Google DNS blocked my subdomain?

[csdude55]

Very weird situation this evening, I'm hoping maybe someone can give me a clue of what's up.

I use a /ww2/ subdomain for my sandbox. Last night (about 6 hours ago), the subdomain stopped responding, giving me an ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED error. The main domain worked just fine, it was just the subdomain giving this error.

After some poking and prodding, I finally realized that I could take my phone off of WiFi, and the subdomain worked just fine. So it wasn't the site, it was the internet service!

I restarted the router, that had no impact. Neither did ipconfig /xxxx.

After MORE poking and prodding, I logged in to my router and removed Google DNS, instead letting it use my ISP's dynamic DNS. After that, the subdomain came up just fine!

Even weirder... I immediately set it back to Google DNS, and... it came up, just fine!

Since it came back up the second time around, I guess that Google DNS isn't blocking the subdomain? But what I can't figure out is why there was a problem in the first place, and whether it would have affected anyone else using Google DNS. Or worse, whether this problem is likely to happen again and affect my site(s) users?

[Dimitri]

Even weirder... I immediately set it back to Google DNS, and... it came up, just fine!

I guess you emptied the DNS cache before testing back?

which DNS service are you using for your domain name?

[csdude55]

I guess you emptied the DNS cache before testing back?

Nope, that's what's weird. I changed the DNS server on my router to "dynamic", then after it worked I changed it back to Google DNS to confirm that it was the problem, so maybe 30 seconds in between each change. I didn't do anything else in between.

I had flushed and renewed the DNS on my local computer about an hour prior using ipconfig*, but it had had no impact. Which I didn't think it would because my girlfriend's computer (on the same network) had the same problem.

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /registerdns

which DNS service are you using for your domain name?

I'm not, I just have my main domain set as the nameserver, and then the DNS records are on my virtual server. It's been like that for years.

[csdude55]

Quick update: I just realized that at least one of my parked domains (my most popular one) wasn't coming up, same error as the subdomain had yesterday. I toggled off Google DNS and then back on, and it came up fine.

A site user just reported that he can't get the site to come up, so I'm suspicious that this is happening to everyone using Google DNS.

[csdude55]

Further update, the issue appears to be on the end of the registrar. Using www.gwhois.org, it was pointed out to me that my domain status is on "clientHold". Even though it's 16 years old and doesn't expire until October.

[icann.org...]

I've been sitting on my hands, waiting for Softlayer (the registrar) to reply for the last 3 hours. I called and was promised an update within 10 minutes, but I'm not holding my breath. I reeeeeally need to find a new server provider and registrar, ever since they bought out The Planet it's gone further and further downhill :'-(

[csdude55]

Just to keep everyone updated, the issue is resolved now. But I am livid with Softlayer, and I'm looking for a new company.

I reported it at 3pm. Then at 4:45pm I replied to the ticket with more information. At 6:45pm, I replied with yet more information. By 7pm I hadn't had any replies, so I called.

I didn't get the guy's name, but he put me on hold for about 15 minutes while he allegedly talked with the registrar. He finally came back and said they were on it, I would have an update within 5-10 minutes.

By 8pm there was no update, so I called back. This time I talked to a new guy, and he said that they had no record of my previous call, the ticket had not been assigned to anyone, and there had been no work done as of yet! But he would escalate it to the next level up, and they would reply soon.

At 8:34 I had a ticket update, verifying that the problem was with the domain. They stated that an email had been sent to me previously to verify the domain, and I hadn't done so. I replied within a few minutes and pointed out that I had gotten no such email, although I get emails to that address all the time. I even looked through my server logs and could see where no such email had ever hit the server.

By 10pm there was no update to the ticket, so I called back. The rep said that he could see that there was a problem on their end, with the registrar not properly sending the email! So he would escalate it again.

At 10:20pm there was an update to the ticket stating that this tech would "look further into this". And within seconds, I began getting emails to that address, including 15 that had been previously sent by the registrar on verifying the domain.

So it appears that it took Softlayer about 7 hours to get around to an issue that was on their end, had been an issue for at least several weeks (the first email had been sent on June 15, so it's been broken for at least that long), and took literally seconds for them to fix.

And because of that, I easily lost $250 today. Not to mention future traffic that will be lost by people that have now moved their conversations, etc to other websites.

************

Long story short, the problem was on Softlayer's end, and after what felt like pulling a dozen teeth I finally got them to fix it.

[JS_Harris]

Be a webmaster long enough and you will have many stories like this. Stuff that shouldn't happen does all the time. Glad you figured it out, many webmasters just quit, but I am somehow sure everyone is infuriated with the incompetence of someone else at some point in this line of work. The stories I could share....