AV-Lab - Recommended DNS servers – which ones are the fastest and best protect the us

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Recommended DNS servers - speed and protection test results

1. Changes since the last test
   
2. Comparison of DNS servers
   
3. Configuration of DNS addresses
   
4. How to find out the router address?
   
5. Speed test of DNS servers
   
6. Protection test against phishing (100 addresses per day)
   
7. Malware protection test (100 addresses per day)
   
8. DNS server is an important aspect of our security
   

DNS (Domain Name System) is a service responsible for assigning IP addresses and other information to Internet domains. Each website has its own “identifier”, i.e. the mentioned IP address. In the case of hosting, many websites share a single address. Having a domain and assigning it to an IP address of a WWW server is not required to run a publicly available service, while entering a website using an IP address does not look professional. IP addresses associated with a given domain can be found by searching for a domain, e.g. in the Whois database or using the “ping” command in Windows (which will display only an IP address), or the “host” command in Linux.

ATTENTION!

We have updated the DNS server test with new providers and threats. The current test date is September 10, 2023.

Changes since the last testThis year, the following servers have not been checked: DNS.Watch (although the servers themselves respond, their website returns error code 502 which could mean a possible abandonment of the project) and OpenNIC (two Polish servers have been unavailable for a long time).

However, we have managed to test the new dns0.eu server which we mentioned about in the article from February 10, 2023.

There were no major changes in the testing process, except for the list of domains used in the performance test. Details are described below.

DNS server IP addresses are handled by IANA and ICANN. In Poland, Naukowa i Akademicka Sieć Komputerowa (NASK), is responsible for the domain registry and the .pl domain. DNS itself uses the UDP protocol when executing queries, and runs at the application layer of the OSI model, on default port 53. Usually, we have configured two IP addresses of different DNS providers which is a security in case one of them fails.

The “backbone of the Internet” are the so-called root servers. Their list is available on the https://root-servers.org/ website.



Getting basic information on a domain using the “host” command.There are different DNS records that can be set for a domain. The most basic of them are:

• A –  IPv4 address that the domain points to
  
• AAAA – IPv6 address that the domain points to
  
• CNAME – a canonical name, often used to indicate different domain prefixes instead of IP addresses (for example, avlab.pl can be the CNAME record for www.avlab.pl)
  
• MX – address of server that hosts email
  
• TXT – various additional information (e.g. Google Workspace verification code), also used to validate domain “ownership” when purchasing SSL certificates, and to configure SPF record
  

Routers provided by an ISP are often configured to use DNS servers in a carrier’s network. It is usually a good idea to change this setting to DNS servers owned by global carriers as they are generally more efficient and secure than those offered by Internet service providers. Some of them (listed below) also include additional functionalities in the form of blocking malicious domains, or those with adult content.
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