There are few reason why you might not see changes you make to your domain's DNS records (host records) right away. These processes are sometime generally referred to as propagation, but these are the specific reasons.
When you change a host record in our control panel, the changes are made in eNom's namservers instantly. There is no propagation or update time between when you make the change in your control panel, to when the records are updated in our nameservers.
However, due to the issues below, you may still see a delay. These factors exist, but are outside of our control. They are sometime referred to as 'propagation' time.
ISP DNS Caching
To obtain addresses for web sites you visit, the operating system on your computer uses a recursive DNS server (this is different than the DNS server on your domain). You can think of this server as your agent that talks to the nameservers on your domain to get the addresses for the records on your domain. To save extra lookups, and therefore resources, every ISP sets a length of time that their server saves, or caches, lookups.
For example, if I use my computer to look up www.google.com in my browser, my ISP's recursive DNS server will go out and find the address 66.249.93.147. If I look for www.google.com 5 minutes later, the DNS server won't go through the trouble of looking up the address again, it will just remember the address from my lookup five minutes earlier. The process is called DNS caching and ISPs have been known to cache DNS lookups from 1 hour to 24 hours.
This affects you when you make a change to the the DNS, or host records of your domain as well. For example, you visit your domain and your ISP will lookup the address and cache it for 1-24 hours. Then you go to your domain control panel, make a change to your nameservers or host records, and then visit your domain again. However, rather than looking up, and finding the record you just updated, your ISP still responds with the cached (old) record.
Your PC's DNS Caching
On some, rare, occasions, the address may actually be cached by the software on your PC. For Windows, you can go to a command prompt and use this command to 'flush' your dns. 'ipconfig /flushdns'
How can I determine which (if any) of these issues is affecting my domain?
There are some great online tools you can use:
First, to determine whether your domain has the correct nameservers listed at the Registry:
1.) Go to http://www.dnsqueries.com/en/dns_traversal.php and enter your domain name in the DNS Traversal form
For Registrera-Doman.com you'll see output like this:
DNS Traversal for registrera-doman.com.
Results for checks on registrera-doman.com
Server | Response |
---|---|
a.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
b.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
c.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
d.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
e.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
f.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
g.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
h.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
i.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
j.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
k.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
l.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
m.gtld-servers.net. | dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] |
All the responses are identical. |
Server | Response |
---|---|
dns1.name-services.com. [98.124.192.1] | 62.109.34.146. |
dns2.name-services.com. [98.124.197.1] | 62.109.34.146. |
dns3.name-services.com. [98.124.193.1] | 62.109.34.146. |
dns4.name-services.com. [69.64.145.225] | 62.109.34.146. |
dns5.name-services.com. [98.124.196.1] | 62.109.34.146. |
All the responses are identical. |
This is the Registry server which returned the results.
This IP address corresponds to the Registry server name.
These nameserver that are listed for your domain. This listing should be the same as in your control panel at Registrera Domän BUT please allow for zone update time. (eg. .com updates in about 5 minutes, .TV updates every 6 hours)
The time it took the Registry server to respond to your request.
2.) Determining which address your host record points to in a non-cached lookup.
I.) Go to the DNS lookup tool on http://www.dnsqueries.com/en/dns_query.php
a.) Enter your domain name or hostname in the 'Perform DNS query' tool. (e.g.. yourdomain.com or secure.yourdomain.com)
b.) Choose the record type A and press 'Run tool'II.) Provided that your nameserver listing is correct (see above) this address should correspond to what you have listed in the control panel since this is a direct lookup (not cached like your browser's)