Old MX record hanging around...how much longer???

I am just tinkering with Exchange and my experience is with Linux - although none of that should have a bit to do with this. Argh. I have a domain, with an idiotic name (just for testing) called webputzer.com. Until about a week ago I had an MXrecord configured for that domain called "mail.netkwik.com" (a domain on my real server). I changed the MXrecord to webputzer.com at least 5 days ago - I think it's actually been more like 6 or 7 days.

Now, I can send mail - like crazy - from the Exchange test box but emails going to webputzer.com (hey - I wanted to buy a name no one would want and not spend a lot of time at GoDaddy) do not arrive - they're hitting my Linux box (here at my house - the Exchange deal is across town), and, MXToolBox is STILL reporting the old "mail.netkwik.com" with a priority of zero (when I check MX records for webputzer.com). I can actually send mail from my Linux system, here at my house, to webputzer.com - presumably because that box absolutely knows to go out and look for a recipient elsewhere. It flys right into my inbox across town... But mail coming from anywhere else (Hotmail - anywhere), as I've said, hits the server here at my house and returns an error.

My question is this: virtually nowhere does there exist an MXrecord called "mail.netkwik.com" - I promise...there is no such record.. How long does something like this "stay in the pipes" - I've never seen one hang on like this. Am I missing something? And I know that's what's happening because I can tail my logs, and, Yahoo mail prints out "that domain is not in my list of valid recipients....get outta here, mail.netkwik.com" - or something like that - in other words, it's absolutely being shot to my Linux server as a result of a pretty damned old, non-existent MX record.

Thanks for any input. I've just never seen an MXrecord hang around like this....

Do you have more than one DNS server? It sounds like you possibly haven't edited the public DNS server for your domain.

Given the situation, Doug, that's not an unreasonable thought - but, no...I don't run my own DNS server and these are just a couple of domains purchased and configured through GoDaddy - period. There's only one thing to edit and that's the dashboard at GoDaddy for this domain; I own about 30 domains and not one makes use of the MXrecord I've described (mail.netkwik.com). There's no server on the planet Earth with that virtual server configuration. NOW - there was.....but I edited it away about 5 days ago. I've seen MXrecords propogate slowly, at times, but I've never seen one not go away like this... And it's putting a real crimp in my exploration of Exchange (man - that's a different animal). Anyway, thanks for the response.....but that's not the problem. I guess I just wait, huh? It's weird.

At 1 AM this morning I called GoDaddy - it seemed to me that I'd had something like this happen a few years back - the memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe it was the same kind of thing. And, that time, they did some sort of "flush" of the system on their end and things started working - that's what I recall. This time they swore up and down that there was absolutely nothing, on their end, that they could do and, further, that my domain configuration looked fine. They put me on hold and the gal was gone for a really long time before coming back and telling me that they didn't have a clue.

But, virtually the instant we got off the phone it started working perfectly. I mean, it started working the moment that I hung up and tried the thing.... I gotta believe it was something in their system.... I guess their theory is, if guilty, plead igonorance. Maybe it was an extraordinary coincidence. Maybe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Maybe the economy really is getting better.... Anything is possible, ..uhm, I guess.

From George Carlin... "Words that don't go together: business and ethics". I think they yanked my chain.

Sorry for the editorial.

I'm just relieved that it finally works.

Typically records will propagate according to the SOA record for the zone. For instance, the SOA record may be configured to have the secondary DNS server perform a zone transfer using a high interval. So it may take a while for the secondaries to have the new information. In addition, the other factor that plays a role in records is the TTL for the record itself. If the TTL for a record is 1 hour, you would expect that the new value to be available since in an hour all dns caches out in internet land would purge the record.

I also have used GoDaddy and while i find them very affordable, I dont find that they have the best customer support. I still use them though...

Thanks for the input, and, I'm actually pretty satisfied with GoDaddy. I just struggle to believe that they didn't do anything and, the minute we hang up, it works. I'd been fighting with this for 2 days.... I am fairly certain -as I mentioned in a previous post - that on a previous occassion they told me there was something they could do to force an update of the the DNS, generally. I would recommend them to anyone.....I just can't believe in this incredible confluence of events.... I guess it could happen, but - NAW....I don't believe they didn't do anything and, immediately, it started resolving correctly.

I hang up the phone and 5 seconds later it works.... Hmmm..??? I thought it was funny, more than anything else.

You should learn the command-line dns diagnostic tools like dig and nslookup. Using those tools you could identify the problem for sure rather than unfounded speculation. Although the price of Kool-aid drops when facts are interjected in to a good conspiracy theory