Google Public DNS is a freely provided closed-source

Proprietary software

Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

 DNS

Domain name system

The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...

 (Domain Name System) service announced on 3 December 2009, as part of Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

's self-proclaimed effort to make the web faster.
Google Public DNS provides the following recursive nameserver addresses for public use, mapped to the nearest operational server location by anycast

Anycast

Anycast is a network addressing and routing methodology in which datagrams from a single sender are routed to the topologically nearest node in a group of potential receivers all identified by the same destination address.-Addressing methodologies:...

 routing:
IPv4

IPv4

Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet...

 addresses

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

IPv6

IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...

 addresses

• 2001:4860:4860::8888
• 2001:4860:4860::8844

Services

The service is still experimental. It does not use third party DNS management software

DNS management software

DNS management software is computer software that controls Domain Name System server clusters. Its main purpose is to reduce human error when editing complex and repetitive text-based DNS server configuration files. Such files are often deployed on multiple physical servers.DNS service providers...

 such as BIND

BIND

BIND , or named , is the most widely used DNS software on the Internet.On Unix-like operating systems it is the de facto standard.Originally written by four graduate students at the Computer Systems Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley , the name originates as an acronym from...

, instead relying on a custom-built implementation, with limited IPv6

IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...

 support, conforming to the DNS standards set forth by the IETF. It also only partially supports the DNSSEC

DNSSEC

The Domain Name System Security Extensions is a suite of Internet Engineering Task Force specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by the Domain Name System as used on Internet Protocol networks...

 protocol.

Privacy

It is stated that for the purposes of performance and security, only the user's IP address

IP address

An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...

 (deleted after 24 hours), ISP

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

, and location information (kept permanently) are stored on the servers.

History

• In December 2009, Google Public DNS was launched with its announcement on the Official Google Blog by product manager Prem Ramaswami, with an additional post on the Google Code
  Google Code
  Google Code is Google's site for developer tools, APIs and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers using Google's developer products....
  
   blog.

See also

• OpenDNS
  OpenDNS
  OpenDNS is a DNS resolution service. OpenDNS extends DNS adding features such as misspelling correction, phishing protection, and optional content filtering...
  
  
• Open Root Server Network
  Open Root Server Network
  Open Root Server Network was a network of root nameservers for the Internet, operating from February 2002 until the end of 2008. Its root zone information was normally kept in synchronization with that of the network coordinated by ICANN. The networks were thus compatible, although ORSN was...
  
  
• OpenNIC
  OpenNIC
  OpenNIC is an alternate network information center/alternative DNS root which lists itself as an alternative to ICANN and its registries. users of the OpenNIC DNS servers are able to resolve all existing ICANN top-level domains as well as their own....
  
  
• DNS Advantage
  DNS Advantage
  DNS Advantage is a proprietary opt-in DNS service. It does not follow internet standards—for example, the component of its service that implements typographical checking constitutes DNS hijacking.-Services:...
  
  
• NortonDNS

External links

• Google Public DNS