DNS issues with Weebly and new kiwi.nz domain

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20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997560 2-Mar-2014 14:13

kenkeniff:

Some Domain Registrars do provide DNS hosting services, and some DNS hosts do provide a "Domain forwarding" service as described by auto-configuring the appropriate DNS record along with a server redirect.

Weebly are suggesting you move your DNS hosting (point your NS records) to Cloudns because they are one of those DNS hosts that provide a domain forwarding service.

This will result in visitors that navigate to www.yoursite.kiwi being redirected to yoursite.kiwi as opposed to a working CNAME what would have www.yousite.kiwi just work.

yep - I understand that better, thanks. I can do a URL redirect with 1st Domains, but the question is to who? Cloudns is based on Bulgaria and according to their Facebook page is not very reliable on several fronts.

Is there a NZ-based solution someone could walk me thru?

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997563 2-Mar-2014 14:17

tkayed: ...
yep - I understand that better, thanks. I can do a URL redirect with 1st Domains, but the question is to who? Cloudns is based on Bulgaria and according to their Facebook page is not very reliable on several fronts.

Is there a NZ-based solution someone could walk me thru?

If 1st Domains provide URL redirection then there'll just be a box somewhere in the online console asks for the (sub)domain you want to redirect (www.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz) and where you want to redirect it to (http://hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz).

You may have to delete the www.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz A-record first though

geocom

429 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 84

Subscriber

Reply # 997564 2-Mar-2014 14:17

kenkeniff:
geocom: Its an issue on Weebly's side. They or you have not set up an alias on the Apache config.

Your DNS is fine given that you can get the 404 page it is getting to the server. Check your setup on weebly and see if you can add an alias.

Without the alias set up apache will default to the top most record. Which in this case must be the 404 page.

It sounds like Weebly are aware of this problem and have tried to set it up 'properly' given the suggestion to use a 301 redirect instead.

I'd imagine they're using some hard-coded list of domain suffixes to match sub-domains to their root domains on account and freaking out when it sees a .kiwi.nz perhaps.

If that is the case then they are going to have some very big issues with all new the TLD(Top Level Domains) coming out.

Geoff E

mattwnz

12566 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1404

Reply # 997565 2-Mar-2014 14:18

tkayed: I've already talked to my domain registrar on Thursday and again on Friday about making the changes, and they say they cannot do 301 redirects on the subdomain, only for the entire site. So I'm not sure if Weebly support can get any further than that???

1st Domains say that it is not a DNS issues, that it is fully tested and resolving at their end and with xtra (??).

Like I said, I am only a semi-geek. I can do testing at places like intoDNS, but it doesn't really mean much to me. :-[

You get weebly to make the dns change for you. If it isn't possible with your current provider, you may have to pay for some decent dons hosting services, or get some web hosting that has more dns control

You will want the non www version of the domain redirecting to the www version wouldn't you, not the other way around. As you will want the www version to appear in the browsers address bar. Had you thought about setting up the website in WordPress, as what do you get with weebly that you don't get with WordPress, and you never own a weebly website, you are just renting it.

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997566 2-Mar-2014 14:18

geocom:
kenkeniff:
geocom: Its an issue on Weebly's side. They or you have not set up an alias on the Apache config.

Your DNS is fine given that you can get the 404 page it is getting to the server. Check your setup on weebly and see if you can add an alias.

Without the alias set up apache will default to the top most record. Which in this case must be the 404 page.

It sounds like Weebly are aware of this problem and have tried to set it up 'properly' given the suggestion to use a 301 redirect instead.

I'd imagine they're using some hard-coded list of domain suffixes to match sub-domains to their root domains on account and freaking out when it sees a .kiwi.nz perhaps.

If that is the case then they are going to have some very big issues with all new the TLD(Top Level Domains) coming out.

I'd imagine there will be quite a few systems with these sorts of problems....a bit like when 022, 028 etc numbers started coming out in NZ and trying to enter them into some online forms.

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997567 2-Mar-2014 14:23

See: http://support.1stdomains.co.nz/afmmain.asp?topicid=&faqid=38

You probably want just plain "URL Redirection" but either will do. (URL Redirection with Cloaking will just put your root site in an HTML frame of the www-subdomain so the address bar wont change when you chick on any hyperlinks)

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997571 2-Mar-2014 14:26

kenkeniff: See: http://support.1stdomains.co.nz/afmmain.asp?topicid=&faqid=38

You probably want just plain "URL Redirection" but either will do. (URL Redirection with Cloaking will just put your root site in an HTML frame of the www-subdomain so the address bar wont change when you chick on any hyperlinks)

I did try this on Friday - but it redirects everything so I lose all the DNS zone records ie I can redirect the www.hypnobirthing.kwi.nz to hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz - but where does that go? The A-record with the Weebly IP will be lost.

I think what I meant to say above was that I can change the nameservers to another DNS host that does allow 301 redirects on subdomains, but do not know who that would be.

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997574 2-Mar-2014 14:39

mattwnz: You will want the non www version of the domain redirecting to the www version wouldn't you, not the other way around. As you will want the www version to appear in the browsers address bar. Had you thought about setting up the website in WordPress, as what do you get with weebly that you don't get with WordPress, and you never own a weebly website, you are just renting it.

I only briefly looked a Wordpress last year, but didn't want to be in an IT geek pickle LOL! ie I do not know enough about hosting, server management, etc. I can learn, I can be very tech minded, but my core is graphic design and I just didn't want the headache. Technology changes faster than I can keep up - which is why I usually use a developer for most of my websites as they are the experts. I only used Weebly as this is what the client wanted and could afford. I never dreamed that the domain name would be such a burden. grrr...

also @ geonet - Weebly does not allow aliases that I can see. This was my first impression - it was something at their end. But there is only one place to enter your site name for publishing, and only one name.

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997578 2-Mar-2014 14:47

tkayed:
kenkeniff: See: http://support.1stdomains.co.nz/afmmain.asp?topicid=&faqid=38

You probably want just plain "URL Redirection" but either will do. (URL Redirection with Cloaking will just put your root site in an HTML frame of the www-subdomain so the address bar wont change when you chick on any hyperlinks)

I did try this on Friday - but it redirects everything so I lose all the DNS zone records ie I can redirect the www.hypnobirthing.kwi.nz to hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz - but where does that go? The A-record with the Weebly IP will be lost.

I think what I meant to say above was that I can change the nameservers to another DNS host that does allow 301 redirects on subdomains, but do not know who that would be.

Hmm...I see.. So 1st domains doesn't allow you to redirect a single sub-domain only?..strange.

Anyway I've PM'd you details of a server where I've setup a redirect for you to get you up and running.

This obviously doesn't fix the issues with Weebly not recognising your subdomains so I'd get onto them to fix it which you can keep testing by going to "anything.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz" because you have the wildcard record setup pointing to Weebly. Once Weebly sort the issue out you can point your WWW A-record back to them.

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997587 2-Mar-2014 14:54

kenkeniff: Hmm...I see.. So 1st domains doesn't allow you to redirect a single sub-domain only?..strange.

Anyway I've PM'd you details of a server where I've setup a redirect for you to get you up and running.

This obviously doesn't fix the issues with Weebly not recognising your subdomains so I'd get onto them to fix it which you can keep testing by going to "anything.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz" because you have the wildcard record setup pointing to Weebly. Once Weebly sort the issue out you can point your WWW A-record back to them.

Thanks, Ken - I've added the record now so we'll see! :-]

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997595 2-Mar-2014 15:49

tkayed:
kenkeniff: Hmm...I see.. So 1st domains doesn't allow you to redirect a single sub-domain only?..strange.

Anyway I've PM'd you details of a server where I've setup a redirect for you to get you up and running.

This obviously doesn't fix the issues with Weebly not recognising your subdomains so I'd get onto them to fix it which you can keep testing by going to "anything.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz" because you have the wildcard record setup pointing to Weebly. Once Weebly sort the issue out you can point your WWW A-record back to them.

Thanks, Ken - I've added the record now so we'll see! :-]

so its been at least 50 minutes and it loads at Site Not Published. hmmm… any thoughts?

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997600 2-Mar-2014 16:02

tkayed:
tkayed:
kenkeniff: Hmm...I see.. So 1st domains doesn't allow you to redirect a single sub-domain only?..strange.

Anyway I've PM'd you details of a server where I've setup a redirect for you to get you up and running.

This obviously doesn't fix the issues with Weebly not recognising your subdomains so I'd get onto them to fix it which you can keep testing by going to "anything.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz" because you have the wildcard record setup pointing to Weebly. Once Weebly sort the issue out you can point your WWW A-record back to them.

Thanks, Ken - I've added the record now so we'll see! :-]

so its been at least 50 minutes and it loads at Site Not Published. hmmm… any thoughts?

That new subdomain is working fine (its actually returning a 403 error from my server which I'll fix).

It will just take a while to propagate to your ISP / cache.

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997614 2-Mar-2014 16:38

kenkeniff: That new subdomain is working fine (its actually returning a 403 error from my server which I'll fix).

It will just take a while to propagate to your ISP / cache.

Great - it worked and I've updated the records for the www with the ip you supplied.

Now, what exactly do I go back to weebly with? how do I word to them what the issue is and what they need to do about it?

ALSO - should I remove the "*' record at my end? that doesn't interfere with anything does it?

kenkeniff

564 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 89

Reply # 997628 2-Mar-2014 16:59

tkayed:
kenkeniff: That new subdomain is working fine (its actually returning a 403 error from my server which I'll fix).

It will just take a while to propagate to your ISP / cache.

Great - it worked and I've updated the records for the www with the ip you supplied.

Now, what exactly do I go back to weebly with? how do I word to them what the issue is and what they need to do about it?

ALSO - should I remove the "*' record at my end? that doesn't interfere with anything does it?

The wildcard (*) record's fine pointing at Weebly's IP and should help in testing.

Do they give you an option in their control panel to add more domains or sub-domains to your site?

If so add something like "www-test.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz" to Weebly. Your wildcard record should handle it on the DNS end otherwise you can add a corresponding A-record if you want.

Then test that www-test.hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz loads your site correctly, if not tell Weebly that they're not recognising your sub-domains correctly (which will probably result in everything you've been through already).

If they don't allow you to add another sub-domain like the test one above then unfortunately it's going to be difficult to diagnose / resolve the issue without downtime to your www sub-domain due to the propogation times of the .kiwi.nz domain and the apparent fault at Weebly's end.

In that case your best bet is to find a DNS host that does URL forwarding for individual sub-domains and setup the ones you need as previously described (so you don't need to rely on the random Geekzoner's servers being up 24/7).

tkayed

20 posts

Geek

Reply # 997631 2-Mar-2014 17:08

kenkeniff: Do they give you an option in their control panel to add more domains or sub-domains to your site?

no. only the site address, which is hypnobirthing.kiwi.nz

kenkeniff: In that case your best bet is to find a DNS host that does URL forwarding for individual sub-domains and setup the ones you need as previously described (so you don't need to rely on the random Geekzoner's servers being up 24/7).

do you or anyone else recommend or even know of any NZ-based services that I can use for the DNS host? And if so, does that mean I need to point nameservers and then setup DNS zones with that provider, correct?

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