DNS changes don’t have to take so long
Kevin Day, May 30th, 2007I recently read the Wikipedia article on DNS and was surprised to learn that DNS changes don’t have to take 48 – 72 hours like some people say. Although that is approximately the default wait time, there is a parameter in the DNS record called Time To Live (TTL) that controls how long DNS servers cache your DNS record.
An article on NetworkClue.com describes how you can use the TTL to your advantage when moving a site to another server:
So if you plan on ever changing your website IP address for example, it is a good idea to change the TTL of the line(s) that specify the IP address of your website a few days before the change takes place. I would change it to something like 1H (1 hour). Then on the day you move your website to a different IP, the worst case scenario is that someone will be looking at the old address for the next hour.
After the move is complete, change the TTL back to it’s original value. This article on dulcea.com also has advice on changing your DNS record.
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ll keep it in mind the next time I’m moving a domain.
