Changing DNS Providers without Downtime
Overview
The goal of this document is to provide a broad overview of the domain delegation process and provide specific tips to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible.
Making The Switch
Typically, switching DNS providers is a painless operation if done correctly.
You first setup a new DNS service (our Custom DNS service in this case) and configured it as you want, creating DNS records in the new system to match those provided by your current DNS provider.
Once you are happy with the new setup, you initiate a delegation change through the registrar for the domain. See the Custom DNS How-To for the list of nameservers to provide in the delegation change request. The actual process for submitting the delegation change depends on the registrar you use as well as the TLD of the domain and is beyond the scope of this document. Contact your registrar for assistance with this step.
The time frame for the delegation change process varies depending on the TLD of the domain. Please see the Domain Information Chart for further information on common TLDs and their delegation change delays. You may also contact our support staff to request pre-activation of your domain. This will reduce the delegation time and increase the speed at which your domain becomes available again.
Once the delegation change completes, our system detects this and activates your domain. This means our nameservers will begin to answer queries for this domain name.
But, this does not complete the change over process. At this point, many DNS servers on the internet will have cached SOA and NS records for your domain which list the previous DNS providers nameservers. Until these records expire, some queries will be going to the old nameservers and some queries will come to us.
It is therefore important that the old DNS provider answer queries until 3 or 4 days after the delegation change completes. Depending on the TTL values published by the OLD DNS provider, you may want to leave this in place for a week.
Normally your old DNS provider won't know that you have changed the delegation and you will need to actually inform them of this fact and request that they remove the zone file.
The Fly In The Ointment
Unfortunately, in SOME case where the registrar is also the DNS provider, the registrar may terminate the DNS service as soon as you submit a delegation change.
Note: This does not apply to DynDNS.org when we provide both the registration and DNS service for a domain.
One common example is Network Solutions, Inc. (NetSol)
NetSol is probably the best known domain registrar in the market (especially for .COM and .NET domains) and a significant number of our new customers are converting from using the NetSol's DNS service to using our Custom DNS.
NetSol, at the current time, will deactivate DNS for a domain as soon as a delegation change is submitted. This is done despite the fact that NetSol knows full well that a delegation change for a COM/NET domain takes at least 24 hours and often takes longer. The result of this action is that the DNS for the domain breaks immediately and will remain broken until the delegation change completes.
If you are currently using NetSol to provide your DNS you should be prepared for this down time. There is nothing we can do to prevent this. Only NetSol has the ability to prevent this from happening. You may want to contact NetSol before making the delegation change request, but we have no idea if this will help.
Note that NetSol is likely not the only registrar who engages in this behavior, they are just one of the largest and hence most noticeable.
If the DNS for your domain is currently provided by your registrar, check with your registrar before you make the delegation change to determine if this will cause the immediate deactivation of your DNS.
Catch 22
At this point you may be tempted to ask "Well, can I switch the registration first in order to avoid this problem?"
The answer is, unfortunately, no. In cases where the DNS is tied to the registration, transferring the registration will typically terminate the DNS and you will run into the same problem. Once the transfer is complete you can submit the delegation change through the new registrar, but the DNS will still be broken until the delegation change completes.
In these cases, you risk having a considerably longer DNS outage if you move your registration first. Instead of just 2-3 days to change the delegation, you have to wait 7-10 days to complete the transfer, followed by another 2-3 days to change the delegation. If you are concerned about your registrar dropping DNS service on delegation or registration changes, do the delegation change first, it is the route likely to result in the least DNS downtime.