Last night I moved Blog Design Guy from WebFaction over to Bluehost. In the process, I ran into a problem I’ve come across every time I’ve dealt with new domain names and/or switching hosts: the old site wouldn’t go away!
In order to switch your host, you have to change your domain’s name servers. Simply put, these name servers tell browsers where they can find your website. When you’re working on a deadline as I was last night, you need things to switch quickly so you can make sure the new site is ready to go as soon as possible. The problem is, the changes you make aren’t necessarily instant. It can take up to 24 hours for your site to redirect and the results aren’t the same for everyone. Someone in Utah might see the new site while someone in New York is still getting served the old one.
Last night, as I was in a hurry to restore the database and get Blog Design Guy up to speed before anyone noticed, I got served the old site.
In the past, I’ve waited up to 4 hours for the right site to show up. I couldn’t wait that long last night, so here’s what I did to get the new site loading almost instantly.
Google Public DNS
When you sign up with an Internet Service Provider, they usually assign the domain name servers you use automatically. That means when you type http://blogdesignguy.com into your browser, your browser asks those servers to look it up. If those servers don’t know the site’s new location, tough luck. You’re stuck getting the old one.
What I learned last night, though, is that you can actually assign your own domain name servers. And if there’s any domain name server that should be up-to-date, it’s Google’s.
I set my domain name servers to Google’s Public DNS. As soon as I did, I began receiving the new site instantly which made it a lot easier for me to get Blog Design Guy back in working order.
Here’s how you do it:
Setting it up on a Mac
I use a Mac so these are the instructions I followed, as lifted from Google’s support page:
- From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network.
- If the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window is locked, click the icon to make changes, and when prompted to authenticate, enter your password.
- Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
- To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced.
- To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
- Select the DNS tab.
- Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
- Click Apply and OK.
Setting it up on Windows
- Go the Control Panel.
- Click Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center, and click Change adapter settings.
- Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
- To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection, and click Properties.
- To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and click Properties.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
- Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties.
- Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
- Click OK.
- Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
- Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
- Restart the connection you selected in step 3.
Similar Posts:
- None Found
