At 06:34 PM 1/2/01, you wrote:
Q1. we let our network manage DNS (easier)
they made a typo entering IP for new site
Once corrected, some ISPs in the country
never updated name servers correctly ..
What is the best way to insure that the
correction has propagated reliably, and
that ISPs don't have any cached IP errors
.. like the one I'm on :)
First off, the ISPs that haven't updated will *eventually* update once the DNS record reaches the end of its TTL (Time To Live). Some DNS administrators set their TTL really long (like 45-60 days). You can find out what yours is by doing a "dig" and looking at the authoritative DNS server's record for the domain in question (or email me offlist and I'll do it for you if you want.)
I usually set DNS records that I administer to a TTL of 7 days, then change it to 6 hours when I'm getting ready to make a change (i.e., new IP address, different server, whatever.) However, I believe that with the Raq GUI, this is all but impossible... you'd have to go in and manually modify the DNS settings for the site, or make a change in the config files. Someone mentioned how to do that here within the last couple of days.
One possible solution would be to temporarily change the authoritative DNS for the site(s) in question to a *different* DNS. I think this would be more bulletproof than simply resubmitting, as the ISPs that have the old TTL info with the wrong IP address might not have any reason to check in with the authoritative server until the TTL expires, particularly if the incorrect IP address actually resolves somewhere.
I use the free DNS services of centralinfo.net to do stuff like this. The really nice thing about their free DNS is you can configure it as needed, and it instantly reloads your changes (no waiting 12 hours for a server reboot!) It's also pretty easy to use, and so far (6 months), I've found it to be very reliable, unlike Granite Canyon, another free DNS that's totally volunteer run but unfortunately quite inconsistent. (I have no connection with Central Info.net, except that I use and like their DNS services.)
Hope that helps! Chip