> On Mon, Sep 01, 2003 at 01:49:12PM +0000, Shane Hollis wrote:
> > sigh ... i didn't explain myself fully enough ... my concern is not with
> > lookups but with changes in caches. I have had a number of situations
> > where caching has resulted in DNS changes being a pain in the neck and
> > not propogating correctly. This is especially true when working with
> > overseas clients.
> >
> > To sit on the backbone in the USA gives me a quicker dissemination of
> > changes to DNS entries. The lookups are heirarchical .. this I know, as
> > you have mentioned you look up the closes and work outwards until you
> > find it but caching sometimes mucks this up and so to make changes it is
> > easier to start with the main servers and work down to the smaller
> > servers, not the other way around.
>....>
> I'm afraid I'm with both Nick and David again...
>
> I think you've got yourself all confused, since location has no bearing
> whatsoever on how fast or slow DNS changes take effect...
Yes it does ... the more 'authorative' a dns server the more 'non-authorative' 
DNs servers it affects.  I explain it more fully in another email.

At the risk of repeating myself. .... If I change a DNS entry on a server in 
my bedroom that affects my domain then the change has to go to another dNS 
upstream of me ( maybe my ISP ) then that pushes changes upstream ... until 
eventually it hits someone upstream of your ISP (maybe Waikato) who then 
tells your isp who then tells you. If I had told the DNS at Waikato then you 
would have known faster than me teling my server, or isp or their isp.

Here is a table of two changes possibilities. I will assume a change time of 1 
hour for refreshing cahes on all machines. I will also asume a worst case 
senario where every downstram server queries an upstream server one minute 
before the upstream server refreshs its cache. Change time is 00:00 hours.

There are five servers involved:
My server at home(Me1)
My ISP (Me2)
Waikato (W)
Your ISP (You2)
Your server (You1)

For me to refresh Me1 and to get changes to you would look like this....no 
changes pushed, relies on boradcast requests for changes

Time                    Server  Time_change_Registers
00:00                   Me1             00:00
01:00                   Me2             Told by Me1 when asked for changes and queried 
my DNS
02:00                   Waikato Changes as asked me2 or me1
02:59                   you2            Told by waikato when asking for changes
03:58                   You1    Told when asking you2

Total time for You1 to change is 3:58:00


For me to refresh Me1 and to get changes to you would look like this....with 
changes pushed to other servers
Time                    Server  Time_change_Registers
00:00                   Me1             00:00
00:00                   you2            No change as asked waikato and waikato didn't 
know
00:01                   Me2             00:01 Told by Me1 - I am being generous and 
pushing the change
00:02                   W               00:02 Told By Me2 - Waikato is being generous 
and pushing a change
00:59                   you1            No change as you have queried You2
01:00                   you2            Changes as asked Waikato
01:59                   you1            Changes to DNS as you1 asked You2 which is now 
changed

Total time for you1 was 1:59:00
Total time for me1 was 00:00

For me to refresh waikato the change looks like:
Time                    Server  Time_change_Registers
00:00                   W               Changed at 00:00
00:00                   you2            Knows as asked Waikato
00:59                   you1            Knows as asked you2

Total time for you2 to change is 00:59
Half the time in a short chain of change with no pushes of the changes.

In routing terms you normally push a change to the most authorative server 
first and let it filter down from there.  If I want to start a rumour I don't 
tell Mary Hide at home, I tell Paul I'll broadcast this crud to everyone 
Holmes. Same way, if I want to make routing changes or major, world wide 
effective DNS changes start in the most authorative place I can ... for me 
this would possibly be Pacfic ARIN type server or the US depending on what it 
caches and how quickly I want changes to replicate. 

I have changed my domain in the US and been up and running with other clients 
receiving changes in less than 15 minutes. It wouldn't happen if I only 
changed things at paradise or at home. It all dpepnds on how authorative the 
server you are asking and how much you trust their cache....

The other factor in all this is the stability and up time of the network ... 
the backbone in the US is always up (comparitively), collects more traffic 
and is faster. There are more users in the US and more important servers 
there. Same thing as spreading the plague. Better off to do it in a crowded 
mall in a large density population of a huge city with excellent communting 
and many connections than in the corner dairy on Goslow Street, Brunner.

My numbers above are probably out, I have the headache from hell but they get 
the point across.
Hope this clarifies things...
-- 
Shane Hollis
Notes Unlimited New Zealand
Ph: 021 465 547
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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