DNS propagation – What does it mean?
DNS propagation refers to the process of updating and distributing all of the new changes and modifications that you make in your Domain Name System (DNS) to the rest of the entire network.
When you own an online business, or perhaps, you are administrating a network, you are aware that that requires a lot of adjustments on your DNS. For instance, sometimes, you have to create, delete, or modify a DNS record, or replace an IP address. Additionally, actions such as changing the TTL (time-to-live) values, redirecting your visitors to a precise subdomain, or adding an SSL certificate also require your intervention. That is just a small part of the various different changes that could appear regarding your DNS.
Why the DNS propagation takes so long?
Yet, the specific type of modification doesn’t matter because everything is stored on your authoritative DNS server. On the other hand, the global network includes numerous DNS servers, such as recursive DNS servers, and they are placed in different geographical locations. Each one of them has to receive the new updated information because they have an essential role in the DNS resolution process.
How to speed up DNS propagation?
The majority of the components in the domain namespace are outside of our control, such as the ISPs and the DNS root servers. They have their own policies. Yet, there are two things you could do to speed up the DNS propagation process:
- Set a minimal TTL (Time-to-Live) value for the DNS records, for example, several minutes.
- You can flush the DNS cache of major public DNS resolvers, such as Google Public DNS.
There is a chance that these simple things speed up the DNS propagation significantly. Yet, there is no guarantee or way to predict how long it is actually going to take.
Can we check it?
Of course, it is possible to check the DNS propagation. We just need to examine if the IP address is changed for the domain name. That way, we could understand if the A or AAAA records are updated.
Here are several ways you can complete this task, depending on your operating system (OS).
Linux or macOS
First, you have to open the Terminal app. Inside it, you can use one useful command that is built-in in your OS – the Dig command.
dig exampledomain.com
If you prefer, you can use the Host command too.
host exampledomain.com
Windows OS
First, you have to open the Command Prompt, which is the alternative for the Terminal app. Inside it, you can use the NSlookup command.
nslookup exampledomain.com
*Make sure to replace exampledomain.com with the actual domain name you want to check.