DNS

To implement complex DNS features, Surge has its own DNS client implementation. It may perform different behaviors to system DNS implementation.

Upstream DNS Server

By default, Surge uses system's DNS server address setting. You may override it using 'dns-server' option.

Detail

To boost performance Surge will send DNS query to all DNS servers simultaneously, just like dnsmasq with '--all-servers' parameter. The first answer from servers will be used. Surge iOS app and Surge Dashboard will show which server responds first.

If Surge has not received answer from any server in 2 seconds, it will resend the question to all servers again. After 4 times retries, Surge will stop lookup and report a DNS error.

Some domain may have a poor NS server, so that the DNS server may return an empty answer due to server-side timeout or other connectivity issues. Surge will report an empty DNS error, if all servers return explicit empty answers, or some servers return empty answers and the others have not responded in 2 seconds.

When IPv6 is available and enabled, Surge DNS client will send A and AAAA questions to upstream DNS Server. In current version, which answer will be used depends on which answer returns first.