Question

Website resolving to incorrect IP

Asked by: stdcitunit

Hi Experts,

We have a Windows Server 2003 DNS server, with Windows XP Clients on a Domain.

For the most part, our internet and DNS ventures are fine, bar this one site:

For the sake of not using real names etc i will say www.google.com

So a while ago, www.google.com worked ok, then suddenly google changed their IP address. This is when the problem started. We think that our DNS server has not changed its record for google, as we can still access the site by its 'true' IP address. When we ping google from a client, it shows up as the old IP address (that does not work) but if we enter the new address in the browser, it works ok.

I am not very knowledgable on DNS at this stage, and i was unable to locate a list of stored sites or anything to veify that www.google.com is stored as an incorrecft IP.

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Adam

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-03-06 at 15:19:00ID23221499
Tags

microsoft

,

windows server

,

2003

,

DNS

Topics

Domain Name Service (DNS)

,

Windows 2003 Server

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
19

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Target principal name is incorrect
    I have an issue with OWA. When I try to access it via https://mail.domain.com/exchange I get Error Code: 500 Internal Server Error. The target principal name is incorrect. (-2146893022) There are 3 servers, a domain conroller (DC1), an exchange box (EXCH1) and an ISA box (...
  2. Importing LDF file to ADAM Instance
    I have exported AD structure to an LDF file, I copied manually the LDF file to another computer WXP in a computer running WXP and has ADAM instance on it , I am trying to import the ldf file to ADAM instance but couldn't work: when I run this: ldifde -i -f c:\exportou.ldf -s ...
  3. How to build a adam replica in a DMZ
    We've built and internal ADAM Server to replicate Active Directory to. We are now trying to build a replica in the DMZ and would like to know how to accomplish this. Any artciles with a detailed explanation of what port are required to be opened with any as well as what oth...
  4. ADAM: Second Instance Not Replicating
    Hello all, We have two ADAM instances on two virtual machines running Windows Server 2003 with MS NLB and a virtual IP hosted on the first machine. The second ADAM instance was created as a replica of the first. They are not replicating changes between eachother. As I und...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: Burns2007Posted on 2008-03-06 at 16:10:49ID: 21066072

from an affected workstation, open a command prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns
try to access teh website again. This will see if it is a problem locally cached on the workstation.


If this still fails, log on to the DNS server and open up dns management.
Expand the server > Cached Lookups > .root
Go down through here until you find the site record (eg com > google > www) and delete the record.

Do a ipconfig /flushdns on a workstation again and look it up, the DNS server should go to it's DNS forwarder/root servers and get teh address again.

 

by: KutyiPosted on 2008-03-06 at 16:12:22ID: 21066081

On your DNS server try to clear the Cache.  Right click you DNS server in the DNS management Console and select clear cache

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-03-06 at 16:31:50ID: 21066181

Hey guys, thank you for your suggestions

Burns2007: using ipconfig /flushdns on several computers and still getting the same problem. Checked on the server in DNS management, and under cached lookups > .root etc all these are empty, there are no records? I have attached a screenshot for reference.

Kutyi: Tried clearing the cache, then ipconfig /flushdns, still getting the same problem.

  • screen01.JPG
    • 34 KB

    dnsmgt with no records under chached lookups etc

 

by: icorpsPosted on 2008-03-06 at 16:46:50ID: 21066261

Are you able to access the site from other locations?  Its possible they change ISP's or something and never had the old ISP stop answering the DNS lookups.  Do you have forwarders set on your DNS servers?

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-03-06 at 17:01:15ID: 21066332

icorps: Yes, i am able to access the site from other locations. I have tried my computer at home (different ISP) and i have tried from a wireless aircard (same ISP) - from these other locations, the site works ok. This site does seem to have changed it's IP address about 3 times in the last 6 months, but shouldn't our DNS server update with this?

Yes we have forwarders (or entries under here) but these only point to local stuff (machines inside our network).



 

by: Burns2007Posted on 2008-03-06 at 17:24:45ID: 21066460

Ok, if you have DNS forwarders configured for "All Other DNS Domains"?

If so check the cache on the DNS management console on that server, as your direct DNS server may well be retrieving the cached address from that server.

 

by: icorpsPosted on 2008-03-06 at 18:28:56ID: 21066798

As a test, I'd suggest removing the forwarders.  Or perform an nslookup and try specifying each of the forwarders to see if one of them might respond with the incorrect address.

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-03-06 at 19:12:28ID: 21067044

Burns2007: Did you mean clear the cache as Kutyi suggested? If so, i have already done that to no avail. If this is not what you mean, please explain more about 'if so check the cache on the DNS management console...".

icorps: Please explain more about forwarders, and steps to get to there? I have attached another screen that i got to by clicking on DC03, then clicking on Forwarders:

Thanks heaps all for the responses so far, i am learning a lot about DNS and look forward to resolving this issue.

 

by: LaserSpotPosted on 2008-03-06 at 19:51:50ID: 21067220

See if this site is listed in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS file.
This file overrides DNS

 

by: icorpsPosted on 2008-03-10 at 08:08:46ID: 21087034

Based on that screenshot, you are not using any forwarders.  So its just using the root DNS servers, which should resolve to the correct site.

As Laserspot said, check the hosts file.

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-03-13 at 17:32:38ID: 21122162

I have checked on both the server and the client(s) hosts files (under c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc) and there are no entried (only the 127.0.0.1 localhost default one). Any suggestions where to go from here guys?

Also as a side note (which may help my understanding and maybe help solve the problem?) how can i view a list of records that are stored in my DNS server's 'cache' - i would really like to identify the record, view it and prove that it is wrong, rather than relying on ping tests etc. Is this possible?

 

by: LaserSpotPosted on 2008-03-13 at 17:56:54ID: 21122257

You test name resolution with nslookup to be sure that it's a dns issue. Just start nslookup from a command prompt and type www.google.com, does it give the right ip?

I don't know how to see the DNS server cache, but you could right-click on it and "clear cache"

I suspect that the default root hints are directing your DNS server to an out-of-date DNS server somewhere. You should get the recommended DNS servers from you ISP and add them as forwarders.

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-03-13 at 18:01:43ID: 21122271

Hi Laserspot,

The result i get from nslookup is:

-------------------------------------------------------
Server: dc03.mydomain.com
Address: 10.202.1.19

*** dc03.mydomain.com can't find www.google.com: Server failed
-------------------------------------------------------


Also i have tried to 'clear cache' as suggested in previous posts, but to no avail.

I will try the last suggestion about adding as forwarders and see how that goes.

 

by: LaserSpotPosted on 2008-03-13 at 18:07:12ID: 21122278

You should test each forwarder with nslookup before you add them to your dns server. Start nslookup, then type: server forwarderipaddress
then type: www.google.com
it should respond with the correct ip

 

by: KutyiPosted on 2008-03-13 at 18:54:33ID: 21122486

Just out of curiosity, is the first record in your zone file on your DNS a . (yes period)  If so your DNS may think it is a Root server and therefor not requesting from www root servers.  This record should not be there.

 

by: KutyiPosted on 2008-03-13 at 19:50:32ID: 21122708

Here is how to remove it if it exists: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298148/

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-04-07 at 21:28:59ID: 21302612

Hi guys,

I have not had time to action this since, as our network administrator has left and we have been very busy picking up with his role until it is filled.

Thank you very much for your input, and i really appreciate the comments and time you have all put in to this, and feel bad that i have to close it like this. But i do understand that people don't like these questions hanging around, and i will take the responsibility and close it.

Thanks again all,

Adam

 

by: stdcitunitPosted on 2008-04-07 at 21:30:44ID: 31437502

As posted previously

 

by: KutyiPosted on 2008-04-07 at 21:35:07ID: 21302639

Thanks Adam, If the suggestions get you through your issue then Great, if not repost and we will be here.  .....:)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...