Ubuntu Linux Configure DNS Name Server IP Address ( DNS Client )

by nixCraft on April 13, 2008 · 15 comments· last updated at November 11, 2008

Q. How do I change existing name server IP address? How do I configure DNS name server IP address under Ubuntu Linux / Debian Linux? How do I configure DNS name resolution under Ubuntu Linux?

A. You need to edit /etc/resolv.conf file under Debian / Ubuntu Linux to set Name server IP address that the resolver should query. Up to 3 name server internet IP address can be defined. If there are multiple servers, the resolver library queries them in the order listed.

Ubuntu Linux Configure DNS Name resolution

Type the following command, enter:
$ sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf
Or use nano text editor:
$ sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf
Append your ISP name server or free fast dns nameservers IP address as follows:
nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220 nameserver 202.51.5.52
Save and close the file. Test your dns configuration by typing the following commands:
$ host yahoo.com $ nslookup google.com $ ping nixcraft.in

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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Carl Friis-Hansen November 8, 2008 at 5:58 pm

I wonder if you are not missing something in the command:
$ sudo /etc/resolv.conf

What about:
$ sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

or something?

2 vivek November 11, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Carl,

Thanks for the heads up. The faq has been updated.

3 Noah Spurrier October 19, 2009 at 11:14 pm

On Ubuntu the settings may get overwritten and will certainly get overwritten after a reboot. This is because Ubuntu dynamically generates the /etc/resolv.conf file.It generates this from file a template where it gives you convenient hooks to add in your own static nameserver definitions. Here is the more modern method.
Edit the template’s tail file:
sudo vim /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/tail
Add your nameserver lines:
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 202.51.5.52
Save the file and then regenerate the resolv.conf file:
sudo /etc/init.d/resolvconf restart

–
Noah

4 Jaymes October 26, 2009 at 6:07 pm

@Noah

Default installation of Ubuntu Server 9.04 does not have this ‘feature’. /etc/resolvconf/ does not exist.

5 Vivek Gite October 26, 2009 at 6:41 pm

@Jaymes,

No it is available and /etc/resolv.conf file do exits for Ubuntu 9.04. It is part of default Linux C library.

@Noah, you need to setup dhclient to avoid overwriting, see:

How To: Make Sure /etc/resolv.conf Never Get Updated By DHCP Client

6 write March 28, 2011 at 5:52 am

how about restarting network? it should or not?

7 Satish Thakur November 14, 2011 at 6:27 am

Dear Team,

How do i can assign hostname & IP address in Ubuntu? If By using sudo? then how to install sudo…?

Thanks & Regards,
Satish.

8 kwak December 1, 2011 at 6:56 am

Hello,

It is perhaps silly question but I don’t really understand from where should I take ip addresses which should be added to /etc/resolv.conf.

I am speaking of those:

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 202.51.5.52

Shall I ask my network provider about that or there is an easier method?

Thank you for help!

9 Ram Charan May 11, 2012 at 11:39 am

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 202.51.5.52

10 Ram Charan May 11, 2012 at 11:41 am

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 202.51.5.52

how to set name server in ubuntu.
pls help me………

11 Ivan Vatov June 27, 2012 at 6:30 pm

sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/base
add your nameservers
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 202.51.5.52
and restart resolvconf
sudo /etc/init.d/resolvconf restart
this automatically update /etc/resolv.conf file
thanks Noah Spurrier ;)

12 oserk October 2, 2012 at 11:25 am: Hi
I’m on ubuntu 12.04. and I had to edit the head part of resolv deamon
because the resolv.conf did had the first entry inside this:
nameserver 127.0.0.1
it never used the google nameservers that I defined in base or tail part… so what I did:
sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 4.4.4.4
sudo /etc/init.d/resolvconf restart
and content of resolv.conf file did have correct order:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 4.4.4.4
nameserver 127.0.0.1
and I finaly did have fast new domain that I registered half hour ago ready to test!
thanks to Ivan and others…
Reply

13 Jan Krojcer August 23, 2012 at 11:21 am

@Noah Spurrier: Thanks alot man, after a massive amount of research, I finally found your post. Every page that google turned up for “Setting a Static IP/DNS” involved editing the resolv.conf file… as if it didn’t get over-written. Editing the tail file works flawlessly, thanks a lot man.