Domain
Name Resolution is probably not a topic many of you have put much
thought into. It is one of the many "behind-the-scenes" things that
happens while you use the internet. A Domain Name System (DNS ) Server takes a web address that you type into your system and converts it into an Internet Protocol (IP
) address. You can think of DNS as a giant phone book that converts
names to numbers. For example, The ELCA Youth Ministry Network's
website, www.elcaymnet.org, is actually found at IP Address 204.188.103.6.
Most of us just use the DNS Servers provided by our Internet Service
Provider. These generally work fairly well and require no
configuration. Today I want to share a different tool which I switched
to a year or so ago, OpenDNS, which does all that and more, for free!
OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/
) is a free service that handles all the regular DNS chores and also
adds some great extra features. In general, I'd say the extra features
aren't perfect, but they're sure better than nothing (which is what I'd
imagine many of us are doing). Many churches run small office networks.
You may or may not allow people to use either computers on the network
or connect via Wi-Fi to the network. What happens if they try and go
somewhere, shall we say, less than ideal? If you're not running any
sort of filtering software, they get the site to come up without any
problem. If you're using OpenDNS, they get a page, which you can
customize, saying something like "Site Blocked. This site is not
allowed by Northridge Lutheran Church on this network. Site categorized
as nudity."
Let's say you get a very convincing e-mail that
appears to be from your bank. You click on a link and are taken to a
phishing site, one which is trying to harvest your personal information
to take your money. It looks just like your regular bank website and
you don't notice that the address is different, so you type in your
login information. Now they have your information and can steal your
money and maybe even your identity. But if you were using OpenDNS, the
site would have failed to come up and given an error page similar to
the Blocked Page above.
Another feature fixes those stupid
errors your keyboard makes when you have your fingers on the wrong
keys. You, and anyone around you, knows that you meant .com, even
though you only typed .cm. OpenDNS will fix this for you, and take you
to the .com that you wanted to go to in the first place.
It's
all customizable, once you sign up for a free account, and set up your
router to use the OpenDNS servers instead of the ones from your ISP.
The computers on the network will automatically use them, if the router
is configured that way. Visit https://www.opendns.com/start to get started for yourself. The complete list of features is available at https://www.opendns.com/features/ .
P.S. This is all much easier if you have a static IP address. If you have a dynamic IP address, as many ISPs provide, you'll need to follow some extra steps, laid out by the OpenDNS folks at their site (http://www.opendns.com/support/dynamic_ip/
). Basically, you'll need to run a small program that tells OpenDNS
whenever your IP address changes, so they can provide the blocking
services described above.
Tech Geek
Advice and new 'finds' in the tech world for those doing Youth and Family Ministry. Read about what's the latest and get your questions answered!
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