DNS Resolution Issue for External Website


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I have a weird issue and I am kinda stumped. I'll give you the full run down on the setup and what I have done.

 

We have a customer who hosted a website internally. The server is about to go end of support so they decided to go to a hosted solution instead of replace it. The new website is up and running and outside of their network when you browse to it, it comes up. Internally, the old site still comes up. We have left the old server running if you were curious.

 

So here is what I have done. I went to our domain controllers and checked to see if there was a WWW record for the website. There was and it was still pointing to the internal IP. I have verified the external IP and changed the WWW record to the new external IP address and checked that it has replicated to the other internal DNS server. When we ping the website by name, it does resolve to the correct IP address. When we open up a browser on a PC inside the network and try to go to the website, it still goes to the old website. When I input the IP address of the website in the browser, I get a page cannot be displayed error. I have run an ipconfig /flushdns command on the workstation and the new site still does not load

 

This is where I am stumped, I'm not sure how to troubleshoot from here. Externally, everything is fine, the new website comes up, it is only internally where they keep getting the old page. I doubt this will make a difference, but they are going to reset the cable modem and web filter they have and see if that changes anything.

 

Any input would be fantastic. Thank you!

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Ok, the site is probably cached locally.  Can you try either in a new browser, a new pc, or a new profile that has never been to that site.  You can clear your cache in your browser too as it may be easier/quicker to do.  Also if you have a webfilter or proxy that is caching you may want to try to bypass that if you can or clear the cache in that. 

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Ok, the site is probably cached locally.  Can you try either in a new browser, a new pc, or a new profile that has never been to that site.  You can clear your cache in your browser too as it may be easier/quicker to do.  Also if you have a webfilter or proxy that is caching you may want to try to bypass that if you can or clear the cache in that. 

 

Unfortunately I don't have access to a machine that hasn't gone to the site but I have cleared the cache on the PC using CCleaner on one of the servers. I had it clear everything, cookies, history etc.

 

I'll take a look at the web filter though, i'm not sure if there is a clear cache option, but I will definitely look in to that. Thanks for the options!

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You removed the www.* host A entry out of the DNS on the server but did you remove the wild card entry (same as parent folder); also clear the cache on the DNS Servers if you haven't done so already. 

 

What is NSLookup giving you for the authoritative answer back? 

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He says he is resolving the correct IP via ping

"When we ping the website by name, it does resolve to the correct IP address."

This points to the problem not being dns related, since he says he cleared the cache on the client --- UNLESS they are going through a proxy?? If so then the proxy has to be able to resolve the correct IP.

You say when you go to the http://ipaddress what happens?

"When I input the IP address of the website in the browser, I get a page cannot be displayed "

What is the IP - you say it is an outside site? Can you PM me the fqdn of the site and IP address you believe it is suppose to be. Not all sites work with IP - but normally you don't get a can not display error, you get some default site on that server. Or an error from the server.

Sounds like you have more of connectivity issue to the site than a name resolution problem.

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It looks like they are good now, one of these three things did it.

 

The web filter had the DNS settings pointing to the internal servers, not sure why we did that, but we set it up to external DNS servers.

They also reset the Modem and rebooted the Web Filter.

 

So one of those things did it. I'm thinking it was the web filter. Thanks for the help pointing me in the direction! I marked SC302's response as correct as it was probably the web filter setting. Thank you again!

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When you say webfilter - you mean a proxy?

Doesn't have to be, it could be a pass through webfilter, like a barracuda, blue coat, or one of the many others.  the barracuda web filter 410 has the ability to cache without being a proxy.

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When you say webfilter - you mean a proxy?

 

It's a Barracuda Web Filter.

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