Time To Live. A DNS record field that tells resolvers how long (in seconds) to cache your answer before asking again. Set it low, your DNS changes propagate fast—and you burn resolver traffic. Set it high, changes crawl, but you save bandwidth and reduce your nameserver load. TTL matters most during migrations, DDoS attacks, or when you're pivoting infrastructure fast. Standard practice: 3600 seconds (1 hour) for stability, 300–900 for active development or rapid failover. Some registries and registrars cap minimum TTL to prevent abuse. If you're running bulletproof or offshore infrastructure, understand your TTL strategy: low TTL = agility to dodge blocks or reroute traffic; high TTL = harder for adversaries to redirect you in real time, but slower for you to respond. Worth noting: cached DNS records persist even after you change them at your authoritative nameserver, so patience is part of the game.
dns
TTL
DNS record cache lifetime in seconds; balances propagation speed against resolver load and nameserver traffic.