Please be gentle...
as I am not sure this is the right place to look for advice - I have my own business and we had to switch from a windows server to a linux one to launch a new website. 12 hours later and the new site is showing for some people and not for others. I am only a simple salesman and know nothing about this stuff. Apparently it is due to DNS propogation and may take up to 72 hours? Is this true? I have a big marketing launch on the back of this & can't afford the delay.

If this is the wrong place for me to ask for advice then I apologise but I really don't know what to do!
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:25, 25 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

DNS
DNS is like a signpost to your website (actually it converts sexyurl.com to an IP address)

If you have had to change your server / hosting, it is quite likely that your DNS will have needed to be changed. Sadly, it can take up to 72 hours for the settings to propogate around the web (analogy of a bunch of little geeks running round and changing all the signs to point to your new website) From the symptoms you describe, they haven't yet changed *all* of the signs.

Is it a .co.uk or .com domain (.co.uk will be a bit quicker) and as a crumb of comfort... it will take *UP TO* 72 hours, realistically, it will be much quicker (I did a DNS change last week that was active inside 2 hours)

Patience, my jedi friend...

*edit* this is a bit dumbed down, cos there are things like caching and TTL to take into account)
(CheatingRabbit, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:31, Reply)

Thanks
I appreciate it - particularly the level of your explanation - anything more technical would have just confused me! It is a .co.uk domain - so hopefully it won't be long. Cheers.
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:40, Reply)

When you say big marketing launch
is it a "All come here and look at our website" or "Everyone log in to our website now from wherever you are" sort of thing.
(PsychoChomp, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:41, Reply)

It is part of a relaunch of the entire business
with a wider range of services. We have a targeted email newsletter waiting to go out to about 5000 senior decision makers in our target customer groups (the email has several variants based on some data segmentation) and the newsletter points people to the site. There are also press releases etc waiting to go out once the site is live & typically in our sector (marketing) trade journalists would check out the site before deciding to run the release or not.

The site is pretty critical to the whole relaunch - it contains the full details of the range of services we now offer, case studies etc
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:52, Reply)

I'll only be gentle if you'll put a jammy finger in my arse and sing 'Happy Ending' by Mika when I come.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:41, Reply)

would you prefer
a cucumber as I've got small fingers & they might not be enough for you - plus Mika isn't my sort of music but I am sure I could manage a reasonable Too Drunk To Fuck by The Dead Kennedys if you like.
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:54, Reply)

It's Mika or no dice.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:59, Reply)

You can take your pick from the entire Wurzels back catalogue - will that do instead?

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:10, Reply)

No dice.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:25, Reply)

Just get everyone who can't see the new site
run and type "cmd" then type ipconfig /flushdns

Boom.
(Himjim died a little more inside on, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:44, Reply)

Fair point
but won't work if the cahneg hasn't propogated to that user's DNS server(s)

worth a try though
(CheatingRabbit, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:46, Reply)

He did say
some people see it and others can't.

I'm pretty sure it's propagated but the dns is still pointing in the wrong direction (as it were).
(Himjim died a little more inside on, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:04, Reply)

oh man ive totally arrived just in time for the geek-off

( rosalicious i fucking love youve been framed, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:04, Reply)

GET FUCKED YO

(Himjim died a little more inside on, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:06, Reply)

god dont stop im nearly spent!

( rosalicious i fucking love youve been framed, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:07, Reply)

It's probably the flux accelerator interfering with the quark capacitor and the wotsit relay.

(Slip Digby is a meat puppet, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:07, Reply)

I heard your mum
sat on it and broke it
(Bazongaloid, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:09, Reply)

She'll sit on anything, my mum.
Which would explain her dalliance with you.
(Slip Digby is a meat puppet, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:34, Reply)

Oh no he didn't!!

(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:43, Reply)

she did though
oohhhhhh yeah!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:46, Reply)

You just need to reverse the polarity.

(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:12, Reply)

Not after I did that with my butt plug - couldn't sit down for a week after that

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 10:21, Reply)

it can depend on your ISP
Basically it depends on the time at which the ISP processed your request. If you are with an ISP that looks after it's own DNS servers, then you'll get the change quicker. It's all down to the frequency of the updates to update top level domains (.com, .co.uk, and so on). I use BT in work, and I think they update their root servers every 4 hours.
Other ISP's will feed their DNS cache from a major telco (e.g BT). They have to pass the update, up the chain of servers before the master servers will replicate back out to the rest of the world. There's very little you can do, apart from sitting and waiting, if you've just missed a DNS update cycle.

We usually leave our DNS changes until a friday afternoon, as it gives the weekend for the changes to propogate out to the interwebs. The alternative is to put a redirect page from the 'old' server, which points them to the IP address of your new server.
(sarcasmo needs more sleep, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 13:26, Reply)

DNS propagation is a lazy myth
Someone (probably your ISP or registrar) hosts your DNS for you. Typically they'll have some sort of master server and at least one slave. Updates are made to the master and, within a reasonable timeframe, find their way to the slaves (if you have a reasonable provider, their slaves should update almost instantly).

The rest of the problem is DNS caching - when you query a DNS record, you'll be using a resolver somewhere to do the work of getting the data for you and giving you back the result you want. This cache is generally provided by your ISP, though you can run your own.

In order to cut down on the number of queries resolvers make, they cache a record for a certain amount of time. This time-to-live (TTL) is set by the person who owns the domain, and can be anything from zero seconds (no caching) to days or even weeks.

If you had a long TTL on the old record, and it got cached by someone's ISP's resolver, they'll get the old server's IP address until that record expires. Once the record expires, or if they're using a resolver that hasn't cached the record, they'll get the new one immediately.


To avoid the problem of getting one site or the other, you need to check that changes on the master cause the slaves to update immediately (DNS NOTIFY, or some other mechanism). Then, lower the TTL to a few minutes (or even a few seconds) far enough in advance of the change in server that anything which cached the old TTL will expire (eg, if your old TTL is 12 hours, you need to lower the TTL at least 12 hours in advance). Once that time has passed, change the DNS record. Everyone will be looking at the new site in a matter of minutes (depending on how long your lowered TTL is).

"DNS Propagation" is what people who forgot to do this tell irate customers/managers. It's bullshit.
( le brian, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 13:44, Reply)

Blimey
thats technical stuff for a simple salesman like me! Thanks though - I may well be copying & pasting a lot of your post in to an email to the provider very soon!
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 14:11, Reply)