DNS Issue

aaron333 · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:00

Right. Extremely strange problem here and I'm unsure of the cause.

If someone tried to load my website from their ISP's DNS Servers the site won't load. When they change their servers to those of Open DNS or Google's DNS Servers it loads fine.

Anyone know why? I can't ask everyone who visits to change their DNS Servers so any help would be appreciated.

Pho · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:01

Have you updated your site's DNS recently? (the past 48 hours or so)

aaron333 · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:14

Pho said:
Have you updated your site's DNS recently? (the past 48 hours or so)

We haven't touched it since we bought the domain (2 months ago)

I *think* all of their servers may be down and Open DNS ect. caching the site.

Pho · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:17

I don't think they cache sites. Can you post a link to the site?

aaron333 · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:24

Pho said:
I don't think they cache sites. Can you post a link to the site?

Don't think I can, it has links to competitors

I'll get onto the host and be honest with them. I chose them because I knew one of the workers, I was expecting reliable hosting.

Pho · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:33

Ah. In that case try this:
start > run > cmd

Type "nslookup" and press enter - no quotes for any of these
Type "server 208.67.222.222" and press enter [OpenDNS]
Type "www.example.com" where www.example.com is your website
Check what the address is under 'non-authoritative answer', i.e.:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.example.com
Address: 192.0.32.10

Type "server 8.8.8.8" and press enter [Google DNS]
Type "www.example.com" where www.example.com is your website
Check what the address is under 'non-authoritative answer'

Type "server 62.6.40.178" and press enter [BT DNS]
Type "www.example.com" where www.example.com is your website
Check what the address is under 'non-authoritative answer'

The address under 'non-authoritative answer' should be the same from all DNS providers. If it is, it's unlikely to be DNS that's your problem.

Here are some more ISP DNS servers if you want to try them.

aaron333 · 5 Mar 2010 at 18:48

Tried the BT one and get

*** indnsc71.ukcore.bt.net can't find www.hardwarespot.co.uk: Server failed

Opendns and google's work fine.

A guy I know off another forum has found the ip address of the host machine. It acknowledges the connection but doesn't do anything.

Not looking good.

Pho · 5 Mar 2010 at 20:19

That's very odd then. Even the non-www version doesn't come back with anything.

It's not something I've had much experience with so I probably can't help - maybe some of the host providers here will have a clue.

aaron333 · 5 Mar 2010 at 20:21

Pho said:
That's very odd then. Even the non-www version doesn't come back with anything.

It's not something I've had much experience with so I probably can't help - maybe some of the host providers here will have a clue.

I've got in touch with the host and he's spending his friday night fixing it. That's service for you!

Let's hope it gets resolved soon.

aaron333 · 7 Mar 2010 at 00:11

I'm not happy at all atm.

If I was to change hosts, would I have to reconfigure everything in cpanel over again? Including all site content?

Pho · 7 Mar 2010 at 01:53

You wouldn't have to reconfigure content (just take a full backup of everything before you choose to cancel). It would be pretty simple to set-up your other settings on another host I imagine; I doubt you've set many custom options?

Both Vidahost and TSOHost are recommended here.

aaron333 · 7 Mar 2010 at 13:08

It's just we have quite a few email accounts as well as a wordpress install.

I've done the backup option and it should be fine. I'll give them a bit of time to sort it or I'll change to Tsohost who I have the domain with.