It depends on the nameserver asking the question.
The authoritative nameservers (master/secondaries) are going to instantly give the correct answer as soon as you change it. If a remote DNS server asks, it's first going to consult its cache, and failing that, recursively resolve the name. If the record is in the cache, it won't change until the record times out**. If it isn't, the correct answer is returned instantly.
So, how to find out if it's cached? Our friend dig to the rescue:
# dig ertw.com @ns1.ertw.com
; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> ertw.com @ertw.com ; (1 server found) ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 8220 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION: ;ertw.com. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION: ertw.com. 4079 IN A 24.79.141.139
;; AUTHORITY SECTION: ertw.com. 7200 IN NS ns14.zoneedit.com. ertw.com. 7200 IN NS ns12.zoneedit.com.
You can see that the A record for ertw.com has been cached locally -- the ttl is 4079 seconds as of my query. However the 2 NS records were not cached, so they are pulled from the authoritative server and now have a 7200 second lifetime. I'll ask again in a few seconds (just the relevent lines posted)
ertw.com. 3898 IN A 24.79.141.139 ertw.com. 7019 IN NS ns14.zoneedit.com. ertw.com. 7019 IN NS ns12.zoneedit.com.
As you can see, the server continues to count down. It's not for another 3898 seconds that my local server would notice that ertw.com has changed.
** Some DNS servers have been known to ignore the TTL on a record and make up its own value. I've only run into this when setting absurdly low TTLs (< 300s) but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some that always ignored it.
Sean
On 12/18/06, Montana Quiring montanaq@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I'm interested in hearing what people's experiences are. When changing the IP of a (web) server on the Internet, how long does it take to DNS to propagate?
-Montana _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable