Non-existant URLs

[Chris]

<aatcbbtccctc at yahoo.com> wrote in message news:d8210d$2vhu$1 at sf1.isc.org...
> Hi folks
>
> Say I type a non-existant URL; for example,
> "http://www.jksfdjiteui4wtknfsjkfzuisfz.com".
>
> When I do that, from a PC in Australia, I get an instant error that the
> URL does not exist. The delay is imperceptible. I feel that there has
> not been enough time to send a query right back through to a root
> server.
>
> So, how is it /known/ that the URL does not exist? Or am I wrong in
> assuming that a query right back through to a root server, should take
> at least a few seconds?
>
> TIA,
> TC
>
>

No, DNS just works really fast.

[chris at uranium chris]$ dig jksfdjiteui4wtknfsjkfzuisfz.com +trace

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> jksfdjiteui4wtknfsjkfzuisfz.com +trace
;; global options:  printcmd
..                       217900  IN      NS      H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
..                       217900  IN      NS      G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
;; Received 372 bytes from 192.168.3.113#53(192.168.3.113) in 1 ms

com.                    172800  IN      NS      A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      G.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      C.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      I.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      B.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      D.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      L.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      F.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      J.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      K.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      E.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
com.                    172800  IN      NS      M.GTLD-SERVERS.NET.
;; Received 509 bytes from 128.63.2.53#53(H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET) in 108 ms

com.                    172800  IN      SOA     a.gtld-servers.net. 
nstld.verisign-grs.com. 1118086967 1800 900 604800 900
;; Received 122 bytes from 192.5.6.30#53(A.GTLD-SERVERS.NET) in 91 ms

See .. doesn't take long at all. Centainly not "a few seconds" ;-)

Chris.