Home/Notes/What a marina needs to know about DNS TTL
What a marina needs to know about DNS TTL
11 Dec 2024
How a marina deals with DNS TTL — and what usually goes wrong.
The problem: TTL of 300 seconds. This is where DNS TTL breaks for a marina.
We told a marina that TTL of 300 seconds was a ticking clock. They agreed to fix it the same week — which is rare. Most clients wait until it actually detonates.
Half the meeting with a marina was explaining what DNS TTL is. The other half was agreeing that TTL of 300 seconds should have been fixed a year ago.
Big agencies solve DNS TTL with a team. We solve it with a checklist and a dig command. The result is the same; the invoice is shorter.
WordPress can handle DNS TTL with a plugin. But the plugin adds JavaScript, a dashboard, and a support ticket when it conflicts with the next update. We wrote four lines of config instead.
We run a monthly diff on DNS for a marina. If a record changes and nobody in the team made the change, we get an alert. TTL of 300 seconds was caught this way last quarter.
Instead of migrating DNS TTL all at once, we ran both configurations in parallel for a week. The switch happened on a Wednesday morning — the quietest traffic window.
Related notes
Tell us what you need.
Write a few lines about your project. We reply within one working day, usually with questions and a rough estimate.
hello@digitalserved.com