How long do root-ns updates take to propagate?

[Mathias Koerber <mathias@staff.singnet.com.sg>]

Last night at 22:00 EDT, a.root-servers.net was updated with a new .com
zone:

$ dig @a.root-servers.net com soa

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @a.root-servers.net com soa 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 9, ADDITIONAL: 9
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      com, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
com.                    1D IN SOA       A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.INTERNIC.NET. (
                                        1997042300      ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum

According to the 3H refresh time, it should have propagated by 1am
to the other nameservers handling .com.

However, now, at 09:20am EDT (8 hours later) we still see the old zones
on the other nameservers:

$ TZ=EDT+4 date
Thu Apr 24 09:27:40 EDT 1997
$ dig @b.root-servers.net com soa

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @b.root-servers.net com soa 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 9, ADDITIONAL: 9
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      com, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
com.                    1D IN SOA       A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.INTERNIC.NET. (
                                        1997042200      ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum
[...]
;; Total query time: 487 msec
;; FROM: matjes to SERVER: b.root-servers.net  128.9.0.107
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 24 13:27:48 1997
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 21  rcvd: 381

$ dig @c.root-servers.net com soa

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @c.root-servers.net com soa 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 9, ADDITIONAL: 9
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      com, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
com.                    1D IN SOA       A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.INTERNIC.NET. (
                                        1997042200      ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum
[...]
;; Total query time: 554 msec
;; FROM: matjes to SERVER: c.root-servers.net  192.33.4.12
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 24 13:25:33 1997
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 21  rcvd: 381

$ dig @d.root-servers.net com soa

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @d.root-servers.net com soa 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 9, ADDITIONAL: 9
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      com, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
com.                    1D IN SOA       A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.INTERNIC.NET. (
                                        1997042200      ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum
[...]
;; Total query time: 5906 msec
;; FROM: matjes to SERVER: d.root-servers.net  128.8.10.90
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 24 13:26:02 1997
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 21  rcvd: 381

$ dig @e.root-servers.net com soa

; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @e.root-servers.net com soa 
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 9, ADDITIONAL: 9
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      com, type = SOA, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
com.                    1D IN SOA       A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.INTERNIC.NET. (
                                        1997042200      ; serial
                                        3H              ; refresh
                                        15M             ; retry
                                        1W              ; expiry
                                        1D )            ; minimum
[...]
;; Total query time: 537 msec
;; FROM: matjes to SERVER: e.root-servers.net  192.203.230.10
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 24 13:26:20 1997
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 21  rcvd: 381

.net, .org etc have been mostly pulled successfully by now..

What gives? Does it take this long to pull the .com zone?
Maybe it's time to think about AZFR and IZFR (compressed zonetransfers)..
(just pipe the zonetransfer through gzip -1c)


Mathias Koerber	  | Tel: +65 / 471 9820    |   mathias@staff.singnet.com.sg
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