OpenDNS
From ArchWiki
OpenDNS is an alternative DNS service.
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DNS in Linux
Your ISP (usually) provides working DNS servers, and a router may also add an extra DNS server in case you have your own cache server. Switching between DNS servers does not represent a problem for Windows users, because if a DNS server is slow or does not work it will immediately switch to a better one. However, Linux usually takes longer to timeout, which could be the reason why you are getting a delay.
Use dig (provided by package dnsutils) before any changes, repeat after making the adjustments in the section below and compare the query time(s):
$ dig www5.yahoo.com
You can also specify a nameserver:
$ dig @ip.of.name.server www5.yahoo.com
Using OpenDNS
Edit /etc/resolv.conf
and add the OpenDNS nameservers to the top of the file so they are used first, optionally removing already listed servers in order to only use OpenDNS:
# OpenDNS nameservers nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220
dhcpcd
If you are using dhcpcd, edit /etc/dhcpcd.conf
to change the following line from:
option domain_name_servers, domain_name, domain_search, host_name
To:
option domain_name, domain_search, host_name
This will prevent dhcpcd from adding other nameservers to /etc/resolv.conf.
You will also need to edit or create /etc/resolv.conf.head
in order to add the OpenDNS nameservers. The same principles apply as with /etc/resolv.conf; add them to the top of the file and optionally delete the rest:
# OpenDNS nameservers nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220
Dhcpcd dynamically generates /etc/resolv.conf by prepending /etc/resolv.conf.head and parsing options from /etc/dhcpcd.conf.
Restart networking after editing or creating /etc/resolv.conf.head
in order for the changes to take effect immediately:
# /etc/rc.d/network restart
pdnsd
See: Pdnsd#OpenDNS
Fixing problems with Google
OpenDNS hijacks Google-searches by routing all queries through their own servers first. This can be annoying because Google searches may slow down noticeably and it also breaks Google's FeelingLucky feature (e.g., entering digg in your adress bar will open www.digg.com). For the latter, there is a Firefox-addon that brings back the original behaviour. A more elegant solution is to redirect all queries for Google exclusively to your ISP's DNS Server. This can be done with dnsmasq (see Speeding up DNS with dnsmasq for more information).