Propagation when checked with dnschecker.org and zohomail.tools does not find new DNS entries EVEN THOUGH ...

[ian]

DNS propagation when checked with dnschecker.org and zohomail.tools does not find new DNS entries EVEN THOUGH I was able to reach a web server I created an A record for! Even after adding the specific DNS service I'm connected to (and which connected me to the web server I wrote the A record for), to dnschecker.org it still claimed it had not propagated!

Prior to that, I had created a TXT record to verify domain ownership to Zoho Mail. Days later, nothing.
I then created a CNAME record, still nothing!
After that, I had created the A record, and nothing! Despite actually reaching the web server through the domain name less than an hour after creating it!

Originally, I had never created a A record for the domain, because I only used it email, and not for a web server. So I have had the MX records pointing to Gmail for the past twenty years or so. Now Google has terminated my grandfathered free Google Apps > GSuite > Workspace, and time is running out for me to transfer it to Zoho Mail.

What kind of dns check are services like DNSCHECKER.org and ZohoMail.tools using, that cannot find a DNS record that has evidently propagated, at least from the point of view of a web browser going to the web site?!

 

[ian]

Unbelievable! These tools fail to find TXT, CNAME and A records unless searching for a hostname on the domain and not just the domain itself, even though * is used when creating the DNS records! "*.example.com" can be used, or "www.example.com", but not "example.com"!

The CNAME record is not found by "*.example.com", but must be found by "TheSpecificExactHostName.example.com"!

MX, SOA, and NS records ARE found by "example.com".

 

[El.]

Hi. We can't comment on third party tools. Lookups are usually done on specific host records. A wildcard host record will handle the query if no record is set up for the specific subdomain host name being queried.

 

[ian]

Evidently this is just how DNS is designed, but it is just unhelpful on the part of Zoho Mail and the like, that they don't explain this to their new customers when they have to wait for DNS propagation for up to 48 hours, and are pointed to their generic DNS lookup tool while waiting.
Not blaming ZoneEdit.

Also, motivated to post this here for the education of ZoneEdit users who are regularly faced with this problem, judging by recurring questions in Internet forums.

I should also add that there was one other mistake I made,. which others might, in that I added the TXT record with

*	example.com
	instead of
@	example.com

 

[El.]

Thank you.