DNS Server information & My router.

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bigdavethehorn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
412
Hello all,

My PC is connected to the internet through a Belkin Pre-N router. I've assigned a static IP address, a subnet mask, and I've entered my router's IP address as the default gateway.

I cannot connect to the internet or ping a website until I enter my router's IP address into the "preferred DNS server" box within Local Area Connection Properties.

So, Is this normal behaviour?
And, should I enter the router's IP address into the "alternate DNS server" box too?
Or, should I use a different DNS server?

I'm off to read a little about DNS servers cos I've no idea who they are!

TIA.
 
You need DNS to nagivate the internet...resolve names into IP addresses.

So just having an IP address, subnet, and gateway...will not get you very far. You need to enter DNS info.

Some routers allow themselves to be entered as DNS, depending on make/model, some will run DNS, some will DNS forward to whatever is specified on the WAN port...or..my preferred method...you enter your ISPs 2x DNS servers into your TCP properties. You can find these by referring to your ISPs documentation, support section, or more easily...just looking at the status of your routers WAN.
 
What you are doing will work fine. Your router is probably sending DNS requests to your ISP's DNS server as one other poster mentioned. Personally, I use my school's DNS server because it will never go down unless all 3 different lines into the school go down. Since that has never happened i'm good to go. If the DNS server you are using goes down you will have to access websites by their IP address.

Proably more than you wanted to know to answer your question, but your setup will work fine and is the standard setup.
 
Thanks for that link MorphiusX, I'm going to give that a try tonight.

I've read throught the FAQ but have one wee question:

I'm supposed to enter the two OpenDNS server addresses into my router, do I then enter my router's IP address into the DNS server box in Windows?

TIA.
 
bigdavethehorn said:
TI'm supposed to enter the two OpenDNS server addresses into my router, do I then enter my router's IP address into the DNS server box in Windows?

TIA.
Click to expand...

I'd just enter them into Windows. It's more direct that way...1x less hop for your DNS request, thus theoretically a slight increase in performance (less time).

Not all routers work the same...most will DNS forward just fine...but there are some out there, even depending on just which version of firmware they're running, which aren't very reliable when you're just using them as your DNS server in TCP properties.
 
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