Side Effects
That Can Be Expected During The Propagation Time Frame:
It's perfectly normal for strange things to happen within
the 48-hour propagation period, but sometimes longer.
While we could provide a full list of all the anomalies
that can occur during the DNS propagation period, we'll stick to some of
the most common scenarios that most people experience:
HELP! My friends can reach my new site, but I'm still being directed to
the OLD ONE!
This is a class case of your friends ISP (who did update their DNS
records), but yours unfortunately did not.
As a result, your ISP is still pointing your domain name
to the old DNS record, which is your old hosting account.
Wait a couple of more days, and if it appears that
everyone but you can access your new account, then contact your ISP and
tell them to expire their old DNS cache records.
WOW! http://www.mydomain.com was taking me to my new account just a minute
ago, but when I try it now, I'm being taken back to my old hosting account
- what's up with this?
In all likelihood, your ISP may be in the process of clearing their DNS
cache, and or updating their local DNS server records.
During this small interval, it's normal to fluctuate
between the new and old web site, as the old DNS records may not have
completely expired from their cache yet. Give it another several hours and
it should be fine.
HEY! My new site comes up for me, but my friends are being directed to my
old one!
Break out the coffee and donuts, and consider yourself lucky. Your ISP is
on the ball and updates DNS records/ clears DNS cache in short regular
intervals.
Your friends may be using an ISP, which is not as fast,
and or efficient at doing so. The only remedy for this is time.
Eventually, the other ISP's DNS cache will expire and be replaced with the
updated DNS records.
What's going on with my email? When I try to access it, I receive a "host
does not exist" or a "cannot authenticate" error message.
This can happen for a number of reasons, but in most cases, it's because
your new DNS records have not fully completed the propagation process
yet.
Consequently, you may be trying to access your old email
account on your "old server", which you may have already cancelled, or
it's in a state of DNS flux, which means it points to the new server one
moment, and the next, points back to the old server.
Give it some more time and it will eventually settle down.
In the meantime, consider accessing email from your
account using the WebMail based reader. If your domain has not propagated
as of yet, you can access your email account via WebMail with your IP
number.
Microsoft FrontPage will
not accept a Username and Password, or displays the error message
(FrontPage Extensions Are Not Installed).
While you should be able to access FrontPage with your associated IP
number (until your domain is resolving to our servers), this is not always
the case.
FrontPage can behave in a number of different ways
depending on which direction the wind is blowing.
In some cases, it will allow you to initiate an upload
session, but upon asking for your Username and Password, will not
recognize them.
If this happens, the best thing to do is wait until your
domain name is answering to our servers.
One thing we know for sure, is FrontPage will work without
much of a problem if you're using the full www.mydomain.com URL to manage
your site with.
Feel free to try it with your IP, but we cannot guarantee
it will work.
It's been over a week.
Everybody else can access my new site except me!
Was your domain originally hosted by your ISP? If so, they may not have
deleted this entry in their DNS files. This results in you, and or anyone
else accessing the net from this "particular ISP" being directed to your
old web site on their servers.
A number of ISP's forget this small detail, which can
result in weeks of utter confusion and frustration. If this is happening
to you, contact your ISP and make sure they've made the necessary changes
to their DNS records
