[olug] Domain name propagation - how long?

[Sean Kelly]

On Tue, Oct 28, 2003 at 12:59:15PM -0600, Trent Melcher wrote:
> I think they update the root server twice a day everyday. So a registered
> domain could start working in no later than 12 hours I believe.  The
> propagation does take some time after the root servers are updated, so it
> could take 1 -2 days for it to completely propagate, it all depends on how
> pepole have their DNS servers configured.  THe quickest I had a domain
> actually work was in about 3 hours, but I got it registered just before the
> root servers were schedule to do their updates.

First off, DNS is not a server-push protocol. When you register a domain,
it is not necessary for it to propagate out across the entire internet. In
fact, when a client asks a nameserver to resolve 'xyzzy.net', if the
nameserver doesn't have it in its cache, it will go to the root servers and
ask about it. So, it is only necessary for the root servers to be updated
in order for a domain to "start working" on the Internet. There is no one
to two day waiting period while things "propagate".

What you might experience that has the symptons of a waiting period is
negative TTL. When a nameserver tries to resolve something and it turns out
to not exist (dflsjflakjfa.org), it will keep a record of the negative
lookup for a few minutes. So, if you keep trying to resolve your new domain
before the root servers have updated, you just make it take longer to show
up for you and anybody else who uses the same nameserver as you. To make
some matters worse, some major ISPs are known to play with negative TTLs
and make them much longer than necessary.

While I believe you are correct on the general .COM and .NET TLD roots
only updating every 12 hours, it would appear that ORG TLDs update every
few minutes now. I know somebody who can register a domain and the ORGs
will have it listed within 5 minutes or so.

So, again, DNS is client-pull, not server-push.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Sean Kelly         | PGP KeyID: D2E5E296
smkelly at zombie.org | http://www.zombie.org