Research Article
On QoE Impact of DoH and DoT in Africa: Why a User’s DNS Choice Matters
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-030-70572-5_18, author={Enock S. Mbewe and Josiah Chavula}, title={On QoE Impact of DoH and DoT in Africa: Why a User’s DNS Choice Matters}, proceedings={Towards new e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries. 12th EAI International Conference, AFRICOMM 2020, Eb\'{e}ne City, Mauritius, December 2-4, 2020, Proceedings}, proceedings_a={AFRICOMM}, year={2021}, month={7}, keywords={Networks Network performance Internet security DNS privacy QoE}, doi={10.1007/978-3-030-70572-5_18} }- Enock S. Mbewe
Josiah Chavula
Year: 2021
On QoE Impact of DoH and DoT in Africa: Why a User’s DNS Choice Matters
AFRICOMM
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-70572-5_18
Abstract
Internet security and Quality of Experience (QoE) are two antagonistic concepts that the research community has been attempting to reconcile. Internet security has of late received attention due to users’ online privacy and security concerns. One example is the introduction of encrypted Domain Name System (DNS) protocols. These protocols, combined with suboptimal routing paths and offshore hosting, have the potential to negatively impact the quality of web browsing experience for users in Africa. This is particularly the case in edge access networks that are far away from essential infrastructures such as DNS and content servers. In this paper, we analyse the QoE impact of using open public DoH and DoT resolvers when resolving websites that are hosted in Africa versus those hosted offshore. The study further compares the performance of DoT and DoH under different network conditions (mobile, community network, Eduroam and Campus wired network). Our results show that high latency and circuitous DNS resolution paths amplify the performance impact of secure DNS protocols on DNS resolution time and page load time. The study further shows that users’ DNS resolver preferences hugely determine the level of QoE. This study proposes wider adoption of Transport Layer Security version 1.3 (TLSv1.3) to leverage its latency-reduction features such as and (0/1-RTT). The study further proposes the localisation of content and secure DNS infrastructure. This, coupled with peering and cache sharing recommended by other works, will further minimise the impact of secure DNS protocols on Quality of Experience.