Is there a way to expedite domain resolution?

November 29, 2004 10:01 AM

Is there a way to expedite domain resolution? I finally get a big PR coup for a client and the magazine misprinted the site URL. Grrr. So I bought the erroneous URL but need it to resolve fast. [more]

I bought the fubared URL and have asked my host to direct it to the site. I am fairly ignorant of the process, but I understand it can take 24 - 48 hours for a domain to propagate. The print magazine is hitting people's mailboxes today. Is there some action I can take to speed things up?

posted by madamjujujive to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

Throw an index.php file on the erroneous site with the line

header('correct_url');

that'll just throw the browswer to the correct url.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:03 AM on November 29, 2004

crud, sorry. you probably want it to read:

< ?php header('correct_url'); ?>
posted by lumpenprole at 10:04 AM on November 29, 2004

It has more to do with domain propagation, but I understood that recently the root servers began updating every 5 minutes instead of 24 hours. That doesn't mean the DNS closest to you will be that fast though.
posted by petebest at 10:21 AM on November 29, 2004

what pete said
posted by rxrfrx at 10:22 AM on November 29, 2004

You can also just put a meta refresh on the root index on the new machine that points to the old (correct) box. That'll keep you covered until the domains straighten themselves out:
posted by baltimore at 10:23 AM on November 29, 2004

Oops...

< meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://whatever.com/">
posted by baltimore at 10:24 AM on November 29, 2004

I recently bought a URL at 1pm, gave it my own DNS servers when buying it, and by 5pm everyone I could ask could see the site. I've never seen anything like it before. I think running my own DNS helped out a ton, since I could have the domain resolving asap, without the need for any host intervention.
posted by mathowie at 10:28 AM on November 29, 2004

lumpenprole, baltimore, her problem is not with moving people from the wrong URL to the right URL, but with getting the wrong URL to propogate faster.

That said, I'm not sure what you could do to do that.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:46 AM on November 29, 2004

Best answer: Like Matt, I've seen some extremly speedy resolutions lately - probably because I have two nameservers in combo with that the root servers do things in five minutes these days. Want me to help push the propegation, then emil me both URLs and I'll make sure my nameservers know where it's at by digging.
posted by dabitch at 10:50 AM on November 29, 2004

email. bah, just let me know.
posted by dabitch at 10:51 AM on November 29, 2004

I also see a *much* improved experience when registering domains and seeing them live at the domain (not just the IP address). This was with GoDaddy, and the domain was resolving correctly about 1 hour after I registered it.

Just one datapoint, but I didn't do anything special.
posted by zpousman at 10:56 AM on November 29, 2004

Response by poster: dabitch, I just sent you an e-mail - thanks for the kind offer. I appreciate everyone's advice on this - askme is a great help and education!
posted by madamjujujive at 11:40 AM on November 29, 2004

I signed up for a new hosting package and registered a new domain yesterday - the URL was resolving, and the server serving, within half an hour. Amazing. Just register the domain, get it pointed at the right server, and the server ready for it, and give it an hour or so.
posted by influx at 12:33 PM on November 29, 2004

I had heard the new registrations were propogating quite fast, while transfers were still just as slow as ever. Which makes sense, I suppose. The last registration I did probably propogated in about an hour, and I was shocked.
posted by smackfu at 12:40 PM on November 29, 2004

Hey, let us know how long it takes.
posted by pmurray63 at 7:34 PM on November 29, 2004

Best answer: The problem with propagation only comes into effect when changing information, not creating a new domain. The local ISP's DNS servers (and all of them, really) will cache information after retrieving it once, usually for 48hrs or so, sometimes more, sometimes less. If information is changed on the record (say, IP address of an A record), then it will take a while before every DNS server has expired their entry and retrieved the new info from the main servers.

However, when creating a new domain, there is no cached entry at all on any DNS server. When they will get resolve requests for that domain, there is no delay introduced, they will simply query the main servers for the address and get the info in. The whole delay from the time you register the domain with a provider to when it actually works lies with the provider forwarding the appropriate info to the main servers, and hence should be much shorter than if a change was made to the record. It's not amazing, it's just how the protocol works.

Makes sense? :) Yeah, I do network admin as a living...
posted by splice at 4:18 AM on November 30, 2004

the magazine misprinted the site URL. Grrr.

The most frustrating experience known to man!! =) Though in my experience, it's usually been the fault of the client and not the printer/publisher. Regardless, I wish you a speedy propagation!
posted by idontlikewords at 6:35 AM on November 30, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks again to all for wisdom, help & generally good karma ;-) splice, your explanation was good.
Finally, some 18 hours later the site is finally accessible. Maybe the longer time had something to do with the fact that the host purchased the URL through Network Solutions. (gah, I know - problems on problems.)

idon'tlikewords, the culprit was word processing with automatic hyphenation and a copy editor that didn't verify links. The publication also got the company name wrong by adding an "Inc." that doesn't belong, but I could shrug that part off.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:33 AM on November 30, 2004

Network Solutions is widely known for taking the most time to do anything you want. Domain dispute resolutions are even worse... Any third party provider is better.

I used dotster, myself. Cheap and fast. Shop around, you get way better prices and service. Of course, this was somewhat of a rush job, so it can be excused :)
posted by splice at 9:33 AM on November 30, 2004