***How long does a nameserver / DNS change take?

This article applies to all our hosting packages.

Changing nameservers
A domain always has at least 2 nameservers linked to it. In our case, these are ns1.webawere.nl and ns2.webawere.nl. You can change these yourself if needed in the client area, under My Nameservers. The change is then applied immediately, but will only become noticeable after many hours. In practice it is clearly noticeable after 12 hours, but allow at least 24 hours. This has to do with nameserver caching. Many providers only refresh their own DNS once every 6, 12 or 24 hours and only notice the change then.

So in practice you may notice the change after 6 hours, while someone with a different provider only notices it after 12 hours. It therefore depends heavily on when and how often a provider refreshes its DNS.

Changing DNS records
The nameservers the domain points to contain all kinds of information, such as where mail should be delivered, where the website should be shown, etc. A change to your DNS is also applied immediately, but here too there is a delay. It can take up to 4 hours for such a change to be noticeable everywhere (usually an hour at most).

Suppose you change the A record for www.uwdomein.xx. If you visited www.uwdomein.xx just before, it will take the maximum time before you notice the change. This is because your computer also caches the DNS records, so it does not have to check them on the internet every time. If you had not visited www.uwdomein.xx at all before the change, you may notice the change immediately.