Subject: [Fenics] web server problem

From: Douglas Arnold <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:26:39 -0600

It seems that www.fenics.org is not working.  For at least several hours, I
cannot get to it (although I can reach it at http://communalis.simula.no/www.fenicsproject.org).

I am planning to present FEniCS to a class in 11 hours, so I hope it will be back!

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 13:13:14 +0100

> cannot get to it (although I can reach it at http://communalis.simula.no/www.fenicsproject.org).

The reason for this is that I have moved the domain name to a new
registrar because of billing problems with the old one, and yesterday
the new registrar activated DNS for fenicsproject.org. I've been in
contact with them and they claim everything is configured correctly
and it seems to be as far as I can tell.

What I think is the problem right now is that the old registrar is
still sending out DNS information which is confusing the DNS system.
I've asked them to stop.

I've used nslookup to try to diagnose the problem and here's the
current results using different combinations of DNS servers and addresses:

Old DNS (bahnhof):

                        ns1.bahnhof.net   ns2.bahnhof.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
fenicsproject.org       REFUSED           WORKS
www.fenicsproject.org   REFUSED           WORKS
fenicsproject.com       REFUSED           NO ANSWER
www.fenicsproject.com   REFUSED           NO ANSWER

New DNS (nameisp):

                        ns1.nameisp.info  ns2.nameisp.info
--------------------------------------------------------------------
fenicsproject.org       NO ANSWER         NO ANSWER
www.fenicsproject.org   WORKS             WORKS
fenicsproject.com       NO ANSWER         NO ANSWER
www.fenicsproject.com   WORKS             WORKS

Anyone knows this stuff, please help me out diagnosing the problems or
confirm the above, using nslookup or some other tool. Here's a short
list of instructions:

$ nslookup
> server ns1.nameisp.info
> www.fenicsproject.org

etc.

> I am planning to present FEniCS to a class in 11 hours, so I hope it

I'm very sorry for the bad timing...

In the meantime, just use the IP address:

    http://128.39.36.31

Then click 'www.fenicsproject.org'.

--
Anders

---

From: Andy Ray Terrel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 07:57:43 -0600

So usually when changing your DNS records you need to lower the time
out to something small like 2 hours.  Usually its set for a week or
month. My guess is you have a bad DNS record and can flush your dns
cache (worked for me at least).

https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/272

-- Andy

On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 6:13 AM, Anders Logg <[email-masked]> wrote:
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~fenics
> Post to     : [email-masked]
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~fenics
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 17:26:06 +0100

You mean this is a local issue?

I still don't see why the service should be disrupted. The new DNS was
started by the new provider and I didn't tell the old to stop. Both
point to the same server.

Anyway, it's working for me now (in Sweden), both fenicsproject.org
and fenicsproject.com (which is one of a range of new addresses that I
have registered just in case).

Can people from various locations report whether things are working?

Something that's still not working is fenicsproject.org (without the
www) but I think that's something we (i.e. Harish) need to configure
locally.

--
Anders

---

From: Andy Ray Terrel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 11:18:00 -0600

DNS records are cached so you don't always have to wait for the DNS
server.  This caching can happen at the ISP level and higher as well.
By flushing your DNS cache you are removing the record you received.
Usually when one knows that an ip address is going to change, you set
a lower time out and wait the appropriate amount of time, which was
determined by your old timeout, before changing it.  But the issue
could be local or, if enough people are requesting your page, based on
the ISP or borders of autonomous systems.

Its just the infrastructure of the www, I'm guessing your old provider
didn't care about the minutia of managing a seamless transition since
they were losing you.  I would expect that this problem will resolve
itself within the day or at worst the week.

-- Andy

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 18:43:38 +0100

> itself within the day or at worst the week.

Yes, I don't trust my old provider to do anything sensible. That's why
we moved...

Let's just wait a few days. Once it looks stable, we can make
fenicsproject.org work again (without the www).

Currently, this site reports that it works:

  http://www.checksite.us/?url=www.fenicsproject.org

but not this:

  http://downorisitjustme.com/res.php?url=www.fenicsproject.org

--
Anders

---

From: Douglas Arnold <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:59:26 -0600

Bother www.fenicsproject.org and just fenicsproject.org are working for me
now.  (BTW, sorry for the typo in my first note about this where
I accidentally mentioned www.fenics.org.  I of course was referring
to www.fenicsproject.org.)

On 11/09/2011 10:26 AM, Anders Logg wrote:
>> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 6:13 AM, Anders Logg<[email-masked]>  wrote:

---

From: Douglas Arnold <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:01:13 -0600

That was supposed to be
"Both www.fenicsproject.org and just fenicsproject.org are working for me"
not "Bother www.fenicsproject.org ..."  Sorry!

---

From: Harish Narayanan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:06:45 +0100

> Can people from various locations report whether things are working?

Norway: www.fenicsproject.foo working; fenicsproject.foo not working.
U.S.A.: www.fenicsproject.foo working; fenicsproject.foo not working.

> www) but I think that's something we (i.e. Harish) need to configure

What I will configure locally is to get (www.)fenicsproject.foo/bar to 
redirect to fenicsproject.org/bar . But the actual act of getting 
fenicsproject.foo to point to the server is still not working. That may 
or may not sort itself out on its own in time.

Harish

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 20:19:57 +0100

ok! Good to hear.

--
Anders

---

From: Andre Massing <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:23:21 -0600

On 11/09/2011 01:06 PM, Harish Narayanan wrote:
>> I still don't see why the service should be disrupted. The new
>> DNS was started by the new provider and I didn't tell the old to
>> stop. Both point to the same server.
>> 
>> Anyway, it's working for me now (in Sweden), both
>> fenicsproject.org and fenicsproject.com (which is one of a range
>> of new addresses that I have registered just in case).
>> 

Now it works again for me (Madison)
Andre

> 
> Norway: www.fenicsproject.foo working; fenicsproject.foo not
> working. U.S.A.: www.fenicsproject.foo working; fenicsproject.foo
> not working.
> 
>> Something that's still not working is fenicsproject.org (without
>> the www) but I think that's something we (i.e. Harish) need to
>> configure locally.
> 
> What I will configure locally is to get (www.)fenicsproject.foo/bar
> to redirect to fenicsproject.org/bar . But the actual act of
> getting fenicsproject.foo to point to the server is still not
> working. That may or may not sort itself out on its own in time.
> 
> Harish
> 
> _______________________________________________ Mailing list:
> https://launchpad.net/~fenics Post to     :
> [email-masked] Unsubscribe :
> https://launchpad.net/~fenics More help   :
> https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp

---

From: Joe Morris <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 20:28:47 -0500

In Boston:

These work:
www.fenicsproject.org
www.fenicsproject.com

These do not work:
fenicsproject.org
fenicsproject.com

On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Andre Massing <[email-masked]> wrote:

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From: Joachim Berdal Haga <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:36:42 +0100

ns1.nameisp.com only returns A records for www.fenics*, not fenics*, and no
CNAMEs either. This looks like a configuration issue, not a cache issue
(since you're querying the authorative server, not a cacheing server), and
likely won't go away by itself.

Command line for checking:
  for n in {www.,}fenicsproject.{com,org}; do printf $n\\t; dig $n @
ns1.nameisp.com | grep --color ANSWER:..; done

-j.

On 9 November 2011 13:13, Anders Logg <[email-masked]> wrote:

> > cannot get to it (although I can reach it at
> http://communalis.simula.no/www.fenicsproject.org).
>

---

From: Harish Narayanan <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:23:53 +0100

On 11/10/11 9:36 AM, Joachim Berdal Haga wrote:
> ns1.nameisp.com <http://ns1.nameisp.com> only returns A records for
> www.fenics*, not fenics*, and no CNAMEs either. This looks like a
> configuration issue, not a cache issue (since you're querying the
> authorative server, not a cacheing server), and likely won't go away by
> itself.
>
>    for n in {www.,}fenicsproject.{com,org}; do printf $n\\t; dig $n
> @ns1.nameisp.com <http://ns1.nameisp.com> | grep --color ANSWER:..; done

Do you know how the settings (CNAME, A record etc.) need to look for 
both www.foo and foo to both point to the same server?

Harish

---

From: Joachim Berdal Haga <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:34:32 +0100

>
> Do you know how the settings (CNAME, A record etc.) need to look for both
> www.foo and foo to both point to the same server?

I don't know what's recommended. But A (and AAAA for ipv6) is an ip
address, so if both have the same A record then it's fine. CNAME is an
alias, so if foo has CNAME=www.foo then it's fine too.

-j.

---

From: Harish Narayanan <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:35:48 +0100

> alias, so if foo has CNAME=www.foo then it's fine too.

And if Anders understood what you said, he should re-check the settings. :)

Harish

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:50:55 +0100

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 09:36:42AM +0100, Joachim Berdal Haga wrote:
> CNAMEs either. This looks like a configuration issue, not a cache issue (since
> you're querying the authorative server, not a cacheing server), and likely
> won't go away by itself.
>
> @ns1.nameisp.com | grep --color ANSWER:..; done

Thanks! Why grepping for "ANSWER:.." instead of "ANSWER:"?

I'll check the DNS settings.

--
Anders

>      > cannot get to it (although I can reach it at http://
>      communalis.simula.no/www.fenicsproject.org).
>
>      > I am planning to present FEniCS to a class in 11 hours, so I hope
>      it
>      > will be back!
>

---

From: Joachim Berdal Haga <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:54:10 +0100

> Thanks! Why grepping for "ANSWER:.." instead of "ANSWER:"?

To extend the lovely coloring to the actual answer ;-)

-j.

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:59:36 +0100

> And if Anders understood what you said, he should re-check the settings. :)

It seems to work now! I tried setting a CNAME alias but that didn't
work (wasn't allowed for some reason) but it worked setting two
A-records (with and without www) and pointing them to the same IP
address.

--
Anders

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:28 +0100

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 12:54:10PM +0100, Joachim Berdal Haga wrote:
>      > Â Â for n in {www.,}fenicsproject.{com,org}; do printf $n\\t; dig
>      $n
>      Thanks! Why grepping for &quot;ANSWER:..&quot; instead of
>      &quot;ANSWER:&quot;?
>

Aha! Clever. :-)

--
Anders

---

From: Andy Ray Terrel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:53:21 -0600

Looks like all the domains are working for me on a variety of machines.

-- Andy

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 6:00 AM, Anders Logg <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>      > Â Â for n in {www.,}fenicsproject.{com,org}; do printf $n\\t; dig
>>      $n
>>      > @ns1.nameisp.com | grep --color ANSWER:..; done
>>

---

From: Anders Logg <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:58:05 +0100

Good to know. Looks like everything is in place now.

--
Anders