This is the second reminder that account-less preferences are going away. We don’t mean to nag, but since these preferences are “account-less” we have no way to contact you and ask that you go make an account.

You can check to see if you have preferences that need to be moved into an account by going to the preferences page. Note, don’t go there and set up preferences now, they are about to go away. Go make an account instead.

Many thanks to those who have already taken action. Don’t wait, get your free, secure OpenDNS account now. Seriously, it’s more awesome. Did I mention that it’s free?

When OpenDNS invited the public in on July 10, 2006, there was not yet a mechanism for controlling your DNS preferences. It only took one week for us to get started, with the introduction of account-less preferences (for single, static IP addresses only) with a quiet link at the end of a post. That feature did the job, but it wasn’t a platform for advancement.

So, on November 7, 2006, we introduced OpenDNS Accounts, which took the preference management capabilities and added:

• more fine-grained control for larger networks
• clearer verification mechanisms, including self-service for single IP addresses
• secure (SSL) registration
• support for dynamic IP addresses
• network statistics
• control over branding for larger networks
• and cranberries (my almost-funny joke for American Thanksgiving)

Accounts are the real foundation for the control we give our users.

For the past few months, we’ve supported both Accounts and account-less preferences, as long as there was no conflict. Given our growth, supporting both systems has become more challenging. Since preferences are feature-frozen, and Accounts are offering more and more features (hint: more coming soon!), the choice is clear: it’s time to retire account-less preferences.

This change affects very few users…but we’d like to make sure they know about this coming change.

The irony? If we had a way of reaching the affected users, we would have emailed them privately. But note the account-less part of account-less preferences.

Therefore, we are giving six weeks’ notice, and we will post at least two more reminders along the way.

To sum up:

1. No account required to use OpenDNS with default preferences, including phishing protection and typo correction. No change.
2. With a free, secure OpenDNS account, you may manage your preferences, get statistics about your network, post in the Forums, and more. No change.
3. On Monday, April 9, 2007, all account-less preferences will be erased. This is important for a few thousand OpenDNS customers.

If you are using account-less preferences, please get a free account now and add your network(s), whether single IP address or much, much larger.

Update: February 27, 2007 For those coming from account-less preferences, there are some differences in the Accounts system. Once you create an account, there are three more steps.

1. Add a network. You can enter a single IP, or a range of IP addresses as a CIDR block.
2. Verify your network. For a single IP network (a /32), you will be sent an email with a special link. To verify your management of that IP, click the link while visible to the webserver as coming from that IP address. For individual computers, this is probably not a problem. For a server, it may require an additional step or two. If you have problems, please tell us via the contact form within the My Account section.
   For a larger network (two IP addresses on up), OpenDNS staff will review the network. You will be notified via email when the network is verified, or if there are additional questions.
3. Manage your network preferences. Once the network is verified, you will see a wrench icon () next to your network address. Click the wrench icon, and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can manage your preferences for that network. This will be mostly familiar, though with some additional preferences.

The following release is not being distributed far and wide.

OpenDNS Thanks Its Users with Cranberry Choice for Thanksgiving

Canned or whole cranberries, intelligent DNS platform offers users choice about how they want their turk…err, DNS.

PLYMOUTH ROCK, Mass. - Nov. 22, 2006 - Just in time for the American holiday of Thanksgiving, OpenDNS offers additional choice in DNS: canned cranberry sauce or whole cranberry sauce or none at all.

All OpenDNS users enjoy a fast, free, reliable DNS service, with the safety of phishing prevention and the intelligence of typo correction. That service is available with or without an Account. With a free OpenDNS Account. users can choose their own DNS preferences. Those preferences now include cranberries: canned, whole, or none at all.

By default, OpenDNS will deliver DNS without cranberries. But with an account, OpenDNS users can change their cranberry preference and have that taste distributed around the global OpenDNS network instantly.

Canned versus Whole

It’s a debate that stretches back generations: which kind of cranberry sauce goes best with the traditional turkey dinner? The advocates of canned sauce praise the consistency, in texture, mouth feel, and shape, and welcome the common thread that weaves together Americans throughout the nation. The ridges left by the sturdy can mean Thanksgiving to many.

For others, nothing says Thanksgiving more than whole cranberries, in all their aromatic tartness, waiting to be dribbled over their turkey (and anything else!). The variations are cherished, and the “natural” state gently evokes the first Thanksgiving’s hardships (without actually requiring suffering).

Further background may be enjoyed at “The Great Cranberry Sauce Debate.”

Note: For those who stay on the side of this great divide, stay with the default: DNS without cranberries. It’s still free, fast, and reliable.

Next year’s preference? Indicate whether you like your DNS with dark meat, white meat or drumsticks.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving. OpenDNS understands that the cranberry preference may be of limited value to those who do not celebrate Thanksgiving; we promise to consider other preferences appropriate to local holidays.

See the new tab up there, at the far right? It says My Account. Go ahead and take a look. Or read on for why you’ll want to create a free account. You can find the tab and Sign In link at the upper right of every page of the OpenDNS website.

OpenDNS invited the public to use its free, reliable DNS service for the first time on July 10, 2006. Less than a week later, we introduced preferences for OpenDNS, which gave the individual user the opportunity to manage their DNS in a way that had never before been possible. Later, at customer request, we used our platform to offer choice in their response to Cameroon’s TLD policies.

OpenDNS Accounts represents the next step in our commitment to give our customers choice and control.

We talk a lot about “Safer, Faster and Smarter” DNS built on a rock-solid and reliable foundation. A big part of being safer and smarter means giving you control. That’s what OpenDNS Accounts is all about.

When was the last time your DNS improved?

It doesn’t matter if you have one IP at home that you manage or a massive network of disconnected offices — OpenDNS Accounts is for you.

Secure
Registration, sign in, and all profile and preferences are managed with a username and password on a secure, encrypted site using SSL (like your bank does).

Dynamic DNS Support
OpenDNS Accounts support the use of dynamic DNS (DDNS) update mechanisms to allow you to securely manage your Account and get your preferences even with a dynamic IP address. Read for details. Note: Because OpenDNS uses SSL, there are several very good DDNS clients which do not (yet) work. We are going to encourage various developers to add support for SSL to their otherwise very strong DDNS software.

Statistics
Everyone from individuals to network operators will enjoy a bit of insight into statistics about their DNS usage. How many DNS requests per day do you make? How many individual domains per day do you resolve? On that pretty graph I see for the OpenDNS service, what am I contributing? Basically, we’re taking the stats we show the public and giving you similar insight with the stats that relate to your DNS traffic.

Just as a heads up — while DNS resolution is blinding fast (as always), our stats processing happens (as our network guys say) out-of-band and is done separately. You will not see statistics immediately (at least, not just yet). It may take as long as 48 hours for your stats to appear.

We feel strongly that this is a platform for DNS unlike anything that has ever existed before and continues to help OpenDNS bring about evolutionary changes to the DNS that dramatically change the end-user experience.

P.S. If you have OpenDNS preferences, they will continue to work until they are superseded by an OpenDNS Account with the same IP address. We suggest that anyone using OpenDNS preferences set up a free account now and verify your IP address.

We’ve been quiet recently. Too quiet.

Seriously, all of us are focused on two large projects, each of which will see the light of day shortly. Both of these efforts won’t surprise those who have been paying close attention to some of our previous writings.

Just to add to the behind-the-scenes fun, our growth (thank you!) has accelerated some of our storage upgrade plans, since we hate falling behind in our stats processing. As noted on the system status posts [1, 2], DNS services are not affected by stats processing, deliberately — but it means our pretty graphs get stuck until we catch up.

(And, yes, London is still in progress.)