Extremely slow DNS propagation problem

I'm in front of launching a few side-projects during next 2 months. Recently I had this problem at GoDaddy that any change in DNS took like ages.
From past experience, I know that some other providers do it much quicker. Could you guys recommend something, because waiting like 24 hours at every launch is a problem. This process slows down basically everything including setting SSL, social logins, mail services etc.

Mirosław Farajewicz

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on November 25, 2019

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Pro tip: Don't use Godaddy for anything. Now, to update DNS, you should always do it in this order:
1. Check Current TTL and make a note. Lets say it is 24 hours
2. Lower the TTL to lowest value possible (5 mins ?)
3. Wait for the previous TTL time to pass by (24 hours in this case). Yes, you should wait unless you want to take a chance. Some DNS hosts start propagating right away so the TTL doesn't matter a whole lot but to be safe, you need to wait the previous TTL period.
4. After the previous TTL time has passed, update the DNS as needed.
5. Hopefully the new changes will propagate using the new TTL (5 mins). Verify everything.
6. After 2-3 days, change the TTL value only to something large again (better for performance)
codegeek1001

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6 years ago
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  Thanks, will do that will with my next sie project
  
  mfarajewicz
  
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  6 years ago
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First off, as others have mentioned, low TTL's are your friend. However, not every DNS lookup server respects TTL's. A decent registrar like namecheap also helps.

Fortunately, when you are launching new projects it usually doesn't really matter. If nobody has visited your domain yet (because it's new), nobody will have cached DNS entries.

However, when you are testing, you yourself tend to cache DNS entries. A handy trick is to query the DNS servers directly rather than using your browser. You can do so using the dig tool Linux and Mac. For example, snootysoftware.com happens to use cloudflare, so this is how to check records directly on their servers: dig @fiona.ns.cloudflare.com www.snootysoftware.com

If you're not comfortable with the command line, I think there are websites that will let you diagnose DNS issues as well.

Once you have verified with dig, try with your browser. If you made a mistake and need to clear your DNS cache, most browsers and operating systems will let you do so, just Google for instructions for your specific OS+browser.

lucasluitjes

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6 years ago
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  thanks, that's really useful what you've written about diagnosing dns
  
  mfarajewicz
  
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  6 years ago
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Did you check to set correct TTL options?

Btw, I have read many many articles that you should avoid godaddy like the plague.
There are many good alternatives, like e.g. this one
https://turtle.community/discovery/249 Porkbun
or
https://turtle.community/discovery/512 Namecheap

or just use AWS Route 53 :)

thojest

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6 years ago
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  I just used default TTL options, does it really count when it comes to propagation time?
  
  mfarajewicz
  
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  6 years ago
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    Well I do not know what the TTL default value is you are using, but this time tells browsers, OS, ... for how long to cash the DNS entries.
    
    thojest
    
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    6 years ago
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Hi Miroslaw,

I use AWS only for that purpose - their Route 53 is really good. As others point out - make sure to set the TTL properly, but other than that it works like a charm.

I've found it very useful in the past when I had server down time or data center outages - I could then easily switch to a different server in minutes.

Good luck!

TkdChamp1

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6 years ago
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