One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates reconfirmation of resource records in a cache. The system starts by retrieving the resource record at a client and attempting to establish communication using the data in that resource record. In the event that communication is not successful, the system responds by issuing one or more queries for the resource record in question. The system then waits for a response to the query. If the response to the query is not received in a predetermined amount of time, the system invalidates the resource record. The response from the device is a multicast response, thereby allowing other clients to update corresponding resource records in their local caches without querying the device, and thus saving network bandwidth.