[sclug] Odd behaviour from OpenDNS?

[Darren Davison]

On 20/07/12 16:39, Tom Gamble wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 	I've not really looked in to OpenDNS.  I don't use it but was using a host that uses OpenDNS servers.
> 
> If you are using OpenDNS  then doing an nslookup for an no existent host returns a valid IP address.
> 
> Example:-
> 
> $ nslookup zzpluralalpha.co.uk
> Server:		208.67.222.222
> Address:	208.67.222.222#53
> 
> Non-authoritative answer:
> Name:	zzpluralalpha.co.uk
> Address: 67.215.65.132
> 
> 
> If I use the google nameserver I get
> 
> $ nslookup zzpluralalpha.co.uk. 8.8.8.8
> Server:		8.8.8.8
> Address:	8.8.8.8#53
> 
> ** server can't find zzpluralalpha.co.uk.: NXDOMAIN
> 
> 
> What is the general consensus on OpenDNS?

darren at hepburn ~ $ dig -x 67.215.65.132
...blah...

;; ANSWER SECTION:
132.65.215.67.in-addr.arpa. 602861 IN	PTR	hit-nxdomain.opendns.com.


They do this, I think, so they can put up a friendly web page telling
you what went wrong.  Not helpful perhaps if you weren't using a browser
and actually wanted the truth, but no different to using anything else
which overrides 'normal' DNS.

I use OpenDNS because it's a reasonable way to get a configurable amount
of content filtering for the family without me having to fiddle about
with software or maintain a multi-MB /etc/hosts .  Should I need to
bypass that for anything (ahem) I can simply switch to a local proxy and
use tor.

That's the major use case for OpenDNS I guess.  If you don't want their
version of the truth, use your ISP's servers or give up on privacy
completely and use Google's :)


D.


-- 
Darren Davison
Public Key: 0xE855B3EA