Last week a flaw was found that affects all versions of the BIND 9 software. This denial of service (DoS) vulnerability was rated critical by the Internet System Consortium (ISC) as it is difficult to defend against. The flaw named CVE-2015-5477, relates specifically to TKEY queries and allows for hackers to launch DoS attacks. When exploited this vulnerability can be used to crash both authoritative and recursive DNS servers. Continue Reading
Check out these 4 DNS tools everyone should use to make their lives a little less stressful (like that’s even possible). These tools are great for people that are trying to see if their No-IP hostname is resolving correctly.
To use these tools you will use the Dig command in terminal (Mac) or the command line (PC).
Dig is an acronym for “domain internet groper”. Dig is a useful tool for webmasters and system administrators, it can be used to query DNS servers and fix DNS related issues. Dig is a part of the BIND DNS software.
1. Whois
Whois is an easy way to find information on the owner, nameserver, registrar etc. of a domain name. It is useful for getting all the detailed info you want from a domain, assuming the domain doesn’t have private registration enabled.
The Whois command can help you identify the responsible party for a domain. This is useful if you have problems sending to, or receiving from a domain; or if you just want to query the authoritative nameservers for that domain. To use these tools, open up Terminal on your Mac, or command line on your PC.
Type “Whois” followed by your domain of choice and hit enter.
Then type Whois mashable.com and hit enter. It will bring up all of the domain registration information.
2. Ping
Ping checks to see if you can actually reach a server. It is the go to command for making sure that a server is online and functional. You can also use this tool to see if a website is down for every one, or just you.
Type “ping noip.com” and hit enter
To stop this command hit “Ctrl + C”. Ping is a simple way to check if your domain name is resolving correctly.
3. Dig
Dig is a great way to get check records for a domain like A, MX, TXT, PTR and other advanced DNS records. We have done quite a few extensive Dig tutorials. We love Dig!. Check out this Dig tutorial for some cool ways to use it.
You can use Dig to lookup nameservers. NS lookup is useful for quickly looking up name server information, but it usually requires detailed parameters.
Type “dig noip.com ns” and hit enter.
This command will show all of the nameservers associated with noip.com.
4. Traceroute
Traceroute shows you the route (path) that was used to connect you to the IP address or hostname. It will show all of the routers it goes through until it gets to its destination, or it fails. A traceroute also tells you how long each hop to each router takes and if it fails, it will show you exactly where the IP packet failed. Our support staff uses it all of the time to help customers figure out if their hostname is resolving to the correct IP address. This guide will show you how to run your own trace route.
Have any other DNS tools that you find useful? Let us know in the comments!
When I tell people what I do for a living, they don’t get it. I mean, they get that I am a marketing manager, but they don’t understand what the company I work for does exactly.
“Oh DNS, yeah no.” I often find myself going into a full blown explanation of DNS only to see their eyes glaze over 30 seconds in.
“Oh, so it’s how the Internet works.”
I chime in and say EXACTLY, but then I continue on to the Dynamic DNS explanation, which is even more coma-inducing.
The easiest explanation I can give is to relate Dynamic DNS to a cell phone. I don’t know anyone’s phone number, I can barely remember my own.
You program your friend’s phone numbers into your phone and you assign their name to that contact. Whenever you want to call “Joe” you just scroll to the contact for Joe and click call. This is so easy, right?
So now we can relate this to Dynamic DNS. What if you didn’t have this easy way to call Joe on your phone, you HAD to remember his phone number? It wouldn’t be too hard, but what if his phone number changed every day or even a few times a day? It would be really hard to remember his phone number. And even if you could remember his phone number, there is no way you could be 100% sure that the number you are calling is right, since it changes so frequently.
This is the problem that Dynamic DNS solves, but instead of on your cell phone, it is for your computer.
If you want to access your computer remotely, or even monitor an IP camera, but you have a Dynamic IP address it can be very difficult.
Wait, let’s back up for a second, what is a Dynamic IP address?
Your IP address is just like your phone number, but it is your computers personal phone number on the internet. It is used by your Internet Service Providers to connect your computer to the Internet. Your computer doesn’t have the same number every day, it has a dynamic IP address, meaning it changes. It could change once a month, once a week, or even a few times a day, but it does change. Dynamic IP addresses are very common since they are cost effective for ISPs.
Since a large majority of people have a Dynamic IP address at home, it can be extremely difficult to always reach your device, because your IP address is always changing. Since you aren’t alerted when it changes, it is very hard to keep track of.
To get around this annoyance, you can use our Dynamic DNS service. Our Dynamic DNS service gives you an easy to remember hostname i.e. yourname.noip.me, (just like when you assign “Joe” to his phone number in your phone) you run a small piece of software on your computer or device you would like to access remotely, and whenever your IP address changes, we update your hostname to reflect that change.
Imagine if your cell phone number did change every day, but your phone knew this and kept track of each person’s phone number, and updated your contact in your phone automatically when a person’s phone number changed. Your connection to your friends would never be lost. This is just like Dynamic DNS, your connection to access your device or computer remotely is never lost.
It’s a long-winded explanation, for a fairly simple service that helps millions of users across the globe stay connected to their devices.
Check out this awesome article to read one customer’s story about how he uses No-IP every day.
Have questions or comments? We love to hear from you, just leave your comments below. As always, please share this on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.
DNS is an integral component of your overall website strategy. So why should you invest? Individuals and enterprises alike spend valuable resources creating and promoting their brands and forget about managing perhaps the most important aspect of it - their domain name.
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