Preloading IPs of common websites using hosts file?

Good morning everyone.

I'm wondering if such a thing is possible. Is there a way to "preload" the IP of a commonly used website (e.g, Facebook, Google, YouTube) and eliminate the DNS lookup?

 

What are you hoping to achieve by eliminating dns lookup?

 

Our DNS is very unstable, and look-ups take up to 30 seconds. I'm hoping to preload the IP for the few sites that I visit, and thus (hopefully) eliminate that amount of time. I've tried switching to a new DNS provider such as OpenDNS, but receive the same results.

 

Yes, but you may need to double check the IP's every year or so incase a server closer to you has been set up. You may also be confronted with a non-working website if a server is taken down for whatever reason.

 

Cool. So, how can I go about doing it?

 

nslookup facebook.com

ping the IP's to find the fastest, use it in the HOSTS file.

 

I see. So instead of using 127.0.0.1, I use the IP along with host name. Thanks!!!

 

If you have a friend in your area who is using another ISP for service, as what their DNS addresses are, you can try using the other ISPs DNS servers. This sometimes is faster.

If you are going to use the hosts file, look up a batch script to do the work for you. You can use nslookup if you like, or you can use ping as well. You will need to look up the "for" command in dos to do this, but there are many examples if you search for them. In fact, you can probably find a script that is already made that does what you want.

Sul.

 

I'd also check if the DNS Client service is disabled, enable it if it is.