Diagnosing Problems With Custom Domains - Case Study #10

Recently, we've had a few custom domain problem reports in Blogger Help Forum which start with the usual generic problem report

I'm getting "404 Not Found".

or

OK, here's another case of "Another blog is already hosted at this address."

and when we look at an excerpted Dig log, we see an odd setup.

mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 66.98.145.18
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.32.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.34.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.36.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN A 66.98.145.18

or 
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 66.98.145.18
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.32.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.34.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.36.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

mercury.orderbox-domainforward.com (66.98.145.18)
66.98.128.0 - 66.98.255.255
ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.

Looking at the server "66.98.145.18", chances are that it's some sort of forwarding server. But why are the bloggers in question so careful to retain the existing forwarding server, then add the Google Apps servers and / or "ghs.google.com"?

Obviously, and to repeat myself yet again, the correct setup is

mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.32.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.34.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.36.21
mydomain.com.  3600 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

And, another.

mydomain.com.    1800    IN    A    68.178.232.100
mydomain.com.    1800    IN    A    216.239.32.21
mydomain.com.    1800    IN    A    216.239.34.21
mydomain.com.    1800    IN    A    216.239.36.21
mydomain.com.    1800    IN    A    216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

parkwebwin-v01.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net (68.178.232.100)
68.178.128.0 - 68.178.255.255
GoDaddy.com, Inc.

Another reference to the GoDaddy parked server. The registrars like GoDaddy call this "user friendly 404 display". Some network / security experts call it "404 hijacking".

The frustrating thing about "66.98.145.18" or "68.178.232.100" is that it won't necessarily cause an immediate failure. If any one of the 4 of the right servers come up in the resolution sequence first, you'll not have a problem. But one day, "66.98.145.18", "68.178.232.100", or whatever bogie is configured in your bogus solution will be tried. If you're lucky, you'll simply hear

Your domain is "404" again!

If you're not, you'll be seeing

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

>> Top