Starhub DNS

[uneducatedgoon]

I have a DCM-604 and my internet has been slowing to a standstill randomly over the last week.

When I go to the Auto DNS Configuration page on starhub I get this message:
Your PC/router DNS settings is currently configured to link to our decommissioned DNS server, and thus being re-directed to this webapge.
....

I called Starhub who told me to call Dlink. Dlink just told me to reset the router. Just did that, just waiting now on the next slowdown...

When I Diagnose my Network card on my PC it gives me: Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (DNS server) is not responding

What's going on?! Thanks for any help!

 

[negativzero]

Change your DNS to OpenDNS

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

 

[LemonT]

Did you hardcode the DNS somewhere in your network?
Check your PC's network adapter properties.

 

[uneducatedgoon]

Did you hardcode the DNS somewhere in your network?
Check your PC's network adapter properties.

No, set to automatic DNS.

Change your DNS to OpenDNS

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Will try this. Doesn't look like I can set manual DNS addresses in DMC-604 so have to device by device.

 

[zeroex]

You can also try google DNS at 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4

 

[davidktw]

You can also try google DNS at 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4

Nope never use Google DNS. They have a wrong implementation and also is a bad choice when accessing CDN contents

 

[crystalnox]

Nope never use Google DNS. They have a wrong implementation and also is a bad choice when accessing CDN contents

Care to elaborate?

 

[stevecsy]

I have the same issue back in Nov 2012 when they decom the old DNS server.

You can try the following which works for me

1) check all your client (PC or Laptop) at Network adaptor setting TCP/IP protocol, make sure no Fix IP or DNS setting.

2) logon to your Router, at the WAN setting, check you are set to DHCP

3) At your router, check the LAN setting, and ensure no DNS setting are there.

4) now go back to you client, open a command prompt and execute the following
a) ipconfig /all
- note the DNS server IP (can be your router IP or Starhub IP)

b) ipconfig /flushdns
- this will clear & refresh your current DNS at your client

5) clear all your browser cache.

6) power down all devices including your (OTN if Fibre or Cable Modem) and wait for 10 minutes.

7) power up sequence as follow (only start one after another when all status are green or OKay)
a) OTN or Cable modem
b) router
c) client

8) at client, check if new DNS is being assigned (open command prompt > ipconfig /all ; Looked for DNS servers - it will show either your router IP or Starhub DNS.

if all failed, go to your router LAN and setup the ip as suggested above posting. (sequencing not important)

regards
Steve

 

[davidktw]

Care to elaborate?

Sure. First Google DNS doesn't react properly when coming to DNS round robin

Using unix "dig", you can query against the DNS server and you will find when querying against Google DNS @ 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4, this is the response that you will get all the time

$ dig @8.8.8.8 yahoo.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> @8.8.8.8 yahoo.com
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 52688
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;yahoo.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
yahoo.com.		961	IN	A	98.139.183.24
yahoo.com.		961	IN	A	98.138.253.109
yahoo.com.		961	IN	A	206.190.36.45

;; Query time: 50 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 26 01:33:27 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 75

If you query against the OpenDNS, you will get this for repeated query

$ dig @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46416
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;yahoo.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
yahoo.com.		1122	IN	A	206.190.36.45
yahoo.com.		1122	IN	A	98.138.253.109
yahoo.com.		1122	IN	A	98.139.183.24

;; Query time: 52 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.222.222#53(208.67.222.222)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 26 01:36:11 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 75

$ dig @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46137
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;yahoo.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
yahoo.com.		1120	IN	A	98.139.183.24
yahoo.com.		1120	IN	A	206.190.36.45
yahoo.com.		1120	IN	A	98.138.253.109

;; Query time: 50 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.222.222#53(208.67.222.222)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 26 01:36:12 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 75

$ dig @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> @208.67.222.222 yahoo.com
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 22148
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;yahoo.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
yahoo.com.		1118	IN	A	98.138.253.109
yahoo.com.		1118	IN	A	98.139.183.24
yahoo.com.		1118	IN	A	206.190.36.45

;; Query time: 51 msec
;; SERVER: 208.67.222.222#53(208.67.222.222)
;; WHEN: Tue Feb 26 01:36:15 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 75

Notice the returned resolution are rotating. However this does not necessary means all the time. The DNS rotate for every query, hence if another host is querying for the same domain against this same DNS server, the next time for you might either skip or the query is the same. However this DNS round robin, while not the best load-balancing technique, is one of the techniques used in the Internet. Google DNS do not rotate may cause certain servers to be lope-sided in terms of load. Of course the right approach is always using a load-balancer for the service provider, but we can't dismiss this form of load-balancing too. I believe Google DNS implemented RFC3484 which breaks DNS round robin.

Next is if you are using Google DNS, you will realise at times accessing certain website which should be faster end up slower. I realise this when I realise downloading from Apple website is slower. The reason is Google DNS do not have any server in Singapore. Hence when you query against the DNS server, Content Distribution Network will use the connecting server, in this case, Google DNS when performing a recursive query as a source of where the user is. You end up being routed to Japan or US edge servers instead of the one in Singapore.

Akamai is guilty as charge since they did not implement the edns-client-subnet extension which is necessary for it to resolve the actual client is in Singapore! There are Akamai edge servers in Singapore, but if you are using Google DNS or OpenDNS, you wouldn't be routed to these servers. Read more from http://00f.net/2012/02/22/akamai-vs-public-dns-servers/ and http://www.cdnplanet.com/blog/which-cdns-support-edns-client-subnet/

While the articles claimed OpenDNS also suffer from the same issue, it will not affect users in Singapore. OpenDNS have servers in Singapore. An interesting article as I read, I learnt from ANYCAST. It is a BGP form of routing that can route clients to the nearest server in the vicinity even when query against the SAME IP ADDRESS. I believe this is governed by ISP performing the BGP routing. As such, for Singapore hosts, OpenDNS's IP address in Singapore will always resolve to the DNS server in Singapore and hence Akamai edge servers will be routed to those in Singapore. However the general concepts that hosts should usually be using the DNS servers offered by the ISP is generally correct since these DNS servers should reside locally in your vicinity.

I hope this is clear for you folks

 

[commach]

Use 3rd party DNS only if you encountered problem with the ISP DNS.

GoogleDNS or OpenDNS in general does not offer you a good download speed especially true when dealing with P2P traffic. We put ISP throttling aside for the time being, some ISP implemented P2P CDN which will tremendously speed up the common/popular files already downloaded many time by the subscribers. We can't expect (in general) GoogleDNS or OpenDNS to offer you a better download speed when the ISP's CDN (local) locations deliver content to the user in the fewest hops, shortest/lowest network seconds usually from the CDN with the highest availability in terms of server performance.

All ISPs are running a business aimed for maximising profit, at time, the highest performance CDN might not be chosen due to bandwidth cost and geographical location, you might end up worst using the ISP's DNS, hard truth.

Tested and proven (MOL user here) GoogleDNS does not have P2P CDN, using SH's DNS offered me a download speed not achievable using GoogleDNS or OpenDNS.

No hard rule which DNS is the best for you, run a DNS benchmark to find out which suit you better.

 

[davidktw]

Use 3rd party DNS only if you encountered problem with the ISP DNS.

GoogleDNS or OpenDNS in general does not offer you a good download speed especially true when dealing with P2P traffic. We put ISP throttling aside for the time being, some ISP implemented P2P CDN which will tremendously speed up the common/popular files already downloaded many time by the subscribers. We can't expect (in general) GoogleDNS or OpenDNS to offer you a better download speed when the ISP's CDN (local) locations deliver content to the user in the fewest hops, shortest/lowest network seconds usually from the CDN with the highest availability in terms of server performance.

All ISPs are running a business aimed for maximising profit, at time, the highest performance CDN might not be chosen due to bandwidth cost and geographical location, you might end up worst using the ISP's DNS, hard truth.

Tested and proven (MOL user here) GoogleDNS does not have P2P CDN, using SH's DNS offered me a download speed not achievable using GoogleDNS or OpenDNS.

No hard rule which DNS is the best for you, run a DNS benchmark to find out which suit you better.

Clarification, when you mention SH's DNS offer you download speed not achievable by GoogleDNS or OpenDNS, do you mean for contents that have be cached by the ISP and distributed locally instead of going all the way to the source instead ?

I'm curious at this statement "GoogleDNS does not have P2P CDN". I don't quite get how would you compare between a DNS service with SH's P2P CDN ? It wouldn't make sense at all for any public DNS service to offer CDN too isn't it ? While I understand your own ISP DNS will be able to route the content to a local CDN, it doesn't seems like an apple-to-apple comparison to compare as such between a public DNS service and a ISP local one.

 

[commach]

Clarification, when you mention SH's DNS offer you download speed not achievable by GoogleDNS or OpenDNS, do you mean for contents that have be cached by the ISP and distributed locally instead of going all the way to the source instead ?

Yes, the content already cached in the ISP's CDN (local), I can easily download at 2 Mb/s (MOL Express) for popular torrent files.

I'm curious at this statement "GoogleDNS does not have P2P CDN". I don't quite get how would you compare between a DNS service with SH's P2P CDN ? It wouldn't make sense at all for any public DNS service to offer CDN too isn't it ? While I understand your own ISP DNS will be able to route the content to a local CDN, it doesn't seems like an apple-to-apple comparison to compare as such between a public DNS service and a ISP local one.

Well, I can't explain it in full detail or precise information of this mysterious P2P CDN (local). This CDN/CDNs appeared a few years ago, before this, I hardly able to download 1Mb/s on torrent file (single file/job).

With this P2P CDN (example: cm***.sigma***.maxonline.com.sg [uTP] with 100% content), the download speed jumped from initial low kB/s to 1.2Mb/s constant till 99% then slowly drop till the file completed. Always the case when connected to this P2P CDN even though 3 or 4 system are surfing the web at the same time. When the subscribe speed bumped to 16Mbps, I can reach 2Mb/s easily. Hasn't do any P2P after the recent speed bumped to 25Mbps since 2-Feb-2013.

Such speed are usually not possible when downloading from other sites other than P2P file. If using GoogleDNS, I will never be able to connect to the CDN, never once.

 

[davidktw]

Yes, the content already cached in the ISP's CDN (local), I can easily download at 2 Mb/s (MOL Express) for popular torrent files.



Well, I can't explain it in full detail or precise information of this mysterious P2P CDN (local). This CDN/CDNs appeared a few years ago, before this, I hardly able to download 1Mb/s on torrent file (single file/job).

With this P2P CDN (example: cm***.sigma***.maxonline.com.sg [uTP] with 100% content), the download speed jumped from initial low kB/s to 1.2Mb/s constant till 99% then slowly drop till the file completed. Always the case when connected to this P2P CDN even though 3 or 4 system are surfing the web at the same time. When the subscribe speed bumped to 16Mbps, I can reach 2Mb/s easily. Hasn't do any P2P after the recent speed bumped to 25Mbps since 2-Feb-2013.

Such speed are usually not possible when downloading from other sites other than P2P file.

I see. Guess SH is doing P2P users a favour, by getting involved as seeders in P2P network. But correct me if I'm mistaken, P2P CDN has nothing to do with torrent ? As I have read, P2P CDN is an architecture used by CDN to distribute contents among its edge servers using P2P approach. But I can understand if you get better results, it could be SH getting involved in the seeding to help local folks complete faster and hence they can cut outgoing and incoming packets in its international channels.

 

[commach]

I see. Guess SH is doing P2P users a favour, by getting involved as seeders in P2P network. But correct me if I'm mistaken, P2P CDN has nothing to do with torrent ? As I have read, P2P CDN is an architecture used by CDN to distribute contents among its edge servers using P2P approach. But I can understand if you get better results, it could be SH getting involved in the seeding to help local folks complete faster and hence they can cut outgoing and incoming packets in its international channels.

It might not be technically call P2P CDN in some fashion. But, clearly not something public DNS able to connect me to .... haha.

By doing this, the ISP cut down tremendously on international bandwidth/cost, not a bad deal for the ISP and subscribers.

Peer-to-peer CDNs

Although peer-to-peer (P2P) is not traditional CDN technology, it is increasingly used to deliver content to end users. P2P claims low cost and efficient distribution. The real strength of P2P shows when one has to distribute data in high demand, like the latest episode of a television show or some sort of software patch/update, in a short period of time. As P2P distribution is essentially offloading the traffic burden to its clients, it is advantageous for the provider. This practice is not without controversy as P2P CDN clients often continue running in the background days after originally downloading the file. It can cripple users' internet performance, is difficult to uninstall, and popular Antivirus software suites even consider such software to be malware.

Content delivery network - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[OnePunchMan]

It might not be technically call P2P CDN in some fashion. But, clearly not something public DNS able to connect me to .... haha.

By doing this, the ISP cut down tremendously on international bandwidth/cost, not a bad deal for the ISP and subscribers.

there is issue to legal issue and others too on what they are able to do P2P CDN.

Do note even though open-dns have server in singapore. it might not direct you to the correct server for your isp. example it tells u to get the data in Telco A while u are in Telco B and such.

 

[liangtam]

I would like to highlight that both Google DNS and OpenDNS are NOT to be used, especially if users would like the best possible download speeds if they surf CDN often, which is likely the case, because even forums.hardwarezone.com.sg is on one.

Where does the DNS results to depends on the POV of the recursor, not where the DNS recursor is hosted - and definitely NOT reflected of where the user is connected from

If you do a ping to both 8.8.8.8 and 208.67.222.222, you will realise both servers are nearby, likely even Google DNS is in SG.

Then you do a lookup on say... forums.hardwarezone.com.sg and do a traceroute to that IP. Try it.

 

[davidktw]

I would like to highlight that both Google DNS and OpenDNS are NOT to be used, especially if users would like the best possible download speeds if they surf CDN often, which is likely the case, because even forums.hardwarezone.com.sg is on one.

Where does the DNS results to depends on the POV of the recursor, not where the DNS recursor is hosted - and definitely NOT reflected of where the user is connected from

I think this is not entirely true. That will depends if the query is recursive or iterative. By default, as I could remember, DNS resolvers on system are perform recursive call to DNS server, but DNS server are not recursive by default when resolving domain names. Correct me if I'm mistaken on this part.

ANother reason why this statement is not entirely true is because while both OpenDNS and GoogleDNS support the edns-client-subnet extension, it is Akamai CDN that doesn't support it with hence this issue. You may read up more at http://00f.net/2012/02/22/akamai-vs-public-dns-servers/ and Which CDNs support edns-client-subnet? - CDN Planet

If you do a ping to both 8.8.8.8 and 208.67.222.222, you will realise both servers are nearby, likely even Google DNS is in SG.

Don't think so. The discrepancy is too large. 8.8.8.8 ping is 16ms. It is not a good indication that it is local. On the other hand, 208.67.222.222 is 6ms. I have verified source that OpenDNS have server in SG and the routing in Akamai is also correct, but not for Google DNS.

 

[negativzero]

I have verified source that OpenDNS have server in SG and the routing in Akamai is also correct, but not for Google DNS.

Nope, if you're on OpenDNS and using Akamai, you either get routed to Japan or US.

Right now this is the only issue which is forcing me to stick with the ISP DNS, if not I actually love their encrypted DNS connections. Really fast and secure

 

[jtdcjtdc]

so is it safe to conclude, that OpenDNS is more recommended here than the DNS servers assigned by the providers? i would believe that in terms of routing, the ISP provided DNS are the fastest you can reach. question is the quality of their DNS setup/service, not sure if you got doubts on your provider, but I believe OpenDNS specializes in that (DNS setup/service quality).

so, what do you think?

 

[davidktw]

Nope, if you're on OpenDNS and using Akamai, you either get routed to Japan or US.

Right now this is the only issue which is forcing me to stick with the ISP DNS, if not I actually love their encrypted DNS connections. Really fast and secure

Indeed you are right, I was mistaken on this part. Just tested out on ax.init.itunes.apple.com. Indeed OpenDNS and GoogleDNS routed to US