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Find the DNS servers on your Mac?

Dave, I'm a bit puzzled. How do i find what DNS servers my emac is using at any given time?

Dave's Answer:

There are a couple of ways to do this, but let me share with you the graphical solution, since, well, it's a Mac, right?

Go to the System Preferences choice on the Apple Menu and you'll be here:

Lots of choices (and those on the bottom row are third-party extensions that I've installed too, in case you're wondering why yours aren't quite the same), but what you want to select is Network:

Almost there, but let me highlight that this is a good stopping point if you're just curious about how your Mac is connected to the network when you have wireless, Ethernet, dialup or other possibilities. It also shows, by color, if your connection is fully functional or not: the green dot next to Ethernet shows that it's a functional connection, while the red dot next to Internal Modem shows that's disabled.

But there's one more click you'll need to do before you can figure out your DNS servers: double click on Ethernet (or whatever is your primary Internet connection):

Mac OS X: System Preferences: TCP/IP Configuration

That shows you what the configured DNS servers are. As you can see, there aren't any that I've pre-loaded, so it's time to delve into the command line instead!

Pop open a Terminal window by launching Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal, then simply type in cat /etc/resolv.conf. Here's what you'll see:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf 
domain hsd1.co.comcast.net.
nameserver 68.87.85.98
nameserver 68.87.69.146

As you can see, I'm hooked up via Comcast right now and Comcast has given me two DNS servers that are automatically stored in the resolv.conf site.

Between the two, you should be able to identify exactly what DNS servers your eMac computer is using!

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 6353)
Tagged: dns, mac os x
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Comments

How effective are apple computers as ecommerce tools?

Posted by: marvin at June 16, 2006 9:23 PM

i have 4 name servesrs

Posted by: tom at February 24, 2008 2:06 AM

when i type that into the terminal, it gives me one nameserver, which is the same as my router ip. any help would be super appreciated!

Posted by: Michael at September 26, 2008 12:41 AM

It says "No such file or directory", could you please help me resolve this problem.

Posted by: Jonathan Matias at October 3, 2008 10:34 AM

Hi Dave,

I recently bought a Conitech box in Italy to use with my macbook and the local ADSL provider TIM. I am also using VOIP phone which now always says provider registration failed. I'm trying to set up everything again because my wireless network disappeared from the list but was still present in the router settings. How do I get the router to allow me to access the current control list and what's the best way to go about resolving this issue in terms of getting back my wireless network name and also getting the PPoE connection working again for remote access and for the VOIP phone to work again? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Jon

Posted by: Jonathan S at October 13, 2008 9:01 AM

Alright, I did all of that utilities>terminal> cat/etc/resolv.conf and I still got nothing.

Posted by: nikki at February 3, 2009 6:00 PM

just so you know there is a space between cat and the first /

that wasnt really mentioned at it confused me for a bit too
so it is cat /etc/resolv.conf

Posted by: Dan Bishop at March 3, 2009 2:43 AM

Whenever I open terminal the shell is way too small to use and can't be adjusted to a larger size. What's going on? How do I fix that?

Posted by: Jonathan Smith at April 4, 2009 10:33 AM

Jonathan, that's an odd problem. I know that by default the Terminal window is pretty darn small, but you should be able to go to "Terminal" --> "Preferences.." and then change your font size to make it more visible. Once you've done that, you should be able to grab the lower right corner of the Terminal window and drag it out to make the window itself larger too. Then choose "Use Settings as Default" from the "Shell" menu and it'll be the same next time you open up the app!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at April 4, 2009 10:50 AM

Hi Dave, I've always found your pages interesting reading. Now a friend of mine has an internet problem and cannot connect. She is using a wireless connection and for some reason, it's started not seeing the internet. It connects to the network (router) but can't get any further. She can connect (sometimes) in hot spots, eg. coffee shops. An IT guy who sets up internet came round to try and figure it out, but being a mac, he was a bit scared of it (even after two hours). She gets the message 'Could not find PPPoE server' (or similar) on trying to connect. The home pc connects fine to the net through the router. PLEASE, PLEASE help?

Posted by: Michael Hendry at May 12, 2009 4:31 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!