[olug] Domain name propagation - how long?

[Bob McCoy]

There's one other factor.  None of the multitude of domain name
registrars have direct update capability to the root name servers (with
the possible exception of Network Solutions/Verisign).  So there is a
propogation delay as the various registrars funnel (batch) their
updates.

-----Original Message-----
From: olug-bounces at olug.org [mailto:olug-bounces at olug.org] On Behalf Of
Sean Kelly
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 4:37 PM
To: Omaha Linux User Group
Subject: Re: [olug] Domain name propagation - how long?


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
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