set DNS server terminal

Hi,

You can change the DNS server through the System -> Administration -> network option if you do not like to use the command line interface.

Hope that helps.

Thanks - but I'm looking for the command to use on the terminal for setting the DNS server

for examle you can use nslookup for querying a server: nslookup www.example.com [server ip]

You can use ifconfig for changing your IP

But what command to use for setting the DNS server (until next reboot)?

There is no such command. You can set default nameserver via /etc/init.d/rc.local:

echo "nameserver a.b.c.d
namesever e.f.g.h" > /etc/resolv.conf

i think it's ok to change /etc/resolv.conf with your secondary DNS, and change it back to your primary DNS while it needed.

AFAIK there is no such command to change DNS in /etc/resolv.conf temporarily

Old question, but if you have resolvconf package installed (the default for at least 14.04+), the DNS server choices are then made by a combination of programs (e.g. DNSMasq), interfacing with the resolvconf program, which updates resolv.conf automatically for you. You can override this temporarily by issuing the following sort of command:

sudo sh -c "resolvconf -d eth0 && (echo nameserver 185.37.37.37 & echo nameserver 185.37.37.185) | resolvconf -a eth0"

which would switch to the two specified name servers. This should revert automatically when you reboot. Also, if you just have dnsmasq managing your dns then:

sudo resolvconf -d eth0

may suffice to revert the changes without a reboot.