Cloudflare launches new Public DNS

opethdisciple · 2 Apr 2018 at 01:16

I noticed this today.

CloudFlare article.

It sounds great!! Faster than Google and Open DNS and all the security and privacy tech available.

However... it being posted on April Fools.... is this just a joke?

Doesn't seem to be a joke.

---

Well I tried it and found that YouTube videos where not buffering ahead fast enough to keep videos playing smoothly. Google DNS seemed better.

bremen1874 · 2 Apr 2018 at 01:27

Even the IP address looks like it could be part of an April Fools but 1.1.1.1 (and 1.0.0.1) are there.

blueacid · 2 Apr 2018 at 11:18

Using it now, seems pretty fast! I ping to 1.1.1.1 faster than my ISP's own DNS servers!

opethdisciple · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:05

blueacid said:
Using it now, seems pretty fast! I ping to 1.1.1.1 faster than my ISP's own DNS servers!

I'm giving it another go. But I found that YouTube videos where buffering slower compared to Google DNS.

opethdisciple · 2 Apr 2018 at 13:40

They seem to be doing it all for the right reasons.

Also raw performance it's fast.

Duke · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:12

Seems quick, cheers.

Etheco · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:34

Thanks, faster then Quad9 I was previously using.

andy_mk3 · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:19

A quick DNS benchmark isn't showing it as being the quickest for me. My own DNS server is pfSense with local cache plus Google DNS.

Deleted member 138126 · 2 Apr 2018 at 17:02

andy_mk3 said:
My own DNS server

Ignore the red part of the graph. Look at the length of the green and blue bars, and compare them with yours. Your red bar (cached results) is almost zero because it is on your network, so there's no latency returning results that are already in your router's cache. But look at the time to resolve which is what green and blue are. Waaaay shorter on 1.1.1.1 than on your router. If you hover over the IP addresses on the left, it will give you the average latency in milliseconds. In short: 1.1.1.1 is much quicker than everything else.

andy_mk3 · 2 Apr 2018 at 17:09

rotor said:
Ignore the red part of the graph. Look at the length of the green and blue bars, and compare them with yours. Your red bar (cached results) is almost zero because it is on your network, so there's no latency returning results that are already in your router's cache. But look at the time to resolve which is what green and blue are. Waaaay shorter on 1.1.1.1 than on your router. If you hover over the IP addresses on the left, it will give you the average latency in milliseconds. In short: 1.1.1.1 is much quicker than everything else.

You're right. I've not used this benchmark in ages and got the two mixed up I think! In which case, it is indeed much quicker

bremen1874 · 2 Apr 2018 at 17:30

It may be quicker in benchmarks but it often feels slower.

Back to Google DNS for the moment.

opethdisciple · 2 Apr 2018 at 23:28

I think the idea is really not to give the likes of Google and Facebook et al any more of our data. Which I think is what CloudFlare are banking on.

The other thing is the source code is open source and they have KPMG auditing them to back up their claims of privacy and security.

Type_R · 2 Apr 2018 at 23:57

Started using it here today...finding it faster than google! Going to stick with it for now!

opethdisciple · 3 Apr 2018 at 09:51

Possibly the only gotcha is that "Cloudflare is sharing DNS query data with APNIC Labs, a part of Asian registry APNIC, in exchange for the use of its 1.1.1.1 network address."

"The regional internet registry insists it wants to better understand the technical intricacies of DNS, in order to mitigate denial-of-service attacks and to optimize server communication. The research relationship is set to run for at least five years, after which it may be renewed and APNIC will consider permanently allocating the 1.1.1.1 IP address – along with 1.0.0.1 – to Cloudflare"

APNIC goes on to say:

"We will be destroying all 'raw' DNS data as soon as we have performed statistical analysis on the data flow," APNIC Labs said in a blog post on Sunday.

"We will not be compiling any form of profiles of activity that could be used to identify individuals, and we will ensure that any retained processed data is sufficiently generic that it will not be susceptible to efforts to reconstruct individual profiles."

APNIC Labs says that it will also limit access to the data by its researchers and will abide by its non-disclosure policies."

Link.

Deleted member 77746 · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:29

I might give it a go later on once I’ve switched providers.

Swinbag · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:31

Interesting concept - will give it a try later on.

APM · 3 Apr 2018 at 13:23

Well noticed.

Rainmaker · 3 Apr 2018 at 15:04

Doing well for me so far. I'd been using dns.watch servers, but the Cloudflare ones are 25% faster than even Google DNS for me.

APM · 3 Apr 2018 at 15:46

Anyone know where the servers are geographcally?

Jez · 3 Apr 2018 at 15:51

APM said:
Anyone know where the servers are geographcally?

Seems slow from down here in Oxon, looks like its up north;

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.254
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms host-78-151-229-51.as13285.net [78.151.229.51]
5 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms host-78-151-229-54.as13285.net [78.151.229.54]
6 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms host-78-144-8-122.as13285.net [78.144.8.122]
7 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms host-78-144-8-123.as13285.net [78.144.8.123]
8 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms host-78-144-8-250.as13285.net [78.144.8.250]
9 25 ms 14 ms 14 ms ixmanchester.as13335.net [195.66.244.71]
10 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com [1.1.1.1]

By comparison google in london is down at 6-7ms, i'm only on a FTTC VDSL line hence.

Cloudflare launches new Public DNS

Deleted member 138126

Deleted member 138126