DNS Servers are a very important part of the internet and computer networks. When DNS servers are down we can not use the internet in a easy manner. DNS servers provide the domain name to IP or vice versa resolution.

Windows

Windows operating system family provides ipconfig command for a general information-gathering tool. ipconfig command without any parameter will show base configuration about the network of the operating system. Just issue the following command into DOS command prompt. This will list all network configuration in detail with DNS related configuration.

> ipconfig /all

There may be multiple DNS servers. In this example our DNS server is our default router.

To set DNS server use Control Panel

We will use a network interface configuration with the GUI.

Open Network and Sharing Center

Open Network Adapter

Open Properties

Open Local Area Connection Properties

Open Internet Protocol Version

We can set from here preferred DNS Servers. Here is a list of popular DNS servers.

8.8.8.8

2.2.4.4

2.2.2.2

Linux

Linux provides alternative ways to get DNS server and set DNS server.

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf

The old friend resolv.conf is deprecated to edit by hand so a new way to set DNS servers in resolv.conf. But we can get DNS server with the cat command.

Add DNS Server

We can add new DNS server to the resolv.conf with interface configuration like below. Add related lines to the interface static IP configuration.

dns-nameserver 8.8.8.8