DNS problems, please advise

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by mystxx, Mar 16, 2008.

  1. #1
    Hi.

    I have a reseller account at a hosting company.
    Lately I can't access any of my sites I'm hosting - I'm getting DNS error (in MSIE) or "Unable to resolve host" in traceroute.
    I'm sure the sites are online because I can normally access them via any proxy.
    So now, my hosting company advised me to contact my ISP which I did (and I'm waiting for a reply) but I'm kind of guessing they will send me back to the hosting company.

    So anyways, my question is - what the heck am I supposed to do to get my sites visible through my ISP. Would adding new DNS servers help? Or what....

    I'd be very grateful if someone could help me with this matter...

    Thank you.
     
    mystxx, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  2. Randombase

    Randombase Peon

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    #2
    This error can come from two sides:
    1. Your ISP has somehow lost the records to resolve your domains (mostly resetting your router if you have a dynamic IP works)

    2. The server has banned you by accident, probally mod_security. Ask your hosting company to check the banlist.
     
    Randombase, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  3. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

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    #3
    giving at least ONE full domain name would have helped to save time and give more precise reply !

    some ISP - even in HIGH tech countries take WEEKS to update their DNS !! I experience such in fall 2006 myself. while some 90% of all DNS do update within 24 hrs or latest a few days - some others are much slower.

    hence use some TOOLS ( dig ) to test your presence in various OTHER DNS to track down the problem. have friends in other part of the world test access to your sites.

    of course you check your bind config first - this most likely is done with

    /usr/sbin/named-checkconf

    depending on your Linux dis on server ( openSuSE and others )

    you find more info about bind and bind-tools at
    http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialWebSiteConfig.html
     
    hans, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  4. mystxx

    mystxx Active Member

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    #4
    Hi and thanx for your replies.
    I did ask for the banlist as instructed, my hosting company says my IP is not banned altough I'm on a dynamic IP.
    This is the 3rd time this has happened and usually lasts for a few days. Noone in my country (Croatia) can access the sites while others can (from the feedback of people in other countries I asked to test).

    To hans:
    The domain is www.ptk-zagreb.hr (one of them that is on the same server as all others).

    Unfortunately I'm a reseller and don't have shell access to the server so I can't really test things... I can only communicate with hosting company's support.
     
    mystxx, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  5. mrki

    mrki Active Member

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    #5
    It doesn't mind if you are on dynamic IP, this could be an firewall issue as well.
    You can ban a hole network scope with one rule.

    Those are the nameServers which are responsible for your domain.
    ns1.hi-hosting.biz.
    ns2.hi-hosting.biz.
    and they working well.
    It doesn't seem that this could be a DNS issue.
     
    mrki, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  6. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

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    #6
    1.
    if YOU have the proper tool offline on your laptop/dekstop, then you can do most of the testing on your own machine

    like:

    > dig ptk-zagreb.hr

    ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> ptk-zagreb.hr
    ;; global options: printcmd
    ;; Got answer:
    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27560
    ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2

    ;; QUESTION SECTION:
    ;ptk-zagreb.hr. IN A

    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    ptk-zagreb.hr. 14400 IN A 208.101.18.84

    ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
    ptk-zagreb.hr. 86400 IN NS ns1.hi-hosting.biz.
    ptk-zagreb.hr. 86400 IN NS ns2.hi-hosting.biz.

    ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
    ns1.hi-hosting.biz. 14397 IN A 208.69.32.130
    ns2.hi-hosting.biz. 14397 IN A 208.101.18.85

    ;; Query time: 2318 msec
    ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
    ;; WHEN: Mon Mar 17 02:16:20 2008
    ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 129


    which shows that site can be found in its 1st and 2nd NS
    and the site can be surfed from HERE ( PH ).

    if on dynamic IP - then yu have to assure that thisIP NEVER changes

    2.
    if yous Linux offline on your own machine ( like my openSuSE ) then typically you have all tools to do such testing efficiently

    3.
    your situation is far from ideal
    as a reseller you either have access and control over your server OR sooner or later you lose your customers. there is nothing worst for a NEWBIE in web publishing than to have a host being down for horus or even days - no matter the reason!

    ideally as a reseller you would have your OWN dedicated server and FULL control. of course that would require serious knowledge and experience. the entire proserity and success of all families of sites YOU are hosting may depend to a smaller OR LARGER degree on your very own reliability.

    having to go thru your host always results in hours or days of delay for things to fix that YOU could fix in minutes if you were in control.

    having a host n dynamic IP lets me assume that your host is a hmebusiness using a DSL connection by your

    host ptk-zagreb.hr
    ptk-zagreb.hr has address 208.101.18.84
    ptk-zagreb.hr mail is handled by 0 ptk-zagreb.hr.

    whose IP is hosted/owned by:
    > host 208.101.18.84
    84.18.101.208.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer cp11.thtdomains.com.

    a query
    whois thtdomains.com
    shows that your hosting company has some serious problems:

    see:

    a brief verification as above shows that you most likely use any of tne low cost hobby hosting companies

    such situation never leads to success - neither for you NOR more importantly for your hosted domains.

    quality has its price
    in education AND $ as well.

    since your IPs are hosted in HUNGARY - you also may assume political reasons why in YOUR country Croatia your sites ore offline.

    stay NEUTRAL and if in a tormented country as in your case - stay OUT of your country with your own hosting.
     
    hans, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  7. mrki

    mrki Active Member

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    #7
    Quite confused ;)
    I think you are missing the point, he says that he is accessing the site from his local machine via a dynamic IP, the servers address is still static;)
     
    mrki, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  8. mystxx

    mystxx Active Member

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    #8
    hans and mrki:

    Thank you very much for your input... and mrki yes, I am using DSL to connect to Internet and am assigned different IP every time I connect (thus dynamic IP). Server has a static IP. Sorry for misunderstanding.

    This is my dig result:

    ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> ptk-zagreb.hr
    ;; global options: printcmd
    ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

    my host 208.101.18.84 gives:
    ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

    while whois thtdomains.com works fine and I DO get all the details hans has pointed out.

    P.S.
    Hans I do understand what you are saying and I agree 100% for server access but currently I cannot go with dedicated server (money wise) and based on fact that most of the sites hosted are my own I don't have the need for a dedicated server except when things like this happen.
    And just to clarify the reseller thing... I have a reseller account - I have access to whm and can create shared/virtual accounts - that's all I can do. I'm not a reseller that can resell reseller accounts... (lol, this sounds funny)

    I'm still not sure what to do... seems the sites are really online (I was testing through proxy.org and different proxies).
    What's the proposed course of action?
     
    mystxx, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  9. hans

    hans Well-Known Member

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    #9
    1.
    got it about the dynamic IPs

    2.
    since you can NOW access your site
    it will NOW be impossible to find the cause for downtimes

    you may have to do the NS testing as above when site is DOWN

    have a look at the WHOIS info for the OWNER of your server-IP and understand that such conflicts MAY lead to blacklisting.

    most likely the problem has to do with your ISP rebooting his machine and clearing HIS DNS cache without updating properly again. such may occur when a DNS uses forwarders instead of directly resolving such as in MY a.m. case where i use a fully qualified NS inside my laptop to bypass ISP-NS problems which I had years ago repeatedly myself. ONE of the national leading ISP here simply is missing huge IP ranges that included my earlier US-based hosting.

    this is due to either ERROR in NS ( bind ) configuration OR blacklisting or errors in restore after system crash.

    hence to finalize
    next time your site is down
    do all the testing of your ISPs NS to see if HIS NS resolves your sites. like in my case even a major ISP may have such problems. if the problem can b e traced down to your ISP - then you may CALL his support or email ASAP and precisely describe the problem while it still is active. this may eventually help to fix the issue.
     
    hans, Mar 16, 2008 IP
  10. mystxx

    mystxx Active Member

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    #10
    Hans - thank you very much for your help.
    (btw, my site is still down so I'll be on the phone with my ISP from now on)

    Thank you again.
     
    mystxx, Mar 17, 2008 IP
  11. mrki

    mrki Active Member

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    #11
    What is the exactly command you used to get such results?
    I still think that this could be a firewall issue...name servers responsible for your domain are working well:
    
    ; <<>> DiG 9.2.3 <<>> @ns1.hi-hosting.biz NS ptk-zagreb.hr
    ;; global options:  printcmd
    ;; Got answer:
    ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 25636
    ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 2
    
    ;; QUESTION SECTION:
    ;ptk-zagreb.hr.                 IN      NS
    
    ;; ANSWER SECTION:
    ptk-zagreb.hr.          86400   IN      NS      ns2.hi-hosting.biz.
    ptk-zagreb.hr.          86400   IN      NS      ns1.hi-hosting.biz.
    
    ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
    ns1.hi-hosting.biz.     14400   IN      A       208.69.32.130
    ns2.hi-hosting.biz.     14400   IN      A       208.101.18.85
    
    ;; Query time: 202 msec
    ;; SERVER: 208.101.18.84#53(ns1.hi-hosting.biz)
    ;; WHEN: Mon Mar 17 14:34:46 2008
    ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 113
    
    
    Code (markup):
     
    mrki, Mar 17, 2008 IP
  12. mystxx

    mystxx Active Member

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    #12
    Hi mrki...

    I'm using this:
    C:\dig>dig ptk-zagreb.hr

    ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> ptk-zagreb.hr
    ;; global options: printcmd
    ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
     
    mystxx, Mar 17, 2008 IP
  13. mrki

    mrki Active Member

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    #13
    Well it's not useful like that because you want to check the nameserver which is responsible for your domain not your local nameServer, you should use it like:
    
    dig @nameServer NS yourdomain.com
    
    Code (markup):
    You can first use any well configured Name Server to check which name server is resposible for your domain, for example:
    
    dig @anyNameServer NS yourdomain.com
    
    Code (markup):
    it will show you the name server responsible for your domain, after that dig that nameServer like this:
    
    dig @your.nameServer NS yourDomain
    
    Code (markup):
    The result will show you that everything seems to be ok with the nameServer which is responsible for your domain.
     
    mrki, Mar 17, 2008 IP