Google is a huge company that provides paid and free services. It mainly operates in the IT and internet area. The Internet uses DNS in order to solve domain names into IP addresses. Because internet infrastructure works with IP addresses. Google provides free DNS servers that can be used for fast and free domain resolution. In this tutorial we will learn Google DNS features and how to use it in Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Kali, Windows, Windows Server.
Google DNS Features
Google provides following DNS servers over the following IP addresses.
- 8.8.8.8 is used for IPv4
- 8.8.4.4 is alternative IPv4 to the 8.8.8.8
- 2001:4860:4860::8888 is used for IPv6
Google DNS servers are fast and secure because it is provided in different continents and countries.
Google Public DNS Web Page
Google also provides a web page named Google Public DNS . This web page is served via https://dns.google.com. It is looking like a Google Search where we need to put IPv4, IPv6 address or hostname.
Set For Windows Operating System
Now we will set 8.8.8.8 as DNS server IP address for different operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016.
Open following Network and Sharing Center screen by following Control Panel->All Control Panel Items->Network and Sharing Center .
Click Ethernet0 where we will change DNS for this interface. But if we want to change Wireless DNS we should click to the Wireless interface like WiFi.
Then click to the Properties which will open a detailed configuration of the interface.
Select Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) and click properties.
Select Use the following DNS server address and put 8.8.8.8 to the Preferred DNS server and click OK.
Set For Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Kali, Fedora, CentOS, RedHat
We will prefer to use the GUI of XFCE. Open Network Connections screen which will look like below or similar.
And select the interface we want to set which is netplan-ens33 in this example and click Edit .
Select IPv4 Settings tab and choose Automatica(DHCP) addresses only for Method .
Enter 8.8.8.8 to the DNS servers configuration like below and click OK.
Google Public DNS Server Alternatives
Even Google Public DNS service is great there are also different alternatives which can be used easily.
OpenDNS is a DNS service which is provided via different data centers over the world. Currently it has 90 million global users with 140 bilion daily DNS requests. OpenDNS is very reliable where it provides 100 percent reliability. OpenDNS also provides security over the DNS requests and very easy to setup like Google Public DNS. OpenDNS recently acquired by Cisco which is another network giant.
CloudFlare DNS is another alternative and competitor of the Google Public DNS. CloudFlare provides DDOS Protection, Network Security, CND, Reliability services with DNS service, CloudFlare uses the DNS service 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 those are very easy to remember. According to the CloudFlare its DNS service is the fastest DNS server on the internet.
Track and Monitor Google Public DNS Service Status
Even Google Public DNS is a service which is very realiable in some cases it may be interrupted very little periods or slow down for problems. The DNSperf.com web site provides a monitor screen to track Google Public DNS service which looks like below.
https://www.dnsperf.com/dns-resolver/google
