Where does one get DNS service for one's own domain?
- Your Domain Registrar - Domain
registrars usually provide two servers for "parking"
purposes. These default nameservers can also be used for some
light-duty DNS arrangements, but usually only support a limited number
and type of resource records.
- Your Co-location Provider - Some
co-location providers allow their clients use of their domain
nameservers. For example, my current provider offers two such
servers for client use that also serve all the "reverse"
zones that the provider hosts.
- Free DNS Services - There does exist
several free services on the Internet. However, this type of
service appears to be quite rare. Some of these services have
pay-service add-ons. Here are the ones I discovered and explored
during October 2006:
- EveryDNS.net
- Provides primary, secondary, and dynamic DNS resolution
via four nameservers, plus web URL redirection.
Donations are requested as there are no pay services.
[I use the secondary service and recommend it. In January
2010, it was sold to dyndns.com, so its continued existence is
in question.]
- XName (.org)
- Provides primary and secondary DNS resolution on three
nameservers located in Europe. Dynamic DNS service is
supported as a hack. Donations are requested as there are
no pay services. [I use the secondary service and
recommend it.]
- FreeDNS
(afraid.org) - Provides primary, secondary, and dynamic DNS
resolution via either one or four nameservers depending
on the type of service requested. It also offers web URL
redirection and public sub-domain sharing of domains registered
by others made available via the site. Donations
requested, and a paid level of membership exists. [I have
used the secondary service in the past and recommend it for
light duty purposes. I dropped it in January 2007 due to
timeout issues.]
- Twisted4Life
(.com) - As a free service, offers only secondary DNS resolution
on one nameserver. Paid users may have access to
three nameservers on three different continents. Other
paid services include mail exchanger backup/storage with spam
and virus filtering, and web hosting. [I have used the
secondary service but noted a problem with it ignoring TCP DNS
queries and therefore cannot recommend it.]
- ZoDNS.com -
Provides primary and secondary DNS service via two
nameservers located on the east coast of the U.S.
Donations requested as there is no pay service. [I have
not used this service. It appears to have closed.]
- ZoneEdit.com
- Provides primary, secondary, and dynamic DNS resolution for a
limit of five domains with additional limitations.
Pay services include web forwarding, mail forwarding, and for
domains beyond the first five plus excessive bandwidth for DNS
requests. The free service seems to use only two
of their five nameservers (but their site does not identify
which two). Read the site's FAQ. [I have not used
this service.]
- Sitelutions,
formerly "OnTheWeb" (.com) - Provides primary, and
dynamic DNS resolution via five nameservers, and free web
URL redirection. Among their pay services are web hosting,
e-mail, and domain registration. Through a sister site,
co-location (four U.S. locations) and dedicated hosting is
offered. No secondary service is offered.
[I have not used this service.]
- The
Public DNS Service a.k.a. Granite Canyon (.com) -
Provides primary and secondary DNS resolution via two
nameservers. However, they impose additional restrictions
on domain zonefile content in ways that other services do not -
see their FAQ. Donations requested as there is no pay
service. [I have not used this service. It appears
to have closed, becomming Google's public DNS service.]
Since my initial search, I have found the following additional
services:
- DNSExit.com
- Offers primary, secondary, and dynamic DNS services, plus
e-mail backup MX and web site redirection. Also offers
pay services such as domain registration and web site
hosting. Two name servers.
- Domain
Manager (.com) - Appears to be a limited service with only a
few DNS record types supported (A, CNAME, NS, PTR, and
SOA). Also offers mail and web URL forwarding.
Two name servers.
- Gratis
DNS (.de) - Offers both primary and secondary services via
Three name servers, and apparently a URL redirector.
- Public
DNS (.org) - Offers both primary and secondary services via
Three name servers, as well as a URL redirector and
e-mail/backup-MX services.
- PMS DNS
(.org) - Offers primary and secondary DNS services through
two name servers (however, three are listed for the
service's own domain, so maybe three are available). No
other services seem to be offered. [It appears to have
closed.]
- Swapping DNS Services -
I did find
a couple of swap lists. However, none were to my liking.
Only one was worthy of mention:
- Other Lists of DNS Services -
I did
find other lists that contained similar information. Maybe these
will lead you to other DNS services I haven't found yet:
- Pay DNS Services -
I wasn't looking
for any of these. However, I note that there were a handful that
charged less than $10.00/month.
- backupdns.com
- A secondary-only service providing a single in Helena, MT,
USA. Less than $1.00/zone (as of December 2009).
- dnsmax.com
- Charge varies by size of zone and queries per month.
Appears to offer primary service in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- EditDNS.net
- Provides primary, secondary, and dynamic DNS services, plus a
few other services such as web URL forwarding, backup MX with
spam/virus filtering, etc. Support forums available.
Three name servers are in the U.S. and two in the U.K. (Total
Servers: Five). [Formerly free.]
- lanechange.net
- Offers 5 servers on 3 continents for about $8.00/year.
- pghost.com
- Offers primary and secondary services, but web site offers no
details. Web site requires JavaScript be enabled (i.e.
broken). Located in Canada.
For those of us running our own DNS server, one generally needs to know
where the Internet's root servers are located. Here is what this server
reports as the current ICANN
root server zone (last updated Friday, 03-Sep-2010 19:41:40 PDT):
$ORIGIN .
$TTL 86400 ; 1 day
@ IN SOA a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. (
2010090301 ; serial
1800 ; refresh (30 minutes)
900 ; retry (15 minutes)
604800 ; expire (1 week)
86400 ; minimum (1 day)
)
$TTL 518400 ; 6 days
NS e.root-servers.net.
NS g.root-servers.net.
NS l.root-servers.net.
NS k.root-servers.net.
NS b.root-servers.net.
NS a.root-servers.net.
NS f.root-servers.net.
NS m.root-servers.net.
NS h.root-servers.net.
NS c.root-servers.net.
NS j.root-servers.net.
NS i.root-servers.net.
NS d.root-servers.net.
$ORIGIN ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
$TTL 3600000 ; 5 weeks 6 days 16 hours
A A 198.41.0.4
AAAA 2001:503:ba3e::2:30
B A 192.228.79.201
C A 192.33.4.12
D A 128.8.10.90
E A 192.203.230.10
F A 192.5.5.241
AAAA 2001:500:2f::f
G A 192.112.36.4
H A 128.63.2.53
AAAA 2001:500:1::803f:235
I A 192.36.148.17
AAAA 2001:7fe::53
J A 192.58.128.30
AAAA 2001:503:c27::2:30
K A 193.0.14.129
AAAA 2001:7fd::1
L A 199.7.83.42
AAAA 2001:500:3::42
M A 202.12.27.33
AAAA 2001:dc3::35
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