Diagnosing Problems With Custom Domains - Case Study #2b

Encouraged by my ability to setup my own personal custom domain, I persuaded my bud Bob to do likewise. Now, Bob isn't a techie (so he would tell you), but he does know how to follow procedure. And I encouraged him to try it.

its easier than it looks

So, just last night, Bob tells me in his usual taciturn way

OK - It's http://robertosblogs.net

then later

EXACTLY the way you described in your post

But - and it seems like there's always a "but" with Blogger - the results were not quite the same.


Let's take a look at "robertosblogs.net".

There are 4 URLs to study here.

1. The primary domain "robertosblogs.net".
2. The "www" alias for the domain "www.robertosblogs.net".
3. The primary BlogSpot URL "roberto-dot-net.blogspot.com".
4. The "www" alias for the BlogSpot URL "www.roberto-dot-net.blogspot.com".

I started by examining his DNS setup. First, the primary domain "robertosblogs.net".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;robertosblogs.net. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
robertosblogs.net. 3600 IN A 64.233.179.121
robertosblogs.net. 3600 IN A 66.249.81.121
robertosblogs.net. 3600 IN A 72.14.207.121

Next, the "www" alias "www.robertosblogs.net".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.robertosblogs.net. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.robertosblogs.net. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
ghs.google.com. 520167 IN CNAME ghs.l.google.com.
ghs.l.google.com. 300 IN A 72.14.207.121

DNS looks just like my results. Spot on, Bob.

Look at the browser connect logs. Start with the "www" alias.

4/5/2008 23:26:56 Trying http://www.robertosblogs.net
Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

OK, here.

4/5/2008 23:26:28 Trying http://robertosblogs.net
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://www.robertosblogs.net
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

This looks good too. The key item here being

HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://www.robertosblogs.net

The BlogSpot results though, not so good. At least, not consistent with mine.

4/5/2008 23:31:12 Trying http://roberto-dot-net.blogspot.com
Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

look at my BlogSpot

3/29/2008 08:56:48 Trying http://nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

And his "www" BlogSpot is the same.

4/5/2008 23:44:46 Trying http://www.roberto-dot-net.blogspot.com
Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

contrasted with mine

3/29/2008 08:56:38 Trying http://www.nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

And what is very interesting is the link to the blog, from the dashboard!

Roberto Dot Net        View Blog

which leads to a rather intriguing advice

Your blog is in transition

Your blog's new address is http://www.robertosblogs.net/. Since it takes time for this new address to be available all over the Internet, you can still get to it at http://roberto-dot-net.blogspot.com.

Your new address should work for everyone after at most 3 days. At that time we will redirect your readers from your old address to the new one.

Stay tuned, or use the above link ("Roberto Dot Net") from time to time. This will be interesting to watch. I made the above observations, initially, at 23:00 PST, 5/4/2008. It's now 08:00 PDT, 7/4/2008, and the results are the same.

Your blog is in transition

>> (Update 4/26): After much thought, and several interesting discussions in Google Blogger Help, I conclude that the "In Transition" period is simply Blogger allowing the "Buy A Domain" wizard to compensate for DNS latency.

>> (Update 4/9): We see now that Blogger has mentioned this possibility, in How do I buy a custom domain through Blogger?

>> (Update 22:00 4/8): The Roberto Dot Net dashboard link now links directly to Roberto Dot Net.

>> Forum thread links: bX-*00074

>> Copy this tag: bX-*00074

>> Top