hydrazi
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Microsoft DNS issue resolving our external website
We had our 3rd website redesign in 2 years. Usually, I go to our network solutions account and change the www A record to point to a new DNS (always new hosting). I than change the @ record to the same IP. And then I go to our internal DNS server (Windows 2000) and change the HOST record for www to the same IP.
THIS time, they told me to REMOVE the www A record. Then create a CNAME for www that points to @.
Then I put the new IP in for the @ record.
But I am not at all sure what to do with our internal DNS then. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
THIS time, they told me to REMOVE the www A record. Then create a CNAME for www that points to @.
Then I put the new IP in for the @ record.
But I am not at all sure what to do with our internal DNS then. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
ASKER
It's not working. We have some servers internally related to our domain. Such as logbooks.ourdomain.com points to an internal server. But www.ourdomain.com points to this outside hosting.
I tried not making the change and it kept going to our old hosting.
Removing the www record yesterday has just made it refuse to resolve at all.
Everywhere else, it resolves fine.
I tried not making the change and it kept going to our old hosting.
Removing the www record yesterday has just made it refuse to resolve at all.
Everywhere else, it resolves fine.
what to you get when you ping internally ?
where did you remove www record from, online DNS or internal DNS?
on the DNS you should something in those lines below:
yourdomain.com. A External IP Address
www.yourdomain.com. CNAME yourdomain.com.
yourdomain.com. A External IP Address
www.yourdomain.com. CNAME yourdomain.com.
ASKER
I have removed the www Host (or A) record from both internal and external DNS.
The site works great for anyone outside of our network.
It does not resolve at all from inside of our network.
Whn I try to ping it internally now, It says it cannot find host name.
Which tells me that it is asking the internal DNS about it, getting no answer, then going no further.
The site works great for anyone outside of our network.
It does not resolve at all from inside of our network.
Whn I try to ping it internally now, It says it cannot find host name.
Which tells me that it is asking the internal DNS about it, getting no answer, then going no further.
So, I assume that your internal domain name is the same as what you have externally?
If so, you're pretty much at an impasse. You can't have the @ record (blank) point at the external site, because it points to your domain controllers. Your website designer should adjust your site to always use www.yourdomain.com and not just yourdomain.com (keep this is mind for any future redesigns). The only other way around this (not recommended) is to set up IIS on all your DCs and have them do redirects. The way to avoid this is to make sure your internal and external name is not the same. MS's recommendation (and the method I espouse) is to make your internal domain a subdomain of your external, i.e. something like "corp.yourdomain.com".
If so, you're pretty much at an impasse. You can't have the @ record (blank) point at the external site, because it points to your domain controllers. Your website designer should adjust your site to always use www.yourdomain.com and not just yourdomain.com (keep this is mind for any future redesigns). The only other way around this (not recommended) is to set up IIS on all your DCs and have them do redirects. The way to avoid this is to make sure your internal and external name is not the same. MS's recommendation (and the method I espouse) is to make your internal domain a subdomain of your external, i.e. something like "corp.yourdomain.com".
Are you running Active Directory on that DNS server? Is your AD Domain the same name as your domain.com? AD will make the @domain.tld records to point to your DCs, so unless the website is hosted on those DCs, it'll break. If this is the case -- and you can verify by opening a command line and do nslookup your domain name against your DNS server -- the easy fix is to setup IIS on the DC and make it redirect any http/https queries to your external website IP.
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ASKER
Our internal AD domain is not the same as our external domain name, however, there is a whole lot of external domain entries in our DNS.
So, we have internaldomain.com and then externaldomain.com. Some othe externaldomain.com addresses are for our internal servers to be accessed for intranet and also from the outside.
So, we have internaldomain.com and then externaldomain.com. Some othe externaldomain.com addresses are for our internal servers to be accessed for intranet and also from the outside.
ASKER
Adding it back in as you suggested did work. many thanks.
I would just clear DNS cache and it should then query the internet DNS servers for the A record for your website.
What they might have said is as below:
A record the external IP << Current
They want you to create
www CNAME yourwebsite.com
then
yourwebsite.com A Record the IP
It is technically the same and your current setup should still work
www.whatsmydns.net
If you put your website address there and search for A record, do you see the new IP.