DNS Domain/IP Resolve - A Website on Multiple IPs

[shaunm]

Hi All,

It looks like I'm lost in the process somewhere when I asked this question here sometimes back.

I would much appreciate your help in resolving this problem if it's a problem.

Say my domain is example.com and that I use any domain lookup tool to find the IP address of it and they say it is nn.nnn.12.20.

I type in my IP no directly into the address bar of a browser like this http://nn.nnn.12.20 and it loads my website without throwing any error message.

Q1. Can a website be available when the IP is directly typed into an address bar?

The website is hosted on our own server. For sometimes now, I see Google reporting IP addresses instead of domain names in the 'link to your site section' in Webmaster tools. Such as

i. nn.nnn.0.12
ii. nn.nnn.0.13
iii. nn.nnn.0.14

But when I click on any of these IPs to see what page is receiving a link from them, Google displays the linked from pages of these above said IPs as

i.nn.nnn.12.20/linking-page.aspx instead of nn.nnn.0.12/linking-page.aspx
ii. nn.nnn.13.20/linking-page.aspx instead of nn.nnn.0.13/linking-page.aspx
iii. nn.nnn.14.20/linking-page.aspx instead of nn.nnn.0.14/linking-page.aspx

So, when I go back and type in the reported IPs into the address bar of a browser, they render my Website without any problem like in Q1.

i. nn.nnn.12.20
ii. nn.nnn.13.20
iii. nn.nnn.14.20

Where I'm most confused is that, one of the reported IPs is actually my website IP ie. nn.nnn.12.20

Q2. How can a same website reported as a linking domain in 'Who links the most' section?

Now, when I go to Google and search for my website using the site: syntax I get the following

i. site:example.com - 500K Pages
ii. site:nn.nnn.12.20 (My web IP) - 4K Pages
iii. site:nn.nnn.13.20 - 2K Pages
iv. site:nn.nnn.14.20 - 1.5K Pages

Q3. Am I in serious trouble for a content duplication?

Could you please tell me what is just happening and how do I fix this? Phranque adviced me to use 'host canonicalization' to solve the problem.

Isn't it the host canonicalization for redirecting non-www requests into www requests and likewise? If that's the solution, can you please explain it?


Thanks again!

[aakk9999]

Q1. Can a website be available when the IP is directly typed into an address bar?

Yes it can, but it is not advisable. One reason is exactly what you are seeing - google has decided that for some of pages, your IP address is your canonical host name. The second reason is split popularity of links and also duplicate content.

It is also likely that the site suffers from drop in CTR because host names that contain IP are less likely to attract clicks.

Q2. How can a same website reported as a linking domain in 'Who links the most' section?

"Website" is too ambiguous. There is a host and there is a webspace. If two or more hosts point to the same webspace on the server, then you get "different websites" all showing the same content.

What it looks like is that multiple IPs are pointed to the same webspace on your server.

You should redirect all host names that do not start with your canonical host name. Alternatively you can use the canonical link element, personally I prefer redirect.

Q3. Am I in serious trouble for a content duplication?

I have seen sites suffer greatly but then I have also seen sites where this kind of duplication did not do much damage. It is better to fix the problem.

Phranque adviced me to use 'host canonicalization' to solve the problem.

Isn't it the host canonicalization for redirecting non-www requests into www requests and likewise? If that's the solution, can you please explain it?

Phranque is right and yes, the host canonicalization for redirecting non-www requests into www requests or vice versa. Do not forget that IP is also a host name, it is just IP-based. So if you implement non-www to www redirect and your rule says somethig like "if the host is not www.example.com" then requests with IP as a host name should be redirected.

[shaunm]

Thank you so much @aakk9999

I'm going to redirect the alternate host names(IPs) to the proper one if that's what need of the hour is.

Can you think of a particular reason that caused 'multiple IPs to point to the same webspace on the server?'

[lucy24]

Isn't it the host canonicalization for redirecting non-www requests into www requests and likewise? If that's the solution, can you please explain it?

The with/without www redirect is the most common use, but a properly worded rule will redirect all requests to a single hostname. (Another one is when a visitor slaps a port number onto the end of your hostname.)

Happily, a "properly worded rule" is shorter and simpler than an improperly worded one. Skim through the Apache subforum (if that's what you use) and you will see approximately eleven thousand identical posts on the subject ;) They all say "If the requested hostname is not exactly such-and-such or exactly nothing" et cetera.

[shaunm]

Thanks @lucy24

So, I've a hostname conflicts where multiple hostnames are pointing to the same webspace as @aakk9999 mentioned. Thus making it looks like different websites in Google's eyes and so get Google index them separately.

Dang, Am I yet to be caught under duplicate content issues which hasn't happened yet?

It's IIS not Apache :-)

[lucy24]

Well, then you'll have to ask in the IIS subforum. But the underlying rule should be the same: "If the requested hostname is not exactly such-and-such or exactly nothing". The Regular Expression is
!^(www\.example\.com)?$

In Apache I constrain the rule to requests for pages, so the server doesn't have to stop and evaluate conditions on non-page requests (which should already be correct if you use relative or site-absolute links on all pages).

[incrediBILL]

When you say it's your own server, is it a dedicated server or a virtual server. If it's virtual in the cloud, that could easily explain the multiple IPs.

[Ocean10000]

It can be done in IIS 7 and up using Url-Rewrite [iis.net]

See below for an example

  <rewrite>
   <rules>
    <rule name="CanonicalHostNameRule1">
     <match url="(.*)" />
     <conditions>
      <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^www\.Example\.com$" negate="true" />
     </conditions>
     <action type="Redirect" url="http://www.example.com/{R:1}" />
    </rule>
   </rules>
  </rewrite>

[shaunm]

Thanks again @lucy 24 :-)

Thanks @incrediBILL

When you say it's your own server, is it a dedicated server or a virtual server. If it's virtual in the cloud, that could easily explain the multiple IPs.

I assume it's cloud and on Amazon AWS?

Thanks @Ocean10000
But the rule you put above is only to redirect non-www requests into www URLs right? I'm actually looking to redirect multiple IP requests into a single IP.