Two weeks ago I was in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, doing an installation and am happy to report that as of today, that site is online and serving production OpenDNS traffic.
One of the neat things about OpenDNS is that we use something called Anycast technology in how we run our network. That’s great for you — it means no matter where you are in the world, your DNS requests route through our closest datacenter. When we do maintenance, our routing topology ensures you will route to our next closest datacenter. It also means that when we bring up a new datacenter that is closer to you, your DNS requests will go to it.
And here’s a photo of what our installation looks like:
From top to bottom we have:
- Operations machine for management
- Juniper MX480 Router
- Cisco 2950 Switch for management
- 3 SuperMicro Twin2U Servers (each with four servers in a single chassis)
This is a fairly typical setup for us. We have lots of room to add more servers as needed (though we think the 12 we have will be plenty for quite a while). We’re happy to answer questions, so please feel free to ask ‘em. You can see more pics of our setup here: OpenDNS in Amsterdam
Peter Ondruska
David, I am located in Europe (Czech Republic) and traceroute shows I am still being served by London. How long shall I wait to check again?
posted on August 31st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
vinicius
Congratulations!
Is there any schedule to have servers in south america?
And for curiosity, this 12 virtual servers are all recursive resolvers or there some for database, statistics, etc?
Thanks for sharing! Best regards.
posted on August 31st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Alex
Ever since you have launched this new server I have noticed a slight speed increase in web pages loading. I am in the UK.
posted on August 31st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Paul
Those MX480 are a power hungry beast. I’ve got 6 of the DC model sitting in the crates because my COs need work
posted on September 1st, 2009 at 2:08 am
Today’s Startup and Entrepreneurial Updates | CenterNetworks
[...] OpenDNS moves into the red light district - OpenDNS [...]
posted on September 1st, 2009 at 3:45 am
Florin
I traceroute 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 and they go to London DataCenter .
posted on September 1st, 2009 at 9:23 am
Melvin
David, congrats with the new location! Welcome to my city
Keep up the good work. Hope to see many bits and bytes flowing through the Amsterdam setup 
posted on September 2nd, 2009 at 3:43 am
Matthew
Great work guys, this will actually have an increase in speed for everyone because it will off load most of the users near amsterdam, to the amsterdam server now therefore reducing the load on the servers they were on before, and they will see an increase in speed!
Great work! Hope to see more servers up in the near future as you grow. A nice one would be in maidenhead / birmingham for the UK too.
posted on September 2nd, 2009 at 5:13 am
Mark Mathson
Congrats on the new install! Looks good and will be great to help grow OpenDNS in Europe and beyond.
posted on September 2nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Ed
Not to be a stickler, but that is a 2960, not 50. Nice picture though.
posted on September 2nd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Cemil
very nice? What kind of servers do you use? Looks like hp
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 2:21 am
Wayne Robinson
I don’t suppose Australia is on your list. We feel a little left out over this side. A site in Japan may even help soon with PIPE almost going live with their new Guam-connected cable.
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 am
Armand
Great. I live in Amsterdam!
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 10:40 am
Justin Cram
Great deal maybe we will get back out bandwidth here in the state’s =) J/K have u guys in the east coast!!
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Allan
Wow this is one good news for people in europe. In few years from now I am aiming to master networking and hope to be in otherplaces someday. I am using openDNS at home to control our network and with this mini-LAN I should start my aim. Thanks for the news and inspiration.
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Edward
Why’d you go with such a big router? Wouldn’t it have been easier to buy a switch and a smaller router?
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Suhud1
Congratulations! and Thank you Allison Rhodes for your info and I have download the new version of Opendns-updater 2.
Regards
Suhud
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Anatol
I am located in South Germany an my Traceroute shows that I am still servered from London and not from Amsterdam.
posted on September 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Para
I hope they put Australia on the list sometime in the future.
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Ronald
I live in Netherlands (Rotterdam) but my traceroute goes to london. Hop 9,10 and 11 are in Amsterdam.
ISP Telfort.nl
1) 192.168.1.254
vpn496-telfort.bcsw1.asd-nh.ip.telfort.nl [195.241.4.186]
2) 82-168-191-254.ip.telfort.nl [82.168.191.254]
3) 172.26.42.33
4) 172.26.44.10
5) 172.26.13.138
6) 172.26.13.110
7) vpn496-telfort.bcsw3.asd-hp.ip.telfort.nl [195.241.4.185]
9) ae2.25-ams20.ip4.tinet.net [77.67.64.1]
10)xe-4-3-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net [89.149.185.93]
11)r22.amstnl02.nl.bb.gin.ntt.net [195.69.144.36]
12)p64-2-0-0.r23.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.104]
13)po-5.r01.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.238]
14)83.231.146.198
15)resolver1.opendns.com [208.67.222.222]
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Keimpe de Jong
H:\>tracert 208.67.222.222
Bezig met het traceren van de route naar resolver1.opendns.com [208.67.222.222]
via maximaal 30 hops:
1
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Michael Rack
“3 SuperMicro Twin2U Servers (each with four servers in a single chassis)”: But there only 2 boards installed into it? Two real Hardware-Servers and on each server 2 running virtual machines?
Where did you get this hardware? I need this chassis too.
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 1:57 am
New OpenDNS datacenter in Amsterdam
[...] OpenDNS datacenter in Amsterdam Check out OpenDNS Blog New datacenter live: Amsterdam It’s official, the much discussed and anticipated OpenDNS Amsterdam datacenter is up and running. [...]
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Stef Renders
Great to hear that !
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Sebastiaan
I live 20km from Amsterdam, and a traceroute to both ip-addresses goes to london, VIA Amsterdam?
traceroute to 208.67.220.220 (208.67.220.220), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) 84.028 ms 77.620 ms 99.908 ms
2 dr1.tc1.xs4all.net (62.216.7.1) 9.022 ms 9.521 ms 10.059 ms
3 0.ge-0-3-5.xr3.3d12.xs4all.net (194.109.7.37) 9.623 ms 9.244 ms 9.863 ms
4 asd2-rou-1002.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.97.17) 8.610 ms 8.796 ms 8.855 ms
5 obl-rou-1021.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.231.201) 10.521 ms 10.406 ms 10.329 ms
6 195.190.227.222 (195.190.227.222) 10.878 ms 11.149 ms 11.144 ms
7 r22.amstnl02.nl.bb.gin.ntt.net (195.69.144.36) 13.057 ms 13.198 ms 13.025 ms
8 p64-2-0-0.r23.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.104) 19.906 ms 19.646 ms 19.907 ms
9 po-5.r01.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.238) 20.149 ms 19.860 ms 20.856 ms
10 83.231.146.198 (83.231.146.198) 19.885 ms 19.919 ms 20.235 ms
11 * *
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Stephen
Nice cabling job Dave!
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Brian N.
Very nice, this new server will speed things up quite a bit as I’m located much closer to that one. Just like other people though, tracert shows uk server is sill being used. Maybe we’re missing a setting somewhere I don’t know.
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Nicholas
I’m hope the next data centers are in India and Australia as mentioned in the newsletter. I am from India living in Australia, and it would be realised soon.
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Joachim
Thanks for the new server…
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 10:06 am
bram
Bezig met het traceren van de route naar resolver2.opendns.com [208.67.220.220]
via maximaal 30 hops:
1 36 ms 38 ms 23 ms 172.18.1.100
2 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms 194.171.9.1
3 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms GE1-3-0.2136.JNR01.Asd002A.surf.net [145.145.4.2
9]
4 29 ms 28 ms 28 ms AE0.500.JNR02.Asd002A.surf.net [145.145.80.65]
5 29 ms 36 ms 28 ms xe-5-3-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net [77.67.72.109]
6 29 ms 29 ms 58 ms r22.amstnl02.nl.bb.gin.ntt.net [195.69.144.36]
7 44 ms 36 ms 35 ms p64-2-0-0.r23.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.25
0.4.104]
8 42 ms 42 ms 44 ms po-5.r01.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.2
38]
9 37 ms 36 ms 36 ms 83.231.146.198
10 35 ms 35 ms 50 ms resolver2.opendns.com [208.67.220.220]
same here going to london
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Bert W.
Same here, traceroute 208.67.222.222 from within ISP xs4all.nl domain passes po-5.r01.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net.
Regards,
Bert
posted on September 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Peter Binderup
traceroute from Denmark also leads to London
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Smile
in Indonesia when?? but Congratulations!
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 5:27 am
heru
congratulation,
god job for opendns crew/team, i hope opendns make server in indonesia soon
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Roger Mettam
With new cabling going south to Africa I hope we can, like Australia, get a data centre in this continent some time in the near future. I am in South Africa where the 2010 World Cup is being held.
Here is my trace which I see is now using Denmarks centre.
1
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Michael Dragone
Looks awesome. Would love to see more infrastructure photos and hear more about how you configure these puppies.
What are the yellow Ethernet cables used for? I can’t figure out how their wired between the systems from the pictures.
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Matias (matiasm) 's status on Sunday, 06-Sep-09 03:38:08 UTC - Identi.ca
[...] http://blog.opendns.com/2009/08/31/opendns-amsterdam/ a few seconds ago from firestatus [...]
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Sang Doan
Great,David.
I live in Vietnam. I’m hope the next data centers are in Vietnam. I would like to sponsors the next datacenter in vietnam.
Regards.
Sang Doan
Sales manager
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
The Doctor
I’d be keen to see OpenDNS install some servers in, or near, Australia.
Best wishes,
The Doc
posted on September 5th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
David
Thanks for the job but is routing working as expected ?
1 1 ms 1 ms
posted on September 6th, 2009 at 1:39 am
HellBringer
Apparently there are more problems reaching the new data center from all over Europe.
I live in Gouda, about 40 miles from Amsterdam and am also routed to London.
See this topic on the forums: http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=4737&page=1#Item_0
posted on September 6th, 2009 at 7:22 am
squiddy
can’t wait for servers around asia and australia
posted on September 6th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Stu
Congratulations on the latest addition to the OpenDNS network, that looks like some serious kit! As others have noted DNS performance seems a little more spritely here in the UK now too, presumably as a result of some of the load being taken up by the new Amsterdam server.
posted on September 7th, 2009 at 2:07 am
King Q
Tracert brings me back to UK as well.
David: What is the advantage there then?
Regards
posted on September 7th, 2009 at 3:11 am
Simon
Yeah, me to, on both IPs I end up in London via Amsterdam.
I am much, much closer to Amsterdam, then to London
posted on September 8th, 2009 at 1:26 am
xinage
Should place some Malaysia at asia near Malaysia. Malaysia always have high ping to OpenDns, Malaysia DNS is unstabble also, many malaysians use OpenDNS , I suggest to place some server at Malaysia
posted on September 8th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Joshua
HAHA, now they have the reverse problem for me. They are sending all my requests through amsterdam, from here in the US! Check out Hop number 9!
3 5 ms 4 ms 5 ms ge-1-1-ur01.albuquerque.nm.albuq.comcast.net [68.86.183.1]
4 15 ms 11 ms 16 ms te-8-4-ar01.albuquerque.nm.albuq.comcast.net [68.86.182.25]
5 15 ms 16 ms 14 ms te-0-6-0-4-cr01.denverqwest.co.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.91.25]
6 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms te-0-1-0-0-cr01.santateresa.tx.ibone.comcast.ne [68.86.84.66]
7 37 ms 39 ms 50 ms pos-1-8-0-0-cr01.losangeles.ca.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.86.13]
8 39 ms 38 ms 37 ms xe-2-3-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net [77.67.70.181]
9 193 ms 195 ms 204 ms xe-1-0-0.ams10.ip4.tinet.net [89.149.186.241]
10 198 ms 198 ms 200 ms opendns-gw.ip4.tinet.net [77.67.66.70]
11 198 ms 200 ms 197 ms resolver2.opendns.com [208.67.220.220]
posted on September 8th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
voyager
I’m very curious what is your average ping to OpenDNS?
posted on September 8th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Joshua
About 50ms…which is what it is now…i’m routing to CA now.
posted on September 9th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Andre Pinto
What about an open dns server for Latin America. Brazil has many heavy internet users… So this would be great.
posted on September 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
tcchuin
i hope there’ll be a new server at asia or SEA
posted on September 13th, 2009 at 12:03 am
hao
That’s a great news! I hope you’ll have a data center here at Asia Pacific. I’m from the Philippines btw.
posted on September 15th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Chris Slater-Walker
Regarding all the comments about people being routed to London when Amsterdam is closer: there was a reasonable article in the latest Internet Protocol Journal about research into the effectiveness of Anycast, and it concluded that it is far from perfect at routing requests to the nearest data centre, although it may be the best thing we have at the moment. It seems to me that much may depend on peering arrangements across the Internet as well, such that “nearest” in network terms may sometimes not equate to geographical proximity.
posted on September 19th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Collin
Working Like a Charm
(Living some ware near the center of The Netherlands)
ISP: Online.nl (wanadoo.nl/Orange.nl)
ICMP Traceroute to 208.67.222.222 (208.67.222.222)
Hop 01: 192.###.###.### [Unknown]
Hop 02: 81.71.128.1 bras5-asd7.wadsl.wanadoo.nl
Hop 03: 194.134.187.74 G3-8.dr1-asd7.nl.euro.net
Hop 04: 194.134.161.12 10GE2-3.cr1-asd5.nl.euro.net
Hop 05: 194.134.161.11 PC15.er1-asd4.nl.euro.net
Hop 06: 195.69.144.88 peer1.rtr1.ams.opendns.com
Hop 07: 208.67.222.222 resolver1.opendns.com
ICMP Traceroute to 208.67.220.220 (208.67.220.220)
Hop 01: 192.###.###.### [Unknown]
Hop 02: 81.71.128.1 bras5-asd7.wadsl.wanadoo.nl
Hop 03: 194.134.187.74 G3-8.dr1-asd7.nl.euro.net
Hop 04: 194.134.161.12 10GE2-3.cr1-asd5.nl.euro.net
Hop 05: 194.134.161.11 PC15.er1-asd4.nl.euro.net
Hop 06: 195.69.144.88 peer1.rtr1.ams.opendns.com
Hop 07: 208.67.220.220 resolver2.opendns.com
posted on October 1st, 2009 at 10:59 am
Belal
congrats with the new location! Welcome to my city Keep up the good work. Hope to see many bits and bytes flowing through the Amsterdam setup
thank’s u’r so kinde mane make beeter all time
go on to be N(1)
posted on October 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Jaco
WOW, faster than lightning.
Bezig met het traceren van de route naar resolver1.opendns.com [208.67.222.222]
via maximaal 30 hops:
1
posted on October 4th, 2009 at 4:18 am
De Wet
Oh may we please have one in South Africa. I don’t fully understand why but only few of the ISP’s make it possible to use opendns here, I am sure that a local server would help.
posted on October 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
King
i hope there would be opendns servers in the philippines. we have many internet cafe’s here and business here so promote opendns here.
posted on October 8th, 2009 at 11:45 am
eric
Used a script from http://www.manu-j.com/blog/opendns-alternative-google-dns-rocks/403/, changed it a bit into :
#!/bin/sh
#8.8.8.8=googledns, 208.67.222.222=opendns, 62.179.104.196=isp
for i in “lifehacker.com” “facebook.com” “manu-j.com” “reddit.com” “tb4.fr” “bbc.co.uk”
do
for j in “8.8.8.8″ “208.67.222.222″ “62.179.104.196″
do
echo $j $i `dig @$j $i | grep Query | awk -F “:” ‘{print $2}’`
done
done
Results are :
8.8.8.8 lifehacker.com 14 msec
208.67.222.222 lifehacker.com 10 msec
62.179.104.196 lifehacker.com 16 msec
8.8.8.8 facebook.com 14 msec
208.67.222.222 facebook.com 9 msec
62.179.104.196 facebook.com 25 msec
8.8.8.8 manu-j.com 23 msec
208.67.222.222 manu-j.com 10 msec
62.179.104.196 manu-j.com 28 msec
8.8.8.8 reddit.com 316 msec
208.67.222.222 reddit.com 29 msec
62.179.104.196 reddit.com 8 msec
8.8.8.8 tb4.fr 37 msec
208.67.222.222 tb4.fr 10 msec
62.179.104.196 tb4.fr 11 msec
8.8.8.8 bbc.co.uk 35 msec
208.67.222.222 bbc.co.uk 9 msec
62.179.104.196 bbc.co.uk 12 msec
Living in Amsterdam.
posted on December 6th, 2009 at 6:51 am
AlexB
David-
What do you do to load balance the DNS requests across the servers? I don’t see a load balancer in the list of equipment.
-AlexB
posted on May 4th, 2010 at 6:40 am