possible dns slowdown

[bhaddow]

Hi

In the last week I've noticed a slowdown in my internet access, possibly caused by slow dns lookups. My firefox status bar seems to spend a long time showing messages like 'looking up xxx'. Once I get connected to the site, access speed is normal. I've also noticed that ssh connections to my work network take a long time to establish. Were there any recent software updates that could have caused this? Any tips on how to diagnose the problem?

I connect to my (cable) isp via a wireless router. There's a windows laptop connected to the same router which hasn't seen any slowdown in network speed.

thanks for your help,
Barry

[muzicman0]

Re: possible dns slowdown

try accessing the site via it's IP address. IE: type '69.147.114.224' into firefox. if it takes a long time to access yahoo, then it is not a dns problem. that would be step 1. try it with various sites to be sure.

mm0

[bhaddow]

Re: possible dns slowdown

Hi

I tried running a single ping, both with hostname and with ip address. In the former case it was taking 10 seconds, and < 1 second in the latter. My dns servers were set to two blueyonder servers, and I'm on Virgin (formerly ntl, formerly telewest, formerly blueyonder?) so I switched to another pair that I found on an ntl:telwest site. That seemed to speed things up - pinging a hostname now takes < 1 second. I know virgin had an outage on Sunday night, so maybe there's a connection with the dns issue, although I think it started slowing down late last week,

Barry

[Detonate]

Re: possible dns slowdown

Try OpenDNS. I've been using it for years. Works very well.

http://www.opendns.com/