OpenDNS Forums - Are all sites blocked actually visited? Fri, 24 May 2013 03:20:44 +0000 http://forums.opendns.com/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.4 Are all sites blocked actually visited? http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77111#Comment_77111 http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77111#Comment_77111 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:27:07 +0000 dmcdonald1 Are all sites blocked actually visited? http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77131#Comment_77131 http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77131#Comment_77131 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:49:40 +0000 maintenance
And, of course, if a domain is blocked, the site at that domain isn't visited at all.]]> Are all sites blocked actually visited? http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77145#Comment_77145 http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77145#Comment_77145 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:55:23 +0000 dmcdonald1 Are all sites blocked actually visited? http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77147#Comment_77147 http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77147#Comment_77147 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:49:59 +0000 maintenance network.dns.disablePrefetch;true
network.prefetch-next;false

What no one can tell you from stats is whether a person using a browser typed an address in the bar or clicked a bookmark or link to generate a DNS lookup. Most sites load content from many domains, including scripts, ads, images, comments, whatever. There is no way to say what caused the lookup - this is not like a browser's visited site history, but a collection of all DNS lookups leaving your network and generated by any possible means. E.g., your OS looks for updates, it generates DNS lookups for the update domain(s). Surf the forum here, and it will cause lookups for at least five domains. Visit a site about gay-related issues, and you might get DNS lookups for gay porn sites from advertising or whatever, depending on the sort of site it is, or how much control it has over context-based advertising on the site. Some sites will cause lookups to 30 or 50 domains - no kidding.]]> Are all sites blocked actually visited? http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77171#Comment_77171 http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=13451&Focus=77171#Comment_77171 Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:14:35 +0000 rotblitz
"Are all sites blocked actually visited?"

Generally no. The stats do not reflect sites having been visited, but domains having been looked up and eventually blocked. This is a huge difference. DNS is just the phone book, not the phone lines. Reading (looking up) a phone number in the phone directory proves in no way it has ever been used for calling (visiting).

As your network does not send any information about "visits" to OpenDNS, OpenDNS can just show the lookups you sent to them, not the visits.

"or are these URL's showing up from links on other pages or search results?"

Again, the stats are not about URLs, just about domains. Again a huge difference.

Regarding DNS prefetching in browsers:

In FireFox this is enabled by default, and even the config values may be missing. You may need to introduce them:
network.dns.disablePrefetch = true (boolean)
network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS = true (boolean)

And maybe also (this has indirect influence on DNS prefetching):
network.prefetch-next = false (boolean)

For Safari DNS prefetching is enabled by default as well.
To disable it see here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3408

You'll be surprised how different your OpenDNS domain stats look after having disabled DNS prefetching!]]>