Dotan Cohen wrote: > I've heard that one could run a local DNS server to speed up internet > access. Does this have a real-world advantage for a home user? As I > understand it, the first time I go to www.example.com it would have to > contact the ISP's DNS servers to find the address, so there is not > advantage, but the next time it should be cached. Is this accurate? > Can someone fill me in? > > Thanks in advance. > > Dotan Cohen > There is a bit more to it then that, but that is the basics. How long your local name server will keep the information is controlled by several things. It will not keep it over a reboot, and most DNS entries have a TTL value. Think of it as an expiration date. After X amount of time, you have to check the name servers again, even if you have the information in the local cache, because it may have changed. Where running a local name server really helps is if you have more then one machine on the local network, and they are all configured to use the same local name server. Chances are, there are going to be a fair number of sites that are used by more then one computer. One other thing that you can do with a local name server is to remap sites like doubleclick to a local address. That way, you don't download the adds, as well as avoid a lot of the tracking. This can save a useful amount of Internet traffic. (You can also do this on a single machine using the /etc/hosts file.) Mikkel -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
