which-dns
Dev tools
network diagnostics
SHOW HN2020
283points
96comments
#148of 3,028 in 2020
Top 5%of 2020 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
9 positive, 15 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 3 critical, out of 28 comments about the project. Thread score +0.18.
Idea: 4 for, 0 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 againstPricing: 1 for, 0 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful, clever way to detect DNS server
From 3 comments
Wow, this is such a useful tool and a clever way of finding out the DNS server. Great job!
justsomedood on HNI just read the GitHub readme: > How does it work? You make a request to a hostname with a unique prefix. All hostnames resolve to the same IP, but the DNS server records which…
sleavey on HNThis is great, thank you for creating it and sharing it. I'll be sharing this with all my colleagues!
bloopernova on HN
Useful for scripts via API
From 1 comment
This is really cool, especially because I can just 'wget -qO- $RANDOM.which.nameserve.rs/api.json?callback=myfunction' which means I can use this in scripts. (For example an…
arminiusreturns on HN
Objections
Does not detect IPv6
From 1 comment
Doesn't show IPv6 for me. I always use IPleak.net [1]. Works for public IPv4, IPv6, DNS server, Tor/AirVPN exit node, BitTorrent, geolocation, and all kind of browser metadata.…
Fnoord on HN
Shows only last recursive hop, not client's configured resolver for DoH or internal DNS
From 3 comments
It only sees the "last hop" of recursive DNS resolution [1]. If you have internal DNS servers, you would need to run a copy of which-dns internally, and your internal DNS servers…
Fileformat on HNSort of: it doesn't differentiate between DoH and normal resolution (it only does IPv4 TCP & UDP resolution). This means that it will return Cloudflare (i.e. ASN of…
Fileformat on HNThis shows which DNS server performed the recursive query for you, but in more complicated setups it won't be the DNS server your system is pointed to. For example if you're…
_-___________-_ on HN
Requests
Detect secondary DNS servers
From 1 comment
I just read the GitHub readme: > How does it work? You make a request to a hostname with a unique prefix. All hostnames resolve to the same IP, but the DNS server records which…
sleavey on HN
Recognize when user hosts their own DNS
From 1 comment
It would be neat if this also recognized that you're hosting your own dns, instead of spitting your own IP back at you. I didn't recognize my IP at first.
armSixtyFour on HN
Questions
Can it diagnose internal DNS on a local network?
From 1 comment
I find this really useful! I seem to frequently run into dns weirdness. Does it work internally e.g. diagnosing dns queries on a local net?
kortex on HN
Why does Cloudflare or Google show up for 8.8.8.8 users?
From 2 comments
I'm using 8.8.8.8 and its coming up as cloudflarenet not whatever google should presumably be?
compsciphd on HNMe too. Can someone explain why Cloudflare shows up when (as far as I know) I don't use Cloudflare.
treis on HN
Alternatives named
whatsmydnsserver.com
From 1 comment
I kept running into DNS issues, and needed to triple-check that I was pointing to the right DNS servers, so I made this utility website that does exactly that: which-dns [1] This…
Fileformat on HN
dnsleaktest.com
From 2 comments
The extended test on https://www.dnsleaktest.com/ does that. There’s also various tests that reveal EDNS subnet leakage. It’s pretty easy to implement; somehow don’t respond to a…
dgl on HNI often use dnsleaktest.com for this; it runs multiple rounds so you see all the ones you might be using.
teknologist on HN
ipleak.net
From 1 comment
Doesn't show IPv6 for me. I always use IPleak.net [1]. Works for public IPv4, IPv6, DNS server, Tor/AirVPN exit node, BitTorrent, geolocation, and all kind of browser metadata.…
Fnoord on HN
GRC DNS Benchmark
From 2 comments
You can check your best available dns server via this easy tool https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm (win and wine)
jelv on HNSomeone else in this thread suggested GRC's benchmark utility [1]. It sounds pretty comprehensive, but I haven't tried it yet. [1] https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm
Fileformat on HN
Akamai whoami
From 1 comment
Akamai also provides something similar: * https://developer.akamai.com/blog/2018/05/10/introducing-new-whoami-tool-dns-resolver-information
gslin on HN