What Does the Term 'DNS Propagation' Mean?
What exactly is DNS propagation?
DNS propagation is the process of updating Domain Name System (DNS) records across the internet's network of DNS servers. When you make changes to your DNS records, such as updating your website's IP address or adding a new subdomain, those changes need to be propagated to all of the DNS servers that store cached copies of your DNS records.
This process can take some time, typically within a few hours, but sometimes it may take up to 24 hours or longer for the changes to take effect globally.
How DNS Propagation Works
DNS propagation follows a specific process to ensure that changes made to your DNS records are disseminated and updated across all DNS servers:
1. Origin Server Update
The first step is to update the DNS records on the authoritative DNS server that is responsible for your domain.
2. Propagation to Root Servers
The changes are then sent to the root DNS servers, which are the top-level servers in the DNS hierarchy.
3. Propagation to TLD Servers
The root servers then forward the updates to the top-level domain (TLD) servers for your domain's extension (e.g., .com, .net).
4. Propagation to Authoritative DNS Servers
The TLD servers then send the updates to the authoritative DNS servers for your domain, which are the servers that store the actual DNS records for your domain.
5. Propagation to Resolvers and Local DNS Caches
Finally, the authoritative DNS servers propagate the changes to DNS resolvers and local DNS caches, which are used by devices to translate domain names into IP addresses.
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