Kayla

Common Scenario

So you just received your welcome email from Surpass Hosting and you've entered in your nameservers correctly, but for some reason you can't see your website at all. If all you see is a file directory please Ok so you just received your welcome email from Surpass Hosting and you've entered in your nameserversClick Here.
How DNS Propagation Occurs

Layman's Explanation

To understand this you'll have to also understand the metrics involved in the overall big picture.

Without going into any technical details DNS Propagation can be understood by first thinking of a Telephone Book (some people still use them). The Telephone Book as a whole is a huge registry of information. It catalogs both Business Information and Personal Information including other special categories. Let's say that you were really hungry for some Mexican Food but didn't want wait in line but instead order over the phone and pick up your purchase.

First you'd open the Telephone book up and be greated with Yellow colored pages and White ones. The Yellow colored pages are clearly labeled and indicate the Names and Phone Numbers of several businesses in your immediate area. You love Chipotle and you know that there is one right down the street from you. You flip the pages till you find the Businesses beginning with the letter M for Mexican Food or R for Restaurants slowly but surely you roll your finger right over a listing for the Chipotle right down the street from you.

Take a Closer Look at your Listing for Chipotle:

Chipotle Mexican Grill
28102 Newhall Ranch Rd, Santa Clarita, CA
(661) 257-9526

It's exactly what you wanted and there is the phone number for you in clear view. Call it. It's Chipotle all right.

So what exactly does this have to do with DNS Propagation?

Well let's say that the Telephone Book is your only available method of finding the phone number of a business. Let us also suggest that you only receive a new Telephone Book once every Year.... and that you have just received your telephone book Today. Furthermore, let us assume that Chipotle changes there phone number tomorrow (and they happen to be the only one in your area). Oops! So now you will have to wait a little bit under a year to figure out the phone number to Chipotle on 28102 Newhall Ranch Road.

Thus, Propagation = the time it takes for you to receive a new phone book with the correct new phone number of Chipotle.


Technical Explanation

Key Elements

1. Your ISP

1. Domain Registrar

1. Surpass DNS Server

1. Master DNS Record

1. Cache

1. Website IP Address

Process

When you type yourdomain.com into your browser's address bar and hit enter you send out a request to your ISP to find where your website is located. The first step your ISP takes is looking at the Registries (the Domain Registrar where you have registered your domain name). The Domain Registrar contains a Database of all your ownership information as well as the nameservers you have assigned for a particular domain. Your nameservers will be provided and are clearly marked in your Welcome Email from Surpass Hosting. If you have misplaced your nameservers or have somehow discarded this information, you will need to file a ticket with Support.

The nameservers point your ISP to Surpass's DNS Servers which contain a Master DNS Record letting your ISP know what IP address(es) are assigned to your domain name. When your ISP gets a hold of the Master DNS Record, it retains a copy of that information for an unspecified amount of time(usually 3Hours to 3Days) to speed up future requests (this method is referred to as Cache).

Like the Telephone Book example (above), If you were to just recently change your nameservers your ISP would still be retaining it's own Copy of the Master DNS Record. Therefore, your ISP would skip checking the Domain Registrars to save time and instead use its own 3hr/3day old copy which may not be up to date like your outdated Telelphone book. Because this example pertains to a website viewable on a worldwide scale, Propagation equals the time it takes for all servers to update its Cache.


There is no way to speed up the Propagation which can take up to 72 hours.


Graphical Explanation



Solution

Patience. But, if you'd like you can try to flush the Cache on your own PC/MAC.


If you Have a PC:
Navigate to Start

1. Click Run
2. Type cmd then press "OK"

Next, Type the following the hit Enter:
ipconfig /flushdns




If you Have a MAC:

1. 1. Open Terminal
2. Type the Following then hit "Enter":

lookupd -flushcache

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