[FX.php List] [OFF] Question about DNS TTL (time-to-live)

[Malcolm Fitzgerald]

Steady on Bob,

Adjusting your TTL settings did not make you boss of the internet. TTL is simply the equivalent of a "Best Before" date on your milk carton.

What you have done is said to the other servers that come knocking, "Here is the information you need. Take it and don't come back for 5 minutes". Which is as good as saying you will warranty the reliability of your DNS settings for 5 mins, after that you don't guarantee the results. 

I suspect that a good number of other DNS servers haven't ever knocked on your door and those that have done so run on a longer schedule TTL themselves so they may just decide to keep to their own timetable.

Malcolm


On 10/10/2011, at 9:31 AM, Bob Patin wrote:

> My understanding is that time-to-live in DNS settings determines how long DNS servers will cache a domain name's record before going back to the name servers to check the IP address.
> 
> I set a DNS TTL to 300 seconds for a domain name, but it didn't update worldwide in 5 minutes. In fact, it's been 6 hours and I'm still waiting.
> 
> From what I've read, it was my understanding that the TTL setting tells all the upstream DNS servers how long to cache the domain info; am I missing something?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bob Patin
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