The Real Blogger Status

One of the more intriguing causes of intermittent custom domain problems starts with inconsistent DNS server configuration. Recently, eNom, one of the "partners" in "Buy a domain" , has been serving inconsistent DNS configurations , from time to time - including one very blatant episode the afternoon of 6/18/2012, which was reported by several dozen angry blog owners. Detecting, and diagnosing, the inconsistencies is typically a complicated process. Identify the domain authority servers, typically using a Who Is lookup. Dig each domain address (typically "naked domain" and "www" aliases), from each of the identified domain authority servers. Extract and aggregate each Dig log. Compare aggregated Dig snippets. This was not a task for the faint of heart, or tech challenged, blog owner. Recently, I was given a handy tool which does all of this, in one quick GUI transaction.

Sometimes, researching a problem, with a custom domain published blog, involves a Who Is lookup, to determine key domain details - like DNS server namess, purchase date, registrar name, and others. Starting with the properly spelled domain name is essential, to getting a useful Who Is lookup. In cases where the blog / domain owner can't spell the domain name consistently, you can start even more basically. To determine the details about a domain purchase, when you have any doubt, ask for a copy of the invoice or receipt. If the transaction was conducted electronically, copy and paste of the key information is most useful. If the transaction involved a paper trail, have the receipt scanned, and a picture posted somewhere that you can view.

If you are observing a problem with accessing your blog, and you report your problem in BHF: Something Is Broken , there are several details which can be very useful when you report your problem. Is the problem periodicity constant, cyclical (predictable), or intermittent (un predictable)? Is the problem scope universal (affecting all of your readers), partial (affecting some of your readers), or local (affecting you only, or maybe you and a few neighbours)? When did the problem start? If I am one of the helpers who responds to your question, and who tries to help you solve your problem, I will probably be asking you some or all of the above questions. These are standard questions , which should be used to diagnose any problem involving blog availability. If you are going to answer the first two questions objectively, you will need some tool for measuring the periodicity and scope of the problem. Here, the best tool that I can recommend, for measuring anything other than a cons...

As I wrote earlier , when I'm diagnosing a problem with a custom domain - and occasionally, with other blog and network problems - my most frequently used tool is a Kloth online Dig . With Dig being an important diagnostic procedure, it's a good idea to have more than one Dig utility available. The Kloth server may be down. The Kloth server may not offer the right options. It's good practice to occasionally (and sometimes, intentionally) cross check results against another server. For many Dig investigations, I like to use a second online Dig service - WhoIs, provided by All-NetTools . The All-NetTools WhoIs Dig actually provides more than a standard Dig. A WhoIs Dig, for a domain, provides much valuable information about the domain / registrar relationship. Here, for instance, we can see an All-NetTools WhoIs Dig for this domain, nitecruzr.net . http://www.who.is/whois/nitecruzr.net/ REGISTRY WHOIS FOR NITECRUZR.NET Domain Name: nitecruzr.net Registrar: GODADD...

Sometimes when we work on a custom domain problem, we'll recommend specific DNS changes, and we'll make plans to deal with the unavoidable DNS latency issues . Make the above changes, and wait for one full day, before continuing. The above caveat will be highly advisable, because of gross latency required by the DNS host (1 day TTL is pretty nasty). mydomain.com. 86400 IN A 74.53.137.215 As always, we'll be using a Dig utility to examine the DNS settings in question . The DNS settings, as noted, may not be visible immediately. If the existing DNS address record for "mydomain.com" includes a TTL of 86,400 seconds (1 day), then we should wait for one day, before assuming that any changes that we are making will take effect. Maybe we don't want to wait one full day, just to see if the blogger working on the problem (or worse, the DNS host support tech paid by the blogger for service) makes the right settings. Fortunately, we don't have to wait until TTL ex...

Whenever I answer a problem report which involves a blog published to a Google Custom Domain, I always start my answer with a Dig log . A Dig log tells me what's behind the behaviour of the Custom Domain. Having looked at what's behind the scenes, I look at the front scenes. One very common front scene is (guess what?) Server Not Found Error 404 and I'll report to someone You have the well known "Server Not Found Error 404". and to a select few that will be news. Great, Chuck, what do I do now? but to many bloggers Great, Chuck, tell me something that I don't know. So, how do you describe the old "404", so you can diagnose it? For analysing the sequence of events that lead to the "404", and various other browser related events, I use the Rex Swain HTTP Viewer . This is a free (what else?) online service, that produces an online text log (suitable for copying and pasting) of the contents of an HTTP conversation between a web client (such...

Whenever I answer a problem report in an open forum, in my email, or just in general life, which involves a blog published to a Google Custom Domain, I always start my research with a Dig log. Dig is a very commonly used tool for querying DNS configuration data . Since many custom domain problems involve DNS setup, Dig is my first diagnostic tool. Dig can be run locally (from your computer), or online (from a Dig server). Since Dig accesses online data, I find it reasonable to run it from online servers. For detailed analysis, I use the Kloth.Net Dig utility , which lets you select specific record types to dig for, and lets you specify a DNS server to Dig into .