Trouble with Domain mapping?

  • kistlermedia · Member ·

    Disclaimer: I’m helping a friend with this site.

    A few days ago the website went offline. My friend contacted our A2Hosting (who the domain is through) and was told to change the nameservers. This was incorrect and they had misunderstood the problem. I went back and changed the nameservers back to WordPress (see http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/). This worked for at least a few hours and the site was viewable again.

    However, the site went back down again (403 Forbidden). I was able to view the site with Firefox last night and on my phone on the Chrome browser. However, today at work I can’t view it on Chrome or Internet Explorer (I can still see it on my phone).

    I’ve ran the diagnostic with WordPress and the DNS is set up correctly. A2Hosting has also said the nameservers are set up correctly. I understand that sometimes this can take time to take effect (the changes to the WordPress nameservers were done mid-day on Monday). I’m just wondering why I can see it on some browsers, but not others? Is this normal, or could there possibly be a compatibility problem? I would think not since the website is running the Writr theme which is fairly new.

    Any thoughts?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • valentine · Member ·

    Hi kistlermedia,

    It’s probably your browser’s DNS cache that was letting you view your website while the nameservers were being changed around. Firefox has it built-in to speed up browsing.

    This was probably what happened:
    1. You visited your website using Firefox while it was still pointed at WordPress.com name servers. Firefox stores the DNS settings in its cache.
    2. You change it to A2Hosting’s name servers. The DNS settings gets propagated around the web. This usually takes around 48-72 hours.
    3. You change it back to WordPress.com’s name servers. Some servers still have A2Hosting’s cached in their system, and won’t update it for another 48-72 hours. This is probably when you tried accessing it on your Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers. Your mobile ISP, on the other hand, might have different DNS cache settings, which is why you were able to view the site just fine.
    4. Your DNS settings finally settle down, and your site works just fine.

    I hope this helps explain your situation!

  • auxclass · Member ·

    What is your friends domain name you need help with?

  • The topic ‘Trouble with Domain mapping?’ is closed to new replies.