Follow

How can I lower or raise the TTL for my domain?

  • Applies to: All Service Types
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: AccountCenter access

Overview

It is possible to raise and lower the TTL (Time To Live) value for your domains hosted at (mt) Media Temple.

TTL is the value that determines how long your current DNS settings are cached with Internet Service Providers. What that means for you: In practice, if your Internet Service Provider has the current IP address for your website cached for 24 hours, it won't bother checking for a DNS update for your domain until that 24 hours has passed even if you made a DNS change for that domain 5 minutes ago.

On the other hand, someone in another city may be using an Internet Service Provider that hasn't made a query for your domain's DNS settings recently. That person will get the new DNS information right away (and thus be shown your new website right away) because the Internet Service Provider did not cache the information previously.

If your site is going to look exactly the same from one server to another, this is probably not a big deal for you. But if you're "launching" a new site, or if you have a live email address at your domain, you may want to first lower your TTL before making any other DNS changes. This can help you avoid a lengthy period where web traffic and email are going to two servers at once.

TIP:

  • TTL is given in seconds.
  • (mt) Media Temple default TTL is 12 hours, but many other providers will use 24 or 48 hours.

Requirements

Your domain must be using (mt) Media Temple's nameservers:

  • NS1.MEDIATEMPLE.NET
  • NS2.MEDIATEMPLE.NET

Instructions

  1. Sign into your Media Temple Account.
    • Click DOMAIN TOOLS to update your primary domain.
      shared-2.png
    • Click on your alternate domain.
      shared-3.png
  2. Under DNS & ZONE FILES, click on Edit DNS Zone File.
    d-5.png
  3. Scroll down to the Additional Zone Actions tool, click on the Lower TTL button. This will lower the TTL value to 5 minutes.
    1881_lower_ttl
  4.  Click the Raise TTL button to return the value back to the default 12 hours interval.
    1881_raise_ttl

Be sure to wait the full length of time the original TTL. To learn more about DNS, please see: DNS Explained.

Instructions

  1. Sign into the Account Center.
  2. Click the domain you want to edit.
    p1.png
  3. Under DNS & ZONE FILES, click on Edit DNS Zone File.
    d-5.png
  4. Scroll down to the Additional Zone Actions tool, click on the Lower TTL button. This will lower the TTL value to 5 minutes.

      1881_lower_ttl

  5.  Click the Raise TTL button to return the value back to the default 12 hours interval.
    1881_raise_ttl

Be sure to wait the full length of time the original TTL. To learn more about DNS, please see: DNS Explained.

Instructions

  1. Sign in to the Account Center.

    • For Grid Personal, Pro, and Elite users, click on the blue ADMIN button associated to your Grid server.
      gp-1.png
    • Under SITES, click on the domain you wish to edit.
      gp-2.png
    • For (gs) Grid Service or Grid Lite users, simply click on the domain you wish to edit.
      g1.png
  2. Under DNS & ZONE FILES, click on Edit DNS Zone File.
    d-5.png
  3. Scroll down to the Additional Zone Actions tool, click on the Lower TTL button. This will lower the TTL value to 5 minutes. The TTL will stay at the 5 minute interval for 3 days. Afterwards, it will return to it's original interval.

      1881_lower_ttl

  4.  Click the Raise TTL button to return the value back to the default 12 hours interval.
    1881_raise_ttl

Be sure to wait the full length of time the original TTL. To learn more about DNS, please see: DNS Explained.

Instructions

  1. Sign into the Account Center.
  2. Click the domain you want to edit.
    mwp-dns-domain.png
  3. Under DNS & ZONE FILES, click on Edit DNS Zone File.
    d-5.png
  4. Scroll down to the Additional Zone Actions tool, click on the Lower TTL button. This will lower the TTL value to 5 minutes.

      1881_lower_ttl

  5.  Click the Raise TTL button to return the value back to the default 12 hours interval.
    1881_raise_ttl

Be sure to wait the full length of time the original TTL. To learn more about DNS, please see: DNS Explained.

Instructions

NOTE:

Any changes to your DNS zone file will need to propagate across the Internet. As a general rule, we recommend to allow 24-48 hours for DNS propagation. Read below on how to lower your TTL value for a smooth transition.

  1. Sign in to the Account Center.
  2. Click on the blue ADMIN button associated to your WordPress server.
    wp-1.png
  3. Hover your cursor over the site slot you wish to access. Then click Manage.
    wp-2_2.png
  4. Click on Domains.
    wp-2.png
  5. Click on the MANAGE button associated to your domain.
    wp-3.png
  6. Under DNS & ZONE FILES, click on Edit DNS Zone File.
    d-5.png
  7. Scroll down to the Additional Zone Actions tool, click on the Lower TTL button. This will lower the TTL value to 5 minutes.

      1881_lower_ttl

  8.  Click the Raise TTL button to return the value back to the default 12 hours interval.
    1881_raise_ttl

Be sure to wait the full length of time the original TTL. To learn more about DNS, please see: DNS Explained.

Resources

 

Was this article helpful?
1 out of 1 found this helpful

Comments