Buy domain and launch instantly?

Im wondering if it is possible to buy a domain and host it with a custom site straight away?

I know that nameserver changes takes up to 72 hours but its confusing, when i buy a domain the nameservers are changed in an instant to the hosts parking but then it takes up to 72 hours to get it to a custom site?

Would be nice to get it to a wordpress host straight away, at hosts like namecheap. Is this possible?

I manage a lot of websites... seems to take about 12 hours for new one to propagate for me. Not sure if faster is possible. I would guess not, but I really don't know for certain.

But i mean how come the parking page propagates insta but hosting doesnt?

And is it possible to start building the website at namecheap even if it hasnt propagated yet? With namecheap domain and hosting that is.

I've seen both. Some sites have been live in a matter of minutes for me. Others have taken well over 48 hours to propagate via DNS. So, it really depends. In my experience, Namecheap and other large hosts have been pretty quick (< few hours).

Also remember that your browser will cache requests pretty aggressively. So, if you're checking the site over and over, you might be getting the response from your local cache (or even your routers cache) and not the external DNS.

If you're ok with the *nix, try digging it:

$ dig @8.8.8.8 +nocmd yourdomain.com any +multiline +noall +answer

This should response with the domain information from google DNS as soon as it's propagated bypassing any local cache.

Hope that helps.

You should be able to start developing the site right away. Transferring a domain to a large ISP's name servers can happen pretty quickly these days, but pointing the DNS to your own name servers may still take a day to propogate. But you should still be able to work on the new website via your IP address or admin panel.

It normally takes less than half a day for me.

My sites always launch immediately but I don't think it is about the hosting.

I simply find a domain I want to buy but don't buy it yet.

I get a hosting account for the domain so I'll have the nameservers handy so when I purchase the domain I can immediately log in and change them to the hosting account.

And that's it.

But I don't host with namecheap, maybe they do things different. Right now I use a2hosting.com.

DNS is just a name to an internet "Phone Number." Your domain name and where it goes to has to be updated across the internet "Phone books".

When you tell a company to send traffic for yourdomain.com to your IP address, it updates in their records and then is sent to the thousands of DNS servers across the internet. Sometimes it can be "quick" because the DNS server YOU are using happened to have been updated first.

In reality, a large portion of the internet doesn't know who yourdomain.com is yet.

I hope this helps clarify what is going on with a website registration. You register who owns it and then register the name servers, the name servers then tell the internet where to go when someone wants to visit yourdomain.com

Also, it does not matter who you host the website with. The hosting is where the site is located, think of it as where the site is "physically". The DNS name, like yourdomain.com, is only a friendly name for us silly humans to understand. The domain name tells the computers where the site is "physically" and that is called your host.

You can start hosting a site right away; it just takes a while for the yourdomjain.com address to point to the "physical" address.

Alright thanks for many great answers.. Ill see if i can start building the site right away then!

iliketurtlez said:

Alright thanks for many great answers.. Ill see if i can start building the site right away then!

Click to expand...

You'll be able to work on your site irrespective.

Most of the domains I have bought all are ready to be used within the first hour. Though globally it can take up to 72 hours to propagate

Most of you are only partially correct. Here is how run a test.

On the next website you launch 1) NEVER look at the domain in the browser address bar if it is a new domain. The reason is - the first time a domain is looked up the internet is when the initial search for the nameserver takes effect. The first time you should look at the domain online in a browser is a couple of minutes after setting the nameservers on the newly purchased domain.

If the domain is not found everyone (DNS lookup servers) lists the domain as "not found" across the internet. A refresh of any particular DNS hardware with the latest nameserver information occurs roughly every 6-12 hours. That is where you are screwing up I'll bet on it. Be patient. Look up your domain in the browser after setting the initial nameserver info on the new domain (after purchase).

Looking up the domain name with a registrar - I still use Hostgator for this (and this only) - that lookup does not initiate the DNS "not found" error because the lookup is programatically different and does not use the DNS lookup system.