website domain and internal domain is the same name

What happens if you do nslookup www.abc.co.uk from inside of the network?

I get the same IP that I do when I ping the website domain

Here's an article I recommend you taking a look at since you may have to do split DNS: http://msmvps.com/blogs/acefekay/archive/2009/09/04/split-zone-or-no-split-zone-can-t-access-internal-website-with-external-name.aspx

That page doesn't seem to exist

Try this site https://blogs.msmvps.com/acefekay/2009/09/03/split-zone-or-no-split-zone-can-t-access-internal-website-with-external-name/


This works

"I have put in a www a record on DNS pointing to the IP that i get back from pinging abc.co.uk"

First change your dns server to something outside like goolge 8.8.8.8. Then, you should use the ip address you get back from pinging www.abc.co.uk for the www A record. The address you get from pinging abc.co.uk while using your internal DNS should be your dns server since you have that zone in dns.

However the issue is now if i try and navigate to the website in the internal network i get www.www.abc.co.uk come back.

So, running nslookup www.abc.co.uk from inside returns the correct IP address, but the URL in the browser changes from www.abc.co.uk to www.www.abc.co.uk? That sounds like an HTTP redirect on the site itself, and a screwed-up one at that...but you're able to browse to www.abc.co.uk from outside with no problems?

yes I am able to browse to it outside of the network fine. they have had there internal and external domain the same for ages and was working with a www a record. However it seems that the websites IP has changed from what was in the www a record.

Im not convinced that doing a split DNS is the answer. As it used to work with just a a record in place.

I have also changed the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and pinged it, I have also tried pinging it on a PC outside of the network and I get the same address

Does your website now utilize a CDN like Akamai? That's a scenario where I can see issues occur because there's not one fixed IP address to resolve to.

That seems like that could be the cause. I will find out and let you know Its a Wix site, so perhaps there has been some form of update.

Yeah, this is why you more ideally would've had your AD domain called something like ad.abc.co.uk .... this is one of those times that demonstrates exactly why many recommend against having the AD domain name match the website. In an idea case, you could rename the AD name, but I'm not going to say it's a piece of cake (I haven't had cause to do it, but I also assume there will be unintended side effects).

Right So I have just looked on the WIX site and the IP it says my domian points to is a  different IP again, so im totally confused now.

WIX uses a CDN. So it's always going to be a moving target. https://support.wix.com/en/article/cdn-server-and-loading-time

The simplest solution would be to use a web host that doesn't utilize a CDN. But you also have to be sure you're willing to take the risks of not having the protections of a CDN for your website. However, it would simplify things for you in terms of resolution of accessing the site (updating your www record).

So is this a recent thing they have put in then? as it was working for months by just putting a www a record in

How recently was the Wix site set up? But that www entry is never going to work with a CDN because you're never going to be able to know what the IP address is at any given moment.

It was set up about 6 months ago. That's the weird thing its been working for ages

You could try removing the www host record and instead creating a conditional forwarder for www.abc.co.uk. Point it to your ISP's DNS servers or a couple of well-known public DNS servers. That way, queries for www.abc.co.uk will be resolved by the public DNS (so you won't have to update the www record every time there's a change), while queries for other names in abc.co.uk will still be handled by your internal servers.

that sounds like a very good idea i will give that a go and let you know :) thanks

Im getting a error "a problem occurred while trying to add the conditional forwarder a zone configuration problem occurred" any ideas?

Did you delete the www host record first? You won't be able to create the forwarder if there's an existing record with the same name.

yes I did, i even cleared the dns cache etc... you dont think it could be to do with it still has the same domain, all be it one has www. in front of it?

I'm almost certain I've been able to do that very thing in the past, but let me do some testing, and I'll get back to you.

Cool thank you, i will continue to look my end also.

so it wasn't me being stupid then haha. Its looking more and more likely that its doing to be a full blown local domain change.  Which I really really dont want to do. I wish I could meet the person who set the local domain as .co.uk.

If you do think of anything else please let me know :)

luckily there is no exchange. but we have found a new resolution. we are changing the websites domain name so problem solved :)

Thanks for your help anyway