way to confirm DNS changes have completely propagated?

[apple007]

This might be a little off-topic for this board but I figured you guys have the most experience with this issue.

About an hour ago, I switched web hosts -- i.e., I changed the DNS info. for my domain. Both the new and old accounts are still active, so I guess I shouldn't lose any email or traffic while the change is propagating.

My understanding is that DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to complete worldwide. It's no big deal, but is there a way to test if the change has been completed (e.g., a web page that tests DNS info. worldwide, or something like that)?

Thanks very much.

[chucker]

My understanding is that DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to complete worldwide.

72, actually.

It's no big deal, but is there a way to test if the change has been completed (e.g., a web page that tests DNS info. worldwide, or something like that)?

Nah. You'd have to test thousands of servers which recursively cache the info.

[alcimedes]

Yeah, typically what you'll find is that the good ISP's will get your info within 30 minutes.

Average ISP's will take anywhere from 2 hours to a day.

Bad ISP's will hold on to info up to three or four days.

Nothing much you can do about it either.

[apple007]

Okay, thanks for the feedback. That's interesting re: the change taking up to 72 hours. I've been reading that 24 hours or less is now the norm, and my new host said to expect "up to 48."

I probably cut it a little too close, but I should have at least a 48-hour overlap of the old and new hosting accounts, depending on how quickly the old host terminates the account. Hopefully I won't lose too much (any?) email in the process due to ISPs being slow to get the new DNS info.

Thanks again.

EDIT: I just realized it's (apparently) possible that some of my email will "beat me" to my own server. I have my new email accounts set up at my new host, but my domain name is part of the IMAP server name, so I can't actually download any of it until my ISP here in Mexico resolves my domain to my new host. (Does this make sense?)

[alcimedes]

Did you make sure to point your mx entries to the new host as well as the web side?

Typically you'll need to set either a cname or mx record for mail along with the cname for the domain/web traffic.

[apple007]

Did you make sure to point your mx entries to the new host as well as the web side?

Typically you'll need to set either a cname or mx record for mail along with the cname for the domain/web traffic.

No, I just changed the two DNS entries from my old host to my new host. My new host didn't mention anything about changing MX records; just said to point my domain at the two DNS entries they provided.

Looking at my domain name management control panel, there is a place to modify the MX record, but it has an IP address in the box instead of a dns.myhost.com address. (All my new host provided was the two DNS addresses; no IP addresses.)

[apple007]

It's been eight hours since the switch, and I'm still being directed to my old host (on my Mexican ISP).

Just for the hell of it, I just queried about six of the major WHOIS sites. Three of them reported the updated DNS info., and three reported the old info.

Not sure if this is good or bad, but I haven't received a single email at my old host since I switched the DNS info.

Since my new mail servers have my domain name in them, and I can't yet access those new servers because of the above, I have no idea if my email is waiting for me or is being lost or misdirected.

Fun times. :)

[apple007]

It took about 24 hours for the new DNS info. to propagate to Mexico, but it seems like the hosting switch otherwise went off without any problems.

One issue that seemed strange was that, last night, I could access a sub-domain of my site at my new host (webmail.mysite.com) while my actual domain (mysite.com) was still resolving to my old host.

I didn't think it was possible for a subdomain to update/resolve quicker than the top-level domain itself. Does this sound right? For at least eight hours, I was able to access webmail.mysite.com at my new host while still accessing mysite.com at the old. Seems odd and counterintuitive (??). Thanks.

[apple007]

One other kind of odd issue: My domain was registered with my old web host. Although I was warned that I would likely receive email at both my old and new hosts for an overlapping time, I received zero emails at my old host after I changed the DNS info.

Is it possible the email switch went 100% live immediately because the web host was also the registrar, and thus knew immediately to start pointing incoming email toward the new host? (Or, in a more nefarious scenario, do you suppose the old host simply rejected email as soon as it discovered I was leaving them?)

I switched DNS info. at around 1:00 p.m. yesterday, and received no email at all (old host or new) until 3:00 p.m. I'm not sure if I just didn't receive any mail in that two-hour window, or if those emails were lost/delayed.

I guess none of this is a big deal; just curious about how it all works. Thanks for all feedback.