John P. Rula
ABSTRACT
DNS plays a critical role in the performance of smartdevices within cellular networks. Besides name resolution, DNS is commonly relied upon for directing users to nearby content caches for better performance. In light of this, it is surprising how little is known about the structure of cellular DNS and its effectiveness as a client localization method.
In this paper we take a close look at cellular network DNS and uncover several features of cellular DNS, such as cellular network opaqueness and client to resolver inconsistency, that make it unsuitable for client localization in modern cellular networks. We study these issues in two leading mobile network markets - US and South Korea - using a collection of over 340 volunteer devices to probe the DNS infrastructure of each client's cellular provider.
We show the extent of the problem with regards to replica selection and compare its localization performance against public DNS alternatives. As a testament to cellular DNS's poor localization, we find surprisingly that public DNS can render equal or better replica performance over 75% of the time.
- B. Ager, W. Mühlbauer, G. Smaragdakis, and S. Uhlig. Comparing DNS resolvers in the wild. In Proc. IMC, 2010. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- H. A. Alzoubi, M. Rabinovich, and O. Spatscheck. The anatomy of LDNS clusters: Findings and implications for web content delivery. In Proc. WWW, 2013. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Balakrishnan, I. Mohomed, and V. Ramasubramanian. Where's that phone?: geolocating IP addresses on 3G networks. In Proc. IMC, 2009. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Casado and M. J. Freedman. Peering through the shroud: The effect of edge opacity on ip-based client identification. In Proc. USENIX NSDI, 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
- D. R. Choffnes and F. E. Bustamante. Taming the torrent: a practical approach to reducing cross-isp traffic in peer-to-peer systems. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 38(4):363--374, 2008. Google ScholarDigital Library
- CISCO. Architectural Considerations for Backhaul of 2G/3G and Long Term Evolution Networks. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/mobile-internet/white_paper_c11--613002.pdf.Google Scholar
- CISCO. CISCO visual networking index: Global mobile data traffic forecast update 2013--2018. Technical report, CISCO Systems Inc., 2014.Google Scholar
- A. Gember, A. Akella, J. Pang, A. Varshavsky, and R. Caceres. Obtaining in-context measurements of cellular network performance. In Proc. IMC, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Google. Frequently asked questions - Public DNS -- Google Developers. https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/faq.Google Scholar
- C. Huang, A. Wang, J. Li, and K. W. Ross. Measuring and evaluating large-scale CDNs. In Proc. IMC, 2008. Google Scholar
- J. Huang, F. Qian, A. Gerber, Z. M. Mao, S. Sen, and O. Spatscheck. A close examination of performance and power characteristics of 4g lte networks. In Proc. of MobiSys, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- G. Intelligence. 4G driving data usage but not all markets reaping the rewards. Technical report.Google Scholar
- B. Krishnamurthy, C. Wills, and Y. Zhang. On the use and performance of content distribution networks. In Proc. IMC, 2001. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. Maggs. Personal Communication.Google Scholar
- B. Maggs. Challenges in engineering the world's largest content delivery networkstate of the union address.Google Scholar
- Z. M. Mao, C. D. Cranor, F. Douglis, M. Rabinovich, O. Spatscheck, and J. Wang. A precise and efficient evaluation of the proximity between web clients and their local DNS servers. In Proc. USENIX ATC, 2002. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Nikravesh, D. R. Choffnes, E. Katz-Bassett, Z. M. Mao, and M. Welsh. Mobile network performance from user devices: A longitudinal, multidimensional analysis. In Proc. PAM, 2014.Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. S. Otto, M. A. Sánchez, J. P. Rula, and F. E. Bustamante. Content delivery and the natural evolution of DNS: Remote DNS trends, performance issues and alternative solutions. In Proc. IMC, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. F. Rubin. Verizon to acquire content-delivery startup edgecast networks.textitThe Wall Street Journal, 9 December 2013. Available: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20131209--703213.html. {Last Accessed: 5 May 2014}.Google Scholar
- K. Schomp, T. Callahan, M. Rabinovich, and M. Allman. On measuring the client-side dns infrastructure. In Proc. IMC, 2013. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Shaikh, R. Tewari, and M. Agrawal. On the effectiveness of DNS-based server selection. In Proc. IEEE INFOCOM.Google Scholar
- J. Sommers and P. Barford. Cell vs. wifi: on the performance of metro area mobile connections. In Proc. IMC, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A.-J. Su, D. R. Choffnes, A. Kuzmanovic, and F. E. Bustamante. Drafting behind akamai (travelocity-based detouring). ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 36(4):435--446, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Z. Wang, Z. Qian, Q. Xu, Z. Mao, and M. Zhang. An untold story of middleboxes in cellular networks. SIGCOMM Comput. Commun. Rev., 41(4):374--385, Aug. 2011. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Q. Xu, J. Huang, Z. Wang, F. Qian, and A. G. Z. M. Mao. Cellular data network infrastructure characterization and implication on mobile content placement. In Proc. ACM SIGMETRICS, 2011. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Zarifis, T. Flach, S. Nori, D. Choffnes, R. Govindan, E. Katz-Bassett, Z. M. Mao, and M. Welsh. Diagnosing Path Inflation of Mobile Client Traffic. In Proc. PAM, 2014.Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Behind the Curtain: Cellular DNS and Content Replica Selection
Recommendations
namehelp: intelligent client-side DNS resolution
Special october issue SIGCOMM '12The Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental component of today's Internet. Recent years have seen radical changes to DNS with increases in usage of remote DNS and public DNS services such as OpenDNS. Given the close relationship between DNS and ...
namehelp: intelligent client-side DNS resolution
SIGCOMM '12: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2012 conference on Applications, technologies, architectures, and protocols for computer communicationThe Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental component of today's Internet. Recent years have seen radical changes to DNS with increases in usage of remote DNS and public DNS services such as OpenDNS. Given the close relationship between DNS and ...
Securing DNS: Extending DNS Servers with a DNSSEC Validator
DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a proposed standard for securely authenticating information in the Domain Name System. DNSSEC validators check the digital signatures on DNS data. However, designing a validator worth the operational costs is a ...
Comments