Cached DNS & flushdns command

[Merlin2000]

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed that by using the flushdns command you can clear the dns cache resolver, and sometimes shorten the time that you can see the new DNS. Sometimes propagation can take quite a bit of time, but I am wondering if others have noticed that the flushdns command might shorten the time.

Has anyone heard that this doesn't work, or doesn't work correctly?

[edited by: Webwork at 9:27 pm (utc) on Aug. 24, 2005]
[edit reason] Removed unlinked URL drop [/edit]

[jmccormac]

From what I remember, flushdns is a Windows function related to ipconfig. Are you sure that you are not mixing up a Windows local caching effect with DNS operations on the net?

Many of the nameservers on the net use Bind and there is no flushdns command per se. There is a "flush" command which flushes the DNS's caches. Propagation is dependent on the DNSes that have the old data cached. When that old data expires, they will check the authoratative DNS for new data.

If you are running your own local nameservers (on your own network) then it might have an effect when nameservers elsewhere are updated. (It is possible to load a new zone file or an updated zone file without having the restart the DNS.) But most people use the DNS of their ISP when connecting to the net and they are not likely to see the same benefit.

Regards...jmcc

[Merlin2000]

It is a windows function related to ipconfig. I had thought that your local machine will cache some dns, and when that happens, it might take longer for your machine to resolve to a DNS change.

If webmasterworld.com dns is cached on my local machine, and the name servers for WW are updated, my local machine might be going to the wrong page because of that DNS cache.

Does that explain it better? I just recently learned about flushdns and dns cache.

[edited by: Webwork at 1:26 am (utc) on Aug. 26, 2005]
[edit reason] Neither URL drops nor "exact search phrases" leading to the URL are permitted [/edit]