the DNS is geographically far from you, then speed will be slower. Therefore, sticking with your ISP's DNS server may make more sense. Here's the Google disclaimer:
Note, however, that because nameservers geolocate according to the resolver's IP address rather than the user's, Google Public DNS has the same limitations as other open DNS services: that is, the server to which a user is referred might be farther away than one to which a local DNS provider would have referred. This could cause a slower browsing experience for certain sites.
Does anyone have a response to Joe? If he is correct, this would mean each person should be very careful about signing up for this since it would only help (and might even hurt) the browsing experience depending on where the individual is. Do we know where Google's servers are, and is that a relevant piece of knowledge when deciding whether to sign up for this?
Thanks.
Am curious to know if there would be any other reason beyond speed for end users to bypass their ISPs DNS?
Bruce, it makes the web faster. A faster web => more web usage. And more web usage is good for Google.
These days i find my search in google is becoming a headache for me. many and almost 90% of googles pages sends a virus or starts installing a virus. the same site when opened through yahoo are fine and good. google pls see what is happening. thanks
Ha! If you use this, Google will know your IP, and it will also know the IP you are logged into Google with, so it will match them up. Now, if you visit Japanese porno sites, it will serve ads for Japanese porno in your Gmail!
This also cuts cost for them. If people use Google DNS instead of OpenDNS, then Google does not have to pay OpenDNS ad commissions for any ads served on OpenDNS. This is also the reason the developed and released Chrome. Mozilla's default search is Google w/ads. Mozilla makes hundreds of millions of dollars. If Google can spend just one million to develop a new browser and get people to use it, then they can pay Mozilla less commissions and keep 100% ad revenue.
If you ever want to know why a company does something, just think of economics. The sole purpose of any company (esp. public) is to make money.
Joe is correct and anyone living on the East coast may not experience a speed increase since Google is in California, unless their ISP is very slow, which some are. It's a rather minuscule improvement, since a lookup takes only a few milliseconds, is cached by your browser or OS, and is only done once for the first visit.
I think that its a great thing, although I may have some reservations, all in all I feel that it is a fabulous development.
Pretty much anything Google touches breaks until at least a few months of "public testing" has been out the way...much the same as a new OS - and at the end of the day, the more information Google has about internet usage, the more they can monopolise because they know the true stats....knowledge is power!
Wish them the best of luck, but if it breaks once in the public eye, all hell could break loose - which could also have a negative impact on the end-user's perception of any one company they're viewing at the time. If Google to take over the technological world (which looks feasible given the tools and facilities they have out there), we're all slaves to Google.
Google has also taken a strong stance for net neutrality, and providing things like this is a step towards that goal. For example, my ISP (East-link, East coast of Canada) recently decided to return paid add results for un-resolvable queries. You can opt out, but that is cookie based so every time you clear your cookies you have to re-opt out. If they think its OK to provide me with useless, unrequested content that I didn't want and reduce the functionality of my browser, what will the be OK with next.
Like Chrome, SPDY, and numerous other initiatives google has taken, its about improving the web (and increasing their market share by being at the head of that wave of innovation). The more powerful they make the web, the more you're going to want and need to use their services. I don't see this as particularly evil, because the only thing I agree with Chloe above on is that a company is driven by its wallet. They are doing what is best for their company. I just believe her and many others are taking too short-sided a view on what they are doing, and what benefits google doesn't come at the detriment to the user, at least not all the time.
As I see it, this can lead for google to rule Internet, becuase, Domains rely on DNS, so, if everybody starts asking google servers for name resolution, them they just can start adding new names at will, and eventually owning Internet, one of the request the EU has made to US about Internet is that the Main (root) DNS servers are controlled by US, so if for some reason US desides to delete a country domain, that country will be invisible to name resolution.
So, if Google get that power just imagine.
INNOVATION
I think this is currently a bit misleading for some people.
Google says this will speed up the web as a alternative to their current ISP or Open DNS. Well this may be true for some people but we performed some tests on this server with a couple of different DNS servers and the speed was not brilliant.
I think people should check their own DNS and only really move if they have issues or they know their DNS is slow.
Good to offer as a service, also think about the data we are all giving google for free :)
Wonder what their plans are for the data and how this will effect their seo results, tracking, personalisation etc
Shane
Could you all please STFU. If you don't like what Google is doing then don't use their services. Is that so hard?
Everyone's all about "Google will own us", "Google knows stuff about me"... and I ask SO WHAT? :)
So what if Google knows I like to surf certain page types. So what if they know every detail of my personal life. It's not like they will come and rob me or anything. And so far all I experienced were higher service quality.
You have to be masochist. For me personally Google knowing more stuff about me, means less digging around the net when I need to find something. And NEVER-EVER I have heard of Google giving your private data.
Does anyone really know why banks are pushing credit cards so hard? It's because you are easier to track that way. Do you care? Of course not... You still go shopping. But NOOO when it comes to Google (or anyone else for that matter) tracking anything... it's all evil and conspiracy... Just a bunch of paranoid people. You should read Google's code of conduct... "Don't be evil!" I believe is one of their main rules...
Yes yes, many of you will thing am a mindless Google fan-boy. But really am not. I like using their services but still. If anyone tries to make a world better place, just give him a chance... we can always stop using Google if we feel they are doing something bad. At least someone is trying. Maybe their goals are wrong, but if they make world a better place in process, why the hell not. It's not like they are taking your money... just think, Microsoft is charging you shit-load of money for their software and they still can't (and probably will not) make stable and secure OS. Because it is in their interest to make all of you buy every new OS they make.
I don't want to start OS war here... just saying... it's free, and it's getting better by the day.
I think all who think that any kind of progress is just a master plan for world domination should throw away every piece of technology they own and go to jungle. There you will feel :) more comfortable than anywhere on this planet. But maybe the trees are plotting a plan of world domination too...
look for "vivilproject dns" on a search engine or http://80.247.230.136/dns.htm and list a lot of public DNS other than google dns and opendns... i do not love my private surf can be tracked for ads reasons :-(
I think Google has more undisclosed agenda behind this
Great news
Darth Wader misses the point about privacy concerns pertaining to Google. I, for one, do indeed care about corporations amassing personal information about me. Google, just as any other corporation, is required by law to give any or all of that information to government authorities or agencies by means of subpoena. They may also be required to hand it over in civil cases as well. Furthermore, just as any other corporation, Google may choose to sell that information to third parties, some of whom may not be trustworthy.
Any idea if they'll open up a dynamic DNS service for free?
This would be a great thing if it works!
Kevin Carey
http://iblog.at/careymarketing/
Go Darth Wader! OMG finally it's nice to here someone else with a level head that's not scared big brother is going to catch them doing absolutely nothing. You'd think these people are international spies or something the way they are so scared their going to be seen doing something.
And go Google, I for one am tired of paying piles of money for software. In fact I think it's because of Google that Microsoft is finally thinking they better give some things away also. If you give some things for free, people use your product, your standards are standard, people want your product. I don't know how many Visual Studio's I've bought, but I do know the latest Express version I got was FREE. Lets see how many more websites will now be Microsoft technology for the first time.
I love it
PS: I hope nobody see's this, they'll know what I'm up to.
I do think it's a little conspiracy theory to jump to the conclusion that Google is trying to dominate the web. It's not based on evidence, it's simply based on a preconceived mindset, much like whether or not a person believes in god. If you start from a certain preconceived notion often all the evidence points to support your claim.
To a person that believes that Google is intent on taking over the internet, this is just another brick in their wall of domination. However to a person who believes that Google is just trying to push the innovation of the internet into a faster pace than the crawl of a petrified snail it's been taking since its conception nearly half a century ago, only further solidifies the ideology of "Don't be evil" (of course assuming that one believes that innovation is a good thing)
Quite frankly the pace at which the industry is facading standards to support innovation leaves Google with few options to push the industry other than to use its acquired might and industry image. Whether or not a product they release becomes a standard (which is fairly unlikely) it gives them an image of innovation people can see (its kinda hard to see or understand innovative search algorithms) and helps drive the publicly accepted level of technology. Its really a win win situation.
Until we are ACTUALLY forced to use Google technology or services I call FUD to anyone saying we are. For most practical purposes Yahoo, Bing or any other of the searches will yield sufficiently similar results, and there are other options for all of Googles services. That fact that many of them are free does not force your hand. I seldom use more than Google search and Chrome as I prefer other options to googles.
So to all you paranoid victocrates terrified of capitalistic society, speaking to your limited capacity for innovative intellect, I suggest you find an ecosystem of economy more suited to your palate, perhaps somewhere beyond the reaching arm of your perceived shadow of big brother and corrupt corporations. Cause I will fight tooth and nail to the day I die to protect the right of people and corporations to act in their own interests (or not if they choose) regardless of consequence and let the dynamics of the market and of the universe choose their fate.
The arrogance that comes from so many people, barely able to grasp the intellect and and discipline to manage their own finances and only able to parrot information and formula indoctrinated into their brains by so called institutions of learning, believing themselves to know better than those propelling the success and innovation of so many corporations and thereby a countries economy. These arrogant people can only damage an economy by restricting the freedoms in an effort to control a system that is beyond the intellect of 99% of the worlds population to fully understand.
(I do not claim to have any such advanced intellect, I do however have enough humility to understand the limits of my intellect.)
An industry giant is pretending to be an innovator. They are not actually. They are buyers)))
I am beginning to go away from their service slowly.
Google is taking over the world!
Using *any* other external DNS server is better than your ISP DNS for sure - they are notoriously slow. If not Google, use Google to find others, there are many.
Yes i agree with Michael above. Google is the undisputed leader of all times.
Great article BTW. Learnt so much:)
wow more ways to track you first search then the chrome with suspicious looking eye logo/icon now they want to fully watch you with this dns bull business
It would be interesting to see the results of traceroute and ping commands for other people hitting Google's DNS servers. Here are mine, from Auckland, New Zealand:
traceroute: 16 hops, average of nearly 200ms per hop
ping: ~220ms response time
Those results are definitely slower that my local ISP, but since I use OpenDNS anyway (I've found my ISP's DNS to be less than reliable), I'm going to try Google's offering for a while.
Posted by: segdeha.com
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January 27, 2010 10:54 PM