# Open DNS



## aaronwesley94 (May 23, 2008)

Have you used Open DNS? I'd never used it before, and now I don't think I could live without it! http://www.opendns.com/


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

It's a terrific free service. I use it all the time.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

I like it too...not just a standard old DNS, either. Does a lot of other stuff.


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

Although I only viewed the website briefly, I'm wondering how they make any money - since everything appears to be free ???


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

OntarioMan said:


> Although I only viewed the website briefly, I'm wondering how they make any money - since everything appears to be free ???


It's supported by a non-profit organization. Running a Linux server with Bind isn't too expensive. DNS requests are tiny packets, so even a universally used server like OpenDNS doesn't require an enormous amount of bandwidth.

The nice thing about OpenDNS is that they are really good about updating the Bind database twice a day as soon as it's released (5 am & 5 pm local Tulsa time). Some ISPs aren't good about updating Bind as often as they should. Moreover, many Internet users are behind caching DNS servers, which can retain old DNS data for weeks.


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