DNS Advice - Site not visible on Plusnet

[#1]

At the moment the site is hosted on Sitehq serves but emails are with 123-reg. this is the way the client preferred for the moment. Could this be causing an issue? I have no idea how or why it would restrict my access when the client who is on another network has perfect access to both site and email services.

[#2]

Apparent slow response from myself as notification of any replies don't seem to come through to my email account. For that I apologise.

[#3]

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@AndyD_OHD wrote:

At the moment the site is hosted on Sitehq serves but emails are with 123-reg. this is the way the client preferred for the moment. Could this be causing an issue?

Quite possibly, although it all depends how things are configured. Saying 'emails are with 123-reg' doesn't tell us much i.e. do you have MX records pointing to 123-reg? Is it a SiteHQ email forward sending things to 123-reg? Have you tried changing your name servers to 123-reg somewhere? (if so, it doesn't look to me like it's been done properly).

Typically, you have one set of name servers in DNS, and this represents the company that looks after all of the DNS records for your domain. Unless I'm misinterpreting things - you appear to have two

It would be interesting to see exactly what nameservers/DNS records etc. you have configured in the 123-reg and SiteHQ control panels. I've a gut feeling there's some overlap somewhere, or you're trying to do something non-conventional. Happy for you to PM me directly if it's easier.

Not all DNS resolvers behave the same way when they encounter oddities, which could explain why you're only seeing this on our network.

[#4]

Hi bobpullen,

I followed advice from SiteHQ when setting things up. Basically the site was originally a Weebly site on 123-reg. When I rebuilt the site I changed namservers in 123-reg to those of SiteHQ, other than that I haven't changed anything. The client had their original site in someone else's 123-reg account. As far as I believe SiteHQ have said everything is OK on their end and the issue is with Plusnet. SiteHQ have been able to do their DNS checks and everything shows their server ip address as opposed to when I try to ftp and the Weebly ip address comes up automatically. The client still able to access their emails through their 123-reg email hosting.

[#5]

It looks like 123-reg still have nameservers associated with the domain, it's flagging up here too so as Bob suggests may well be the root cause of the issue:

http://www.solvedns.com/ericwatsonfs.co.uk

[#6]

@AndyD_OHD, I've sent you a PM but I need to see the full zone records held by SiteHQ. They're somehow delegating authority of your domain back to 123-reg and they shouldn't be. I want to see the DNS records to make sure that them correcting this isn't going to break your email.

[#7]

@bobpullen I have sent SiteHQ a request for the information you eluded to in your message. However, I do find it odd that I can access the site when I am using a network that is not my Plusnet access. SiteHQ have ran their own tests previously and suggest their settings are all correct but I've asked for more information as confirmation.

[#8]

I understand it may seem strange, but there's loads of different DNS server software out there and it doesn't all behave the same. That's before you even consider the myriad ways the software can be configured. Some solutions will be more resilient to errors compared to others. As I'm sure you can understand, we're unlikely to invest time into working around a problem that's seemingly being caused by a misconfigured domain

The crux of the matter is this:

Your name servers are set to SiteHQ:

~$ whois ericwatsonfs.co.uk

    Domain name:
        ericwatsonfs.co.uk

    --8<--SNIP--8<--

    Registrar:
        123-Reg Limited t/a 123-reg [Tag = 123-REG]
        URL: http://www.123-reg.co.uk

    Relevant dates:
        Registered on: 06-Aug-2013
        Expiry date:  06-Aug-2017
        Last updated:  20-May-2017

    Registration status:
        Registered until expiry date.

    Name servers:
        ns1.hostsrvrs.com
        ns2.hostsrvrs.com

    WHOIS lookup made at 20:29:59 19-Jul-2017

So why are SiteHQ advertising 123-reg nameservers in the DNS zone for your domain?

~$ dig ericwatsonfs.co.uk @ns1.hostsrvrs.com ns

; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-9+deb8u11-Raspbian <<>> ericwatsonfs.co.uk @ns1.hostsrvrs.com ns
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 11819
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;ericwatsonfs.co.uk.            IN      NS

;; ANSWER SECTION:
ericwatsonfs.co.uk.     86400   IN      NS      ns.123-reg.co.uk.
ericwatsonfs.co.uk.     86400   IN      NS      ns2.123-reg.co.uk.

[#9]

HI Bob and everyone else,
My host logged in to my computer to run checks. I have sent the results to Plusnet as the tech running the tests was concerned enoughto ask me to contact Plusnet.
"The issue is that your computer is using your router for DNS lookups, and a lookup of www.ericwatsonfs.co.uk is failing when queried through that.
I've changed the DNS servers your computer uses to be Google's and that has resolved the issue.
Your router is configured with two of the Plusnet DNS resolvers:
(IP removed) is returning an invalid DNS result, giving no IP when a lookup for www.ericwatsonfs.co.uk is done. This is why your routers lookup, requested by your PC is failing.
(IP removed) is working fine and correctly returns the IP of the website."

[#10]

Andy, this shows a lack of understanding on your host's part.

The issue is not with your router proxying DNS requests. All that does is relay the requests to the Plusnet DNS resolvers, and we already know that Google's DNS servers work and Plusnet's don't. All your host has done is implement a workaround that applies only to your machine, it's not going to help any other Plusnet customers that encounter the problem (nor anybody using any other DNS servers that struggle to resolve the domain properly).

I'd suggest asking explicitly for a response to the question I raised in my last post, or ask them to justify the results from the test @Chris linked to. Alternatively ask your host to provide a copy of the DNS zone for your domain and I'll tell them what to remove/alter.

Quoting from the results of that test ^:

The NS records returned by your name servers are not consistent with either the TLD server nsa.nic.uk or some of your other name servers. The reason for this could be that you have different name servers at your domain name registrar as compared to your NS records. **Even if this could be ok, you should always have the same name servers at your registrar and at your NS records**

This forum is free for anybody to register an account and post. Perhaps a representative from your hosting provider can reply to this thread and I can pick up with them directly?

[#11]

Thanks bob, I'll follow this up in the morning and get back to you.

[#12]

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@AndyD_OHD wrote:

HI Bob and everyone else,
My host logged in to my computer to run checks. I have sent the results to Plusnet as the tech running the tests was concerned enoughto ask me to contact Plusnet.
"The issue is that your computer is using your router for DNS lookups, and a lookup of www.ericwatsonfs.co.uk is failing when queried through that.
I've changed the DNS servers your computer uses to be Google's and that has resolved the issue.
Your router is configured with two of the Plusnet DNS resolvers:
(IP removed) is returning an invalid DNS result, giving no IP when a lookup for www.ericwatsonfs.co.uk is done. This is why your routers lookup, requested by your PC is failing.
(IP removed) is working fine and correctly returns the IP of the website."

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oh wow, just wow
this clearly shows that your host has no idea what they are talking about unfortunately!

[#13]

As chenks says, your host is useless.

I would expect them to know more about DNS and fixing it seeing as they deal with domain records daily. I give them credit for using your computer to try to help but they shouldn't have bodged you back to happiness.

[#14]

I guess that in order to monitor this I would have to change the router DNS back to those that weren't working too. I guess I am not the only one not able to see this site?

[#15]

yes you would need to do that.
there could be many not able to see it, and not specific to plusnet.