[SATLUG] Home DNS Caching

[Daniel J. Givens]

On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:29:45 -0500, Robert J Hewitt <kc5jmr at grandecom.net>
wrote:
> Sorry to jump in on this but cn you run a home DNS server on a system
> running IPcop (my firewall) and if I am not running a web server,
> mailserver or any other type but just a home network is the DNS worth
> the extra load on a system really

IPCop includes dnsmasq, a DHCP server and DNS caching server. The DNS
portion will not server full domains, but it will handle anything in the
system's hosts file and any hosts that have been given an IP by its DHCP
service.

>From a simple home networking standpoint, I like to have my own DNS server
because most ISPs cache resolved addresses longer than the entry is
supposed to be cached. This can lead to problems if a server's IP changes,
DNS is updated, but your ISP won't query the other nameserver, leaving you
with failed requests. By having your own DNS server, you have more control
and can clear that cache whenever you want or need. If you don't think
that's such a big deal, think about all of us that host sites on our home
connections with non-static IPs using dyndns or something of the like.
Additionally, you will see a decrease in the time it takes to resolve
addresses.

In summary, if you use IPCop, a WRT54G with dd-wrt or some other third
party firmware, or some other firewall box, I think it would be a great
idea to run your own caching DNS server.