FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Checking your DNS update status (outside of your ISP)

In the event you're becoming impatient, and or are wondering if the rest of the world outside of your ISP can access your new site, you can proxy yourself to another network and test it there. In many cases, you'll be surprised to see your site responding perfectly, yet when you attempt it directly from your ISP's servers, it does not exist.

There are several services, which allow anonymous surfing across the net. While this is not the intent here, they can be used for trouble shooting domain resolution problems. How? Because they proxy you through their network, which means your URL requests are controlled by "their" DNS cache records. These services update/expire their DNS cache far more often than ISP's, which makes them well suited for testing your domain name through a network, which operates with the latest DNS updates across the web.

To run this check, you can try accessing your site through one of these two services:

https://www.safeweb.com/o/_s:top.php3
http://www.anonymizer.com/

Related Topics:
The DNS propagation process is not limited to ISP's!
What to expect during this 2 to 4 day propagation period
Working on your account during the DNS propagation period
What is DNS?
Accessing your domain manager
Changing your Name Server settings, so your domain points to your Server Pro account
Side effects that can be expected during the propagation time frame
Where are all of the DNS records kept?
Where do the Root Name Servers receive their information from?
The 3 to 4 day propagation period - Understanding what happens during this time frame
Setting up your own Name Server (for advanced webmasters)
Understanding DNS and Name servers
DNS Cache and your ISP