What is domain propagation?

Your website lives on a web server (in a data centre), and it is this web server that has its own IP address.  In addition to web servers, there are thousands of DNS servers located around the world.  

When a domain name is typed into a browser, it is the DNS (Domain Name System) that translates this domain name into an IP address in order to locate the website.  The sole responsibility of a DNS server is to take domain names and associate them to an IP address. 

When a website is moved to a new server (with a different IP address), or a new domain is registered, there is a change of IP address.  Every DNS server in the world needs to update its record of what IP is associated with this domain.  This is called propagation.  In other words, propagation is the time it takes for the DNS (Domain Name System) to update globally following a change to DNS.

Changes to DNS records do not propagate throughout the Internet immediately, as all server caches first need to expire and refresh. The amount of time this process will take depends on the update:

DNS changes: 2 – 24 hours
NS updates: 24 – 48 hours

During this time, if you are transferring your domain to another service provider, some nameservers will still refer to your site’s old hosting location while nameservers that have already been notified of the change will refer to the new location. As a result, visitors accessing your site may be directed to either the old or new location, depending upon which nameserver they connect to.

How do I access my hosting package?

Before or during the propagation period, you will need to use your interim URL and IP address to upload files, view your site and set up email. These details are available in the xneelo Control Panel.