Best free DNS hosting?

[D. Strout]

There web frontend might look outdated but the subjacent service is rocket solid.

Their web frontend might look outdated but the underlying service is rock solid.

FTFY

Seriously, though, while I have used HE.net DNS and agree that the service is good, the interface leaves so much to be desired that I've decided not to continue using them.

 

[vanarp]

Seriously, though, while I have used HE.net DNS and agree that the service is good, the interface leaves so much to be desired that I've decided not to continue using them.

You are building your own, right?

 

[nunim]

Seriously, though, while I have used HE.net DNS and agree that the service is good, the interface leaves so much to be desired that I've decided not to continue using them.

What is so difficult for you to accomplish using their web frontend that you had to cease your usage?

Is this project run by someone we know at LET/VPSB? Unless I know who is behind it, cannot put my domains on it. There is no info on the website.

Yes, although I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember who.  I had a long talk on IRC with it's creator who took the time to answer my silly questions. 

  Curious here about the "way to track your own queries"... How else would you actually do that anywhere else? I am an audit freak when paying for anything by billable units, so share the criticism, but it applies to most real DNS providers.   The billing model is rather nice if you pick up the provider pricing.  For instance, 75 domains with unlimited queries is 15 euros a month.  

 Well, I thought you had said that with "provider" deal you couldn't use the neat features such as GeoDNS and such?

 Without hosting your own DNS servers there is no way to accurately track your query usage.  The maker of DNS4.Pro explained to me that essentially it takes more resources to track the queries then it's worth so it's simpler just to answer them, DNS isn't a heavyweight system so unless you were using a truly massive number of queries per month the resulting bandwidth bill would be modest.  

I just don't like the idea of services with potentially unknown charges and no way for the end user to track their own usage reliably to see if they are being cheated.  

 

[drmike]

Everything is owned by ColoCrossing. EVERYTHING

Funny But not true once you stop looking at the LET/LEB sewer for everything.


Rage4 isn't on any CC server.


HE's free DNS, ditto for that.

 

[SkylarM]

Funny But not true once you stop looking at the LET/LEB sewer for everything.


Rage4 isn't on any CC server.


HE's free DNS, ditto for that.

It was just a joke

 

[blergh]

Is this project run by someone we know at LET/VPSB? Unless I know who is behind it, cannot put my domains on it. There is no info on the website.

It is. You can use the AS-number to get a technical contact + email + adress.

 

[Shados]

Their web frontend might look outdated but the underlying service is rock solid.

FTFY

Seriously, though, while I have used HE.net DNS and agree that the service is good, the interface leaves so much to be desired that I've decided not to continue using them.

Subjacent is a dictionary word. Mad props to him for using it, actually.

 

[drmike]

The maker of DNS4.Pro explained to me that essentially it takes more resources to track the queries then it's worth so it's simpler just to answer them

 

The problem I have with DNS as a billable item is it can quickly get out of control.  I've had unexplained bursts in DNS lookups to the tune of 10's of millions a month above "normal".   If you were for instance to have someone spidering, mirroring, etc. or a DDoS style attack where lookups were occurring in mass = ugly.

Even a log of the lookups has no real info of what and why the increase existed.  No attachment to an end user/customer.

Essentially Rage4's graphing of use shows you the totals and while that's not an audit stream, can see some issues and take actions to slow/stop.

Well, I thought you had said that with "provider" deal you couldn't use the neat features such as GeoDNS and such?

Yes, I said that.  It's a bit confusing.

So the provider deal as you would get as customer freebie at say Prometeus or Fliphost, that is the very same provider deal/account type I subscribed to.  The difference is WHMCS plugin on their end.  It doesn't support everything.  Haven't tested it myself, but asked a provider about the geo-DNS functionality and was told not currently supported.   Probably other things that aren't in the control panel/API interfaced software (pretty sure the API supports  it - just not the WHMCS plugin.

With a provider account, you can still log into the every man website control area and configure things.  So this is how with the provider plan I am able to utilize the geo DNS features

Hope that helps.

 

[wlanboy]

Subjacent is a dictionary word. Mad props to him for using it, actually.

Thank you. I like http://www.synonym.com/ to expand my active vocabulary.

 

[wlanboy]

Seriously, though, while I have used HE.net DNS and agree that the service is good, the interface leaves so much to be desired that I've decided not to continue using them.

So what feature is missing?

You can even set the TTL to 5 minutes.

 

[Shados]

So what feature is missing?



You can even set the TTL to 5 minutes.

Anyone else notice that Linode DNS TTLs default to 5 minutes? What's up with that?

 

[drmike]

Anyone else notice that Linode DNS TTLs default to 5 minutes? What's up with that?

 

What's wrong with 5 minute TTLs?  Typically I push mine for steady projects up to an hour (non geo located services).

 

[Leyton]

Essentially Rage4's graphing of use shows you the totals and while that's not an audit stream, can see some issues and take actions to slow/stop.

 

You can view more detailed information by downloading the logs of the past 90 days:



And if you're looking for actual single-request logs, Piotr has been more than happy to provide me with the exact request logs as a TXT file at any time; including the IP address of the requester, and their request.

On the note of this topic, I am very happy with both CloudFlare and Rage4, although Rage4 has been taking the edge for me recently - more than happy to use it internally and to roll out to our managed clients.

 

[Chronic]

Here are some that haven't been mentioned yet:

• https://entrydns.net/
  
• https://www.dnspod.com/
• http://xname.org/

 

[Asim]

Rackspace CloudDNS (free) with unlimited domains and queries. Default TTL is 5min (although you can change it). Interface is sleek

http://d.pr/i/trvM

http://d.pr/i/H6K1

http://d.pr/i/sEt0

The only catch may be that you may need to add a credit card that is never charged. Basically RS CloudDNS is for their customers. But I have no services still im free to use it

 

[vanarp]

The only catch may be that you may need to add a credit card that is never charged. Basically RS CloudDNS is for their customers. But I have no services still im free to use it

 
Yes, we need to sign up with RackSpace with a CC to be able to use this free service. Something that concerned me was that they show email address in the TXT record of the domains we add. Of course we can give a fake one too.

 

[Asim]

Yes, we need to sign up with RackSpace with a CC to be able to use this free service. Something that concerned me was that they show email address in the TXT record of the domains we add. Of course we can give a fake one too.

Probably that was the past, I dont see that now

 

[vanarp]

Probably that was the past, I dont see that now

 
I was wrong. It is the SOA record that is showing the email address (domain's admin email as entered).

I just realized that even Rage4 displays email address in SOA record of the domains added

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

I just realized that even Rage4 displays email address in SOA record of the domains added

The hostmaster email is required for SOA.  Rather than use your personal account (or using fake emails), just use a legitimate account created for handling your domains.  That way you still get any important notices, and don't risk your personal account going public. 

 

[D. Strout]

The hostmaster email is required for SOA.  Rather than use your personal account (or using fake emails), just use a legitimate account created for handling your domains.  That way you still get any important notices, and don't risk your personal account going public.

I have the address [email protected] set up for this sort of stuff. It's actually an alias for my main address, but I can remove the alias and change it when necessary if it starts getting spammed too much from WHOIS or SOA.

What is so difficult for you to accomplish using their web frontend that you had to cease your usage?

Nothing difficult, I just find the interface is awkward, so I'm making my own. AJAX-based, looks good for a change, and has all the features that I actually need. I mean seriously, who here uses NAPTR records?