We frequently receive questions about changes to DNS servers and their records, what their implications are, and how long they take to replicate. Below, we share relevant information.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is responsible for translating domain names understood by humans (for example, www.nixnetworks.mx) into IP addresses used by machines (for example, 192.0.2.44). It is very similar to a phone book where we save people's names and these are associated with telephone numbers.
In case you have modified the name servers (DNS) or the records (CNAME, MX, A, TXT, etc.), take the following into account:
- Changes can take from a few minutes up to 72 hours; this is how the DNS service was created.
- While the change takes effect, the modified record might not be available.
- In most cases, these changes are reflected in a couple of hours or by the next day.
- Some internet providers retain the records for up to 7 days (cache), so the change could take more than 72 hours to reflect.
- If you change the DNS servers and the new provider has not configured them, your service will not be available.
- If you change the records for your main page, for example, demo.com or www.demo.com, it is very likely that your page will not work.
- If you change the records for your mail server (MX records), you might stop receiving emails until the changes propagate.