Should my DNS be my router?

[BZeto]

One time when I was troubleshooting my Belking router, Belkin tech support told me to enter my routers IP as my preferred DNS server. Does this sound right?

It works although sometimes my computer wont pick up a dynamic IP so I have to set it to static but that could be a different problem.

I'm going through Cox cable.

 

[spherrod]

My Router is set as the first DNS Server, and my ISP's Primary DNS is the next

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: spherrod
My Router is set as the first DNS Server, and my ISP's Primary DNS is the next

That's what I've done as well. I'm not sure which is the fastest/lowest-latency method. I suppose that there are two schools of thought on this - assuming that the router runs a caching DNS proxy server (unlikely, actually, given the RAM constraints on those things), that checking a local device would be faster than the next upstream hop, your ISP's DNS servers. However, if the device only does a DNS proxy, and doesn't do any caching, then having your PC query the device, and having the device perform the actual query for the PC, should be slower because it is adding another step. So, the fastest thing would be to enter just your ISP's DNS servers directly. However, those could theoretically change, and by having your router device's IP listed for DNS servers as well, will allow it to proxy DNS requests to the dynamically-updated DNS servers, if need be. Really, then, I suppose that your router should be listed as the *last* DNS server in the list, rather than the first.

 

[BZeto]

I need to to call cox and ask for their DNS server IP's.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: BZeto
I need to to call cox and ask for their DNS server IP's.

This should be configured automatically by the router. You shouldn't have to modify it.