Category: DNS

How to set up a new DNS zone for your WordPress site

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

We will show you two different ways to set up a new DNS zone for WordPress, depending on if your site was created and hosted through WordPress.com or you have a hosting with a cPanel. We will show you a step-by-step guide for the two options.

In this example, we assume you bought a domain from Cloudns.net, and you are having one of our DNS plans. If that is not the case, the steps will be similar, but not the same. 

Set up a DNS zone for sites hosted on WordPress.com

1. Go to https://wordpress.com/ and follow the process to create a web site. Register and log in. 

2. Then choose the type of website, from the options, you would like to have.

WordPress.com set up site

3. Depending on the purpose of it, type a corresponding keyword, or a name you like.

4. Go for the free domain. You will be using the other domain name that you have already bought from us. In this example, the domain we will use is ricki.sx 

WordPress.com choose domain name

5. Go to Cloudns.net and log in to your profile. Create a Master DNS Zone file. The Master Zone will let you write and read onto the DNS database. 

To create it you must click on DNS zones and then select Master Zone option. Put just the domain name that you bought (without www. Or http://). 

Now you have created the DNS zone for WordPress, and it is time to put DNS records.

Set up Master DNS zone

6. We will add a CNAME record that will redirect to where your site is hosted. The CNAME is a canonical record. It serves to show that one domain is an alias for another one. 

We will point the blog (blog.ricki.sx) to the domain (myburst.photo.blog) that was given from WordPress.com. 

Create a CNAME record

7. Then we will create a permanent redirect (301 redirect) that will map the ricki.sx to http://blog.ricki.sx and another for the www subdomain (www.ricki.sx) to the same. 

Create a 301 redirect
Create a 301 redirect for www. subdomain

8. The final action, we want to do, is to edit the redirects and add “Redirect with frame.” This will make your visitors see just the redirected domain and not the original. 

301 redirect with frame

Ready.

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Set up a DNS zone for WordPress site on hosting with cPanel.

1. Go to your hosting account and log in. Write down the IP address. You will need it in step 6.  

cPanel create DNS zone

2. Enter the cPanel and click on the Addon Domains. Addon Domains let you control more than 1 domain for your hosting.

3. Now create an Addon Domain with the new domain name rick.sx and subdomain www. 

Addon Domain cPanel

4. Go to your Cloudns.net and log in. 

5. Create a Master Zone, so later you can add DNS records. 

6. Create two A records. The first to direct from ricki.sx to the IP of the hosting (that one you wrote down back in step 1), and the second to direct from the www.ricki.sx to the same IP.  

Create A record

Ready!

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DNS Troubleshooting – tools and commands

PowerDNS

What is PowerDNS? Open-source BIND alternative

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

Have you ever heard about PowerDNS? It is a complete software platform that you can use instead of BIND. It provides excellent performance and doesn’t use a lot of resources.

PowerDNS

The history of PowerDNS

The company started in 1999 with the task to write load balancing software for V3 Redirection Services for “come.to”, “browse.to“, and “go.to”. Back then, it was still a close-source. After the Dot Com Bubble, the company needed to re-think their future and released the software as an open-source. It started to provide commercial services from 2005 and in 2015 became a part of Open-Xchange.

PowerDNS platform

PowerDNS or pdns is an open-source (GPL) software. It provides software to create authoritative DNS, Recursive DNS, DNS loading balancer, Debugging tools, and APIs to provision zones and records. A complete suite of DNS-related software that you can use for your company.

Authoritative Server

It enables the authoritative DNS service from all popular databases like MySql, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite3, Microsoft SQL Server, LDAP, and text files.

Authoritative Server works with many different scripts like Java, Python, C, C++, Perl, Lua. You can use it for dynamic redirection, spam filter, or real-time intervention.

Authoritative Server supports DNSSEC. It hosts 30% of all domain names in Europe and close to 90% of all DNSSEC domain in the same area.

Recursor (recursive DNS)

It provides a high-performance recursive DNS server. PowerDNS Recursor can use multiple processors. Just like the Authoritative Server, it supports various scripts. A good advantage is that it can be reconfigured without downtime.

Dnsdist (load balancer)

Dnsdist is a powerful load balancer. It can route the traffic to the optimal servers delivering excellent performance. It also can block abusive traffic and provide DoS protection.

Benefits of PowerDNS

  • Instant startup when hosting many domains
  • Use of multi-core (32+ cores) processors
  • Low memory requirement
  • DNSSEC
  • High performance
  • Support different scripts
  • Support different types of databases
  • IPv6 support

Conclusion

PowerDNS is a great alternative to BIND. It is full of features, and it can provide a quality and secure service.  

DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, now what to do?

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

Imagine the situation, you are browsing the internet, minding your own business and suddenly you see DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN in your Chrome browser! You didn’t enter the page you wanted, you hit refresh and still nothing! Now, what to do?

What is DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN?

It is a DNS-related error that shows that the domain that you are trying to reach does not exist (NX means non-existing). The DNS can’t find the corresponding IP address to the domain you just entered.
Most of the times this is a DNS configuration problem, and the problem is in your device, not in the domain itself.

Ok, we said Chrome, but does this happen when you are using other browsers?

We mention Google Chrome, where you get “This site can’t be reached,” but you can get a similar message in any other browser. Mozilla’s Firefox will show you “Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site”, Microsoft Edge “Hmmm… can’t reach this page”, and almost identical messages on the rest of the browsers.

Ok, so what to do when we see the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN?

There are several ways that you can fix your problem. Let’s explore the possibilities:

1.    Flush the DNS cache

If it is bad-configured DNS, the easiest is to start from zero. Flush the current DNS cache and renew the IP address.

For Windows users, follow these steps:
Open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Click the start menu icon and write “Command Prompt,” then run as administrator. Then type “ipconfig /release” and press Enter on your keyboard. Now you can see your current IP address. After that, write “ipconfig /flushdns” and press Enter. You flushed the cache, “Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.” Next thing to type in “ipconfig /renew”. And now your IP address has been renewed.

Flush DNS to fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

For Mac OS users:
Go to “System Preferences…”, then “Network” and later “Advanced.” When you are there, go to TCP/IP and click the “Renew DHCP.”
You can also delete the DNS cache. First, open the “Utilities” and then the “Terminal.” The command you need to write is “dscacheutil –flushcache” and press Enter. It is ready. There is no confirmation message here.

Mac OS fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

For Linux (Linux Mint, Ubuntu):
If you are using Linux Mint or Ubuntu, by default, the DNS cache is disabled. You can check if it is enabled with the following command “ps ax | grep dnsmasq”. In the message that you’ll get check if “cache-size=0”, then it is disabled. If it is enabled, write the following command “udo /etc/init.d/dns-clean restart”. Then type “sudo /etc/init.d/networking force-reload”. Done!

Linux Mint fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

2.    Reinitiate the DNS Client Server.

For Windows users, we will use the “Run” to open “services.msc.” Now you will see all the services that run on your computer. Go to DNS Client, stop it and start it again.

Restart DNS client to fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

3.    Change the DNS servers

Your internet provider automatically set your IP address, using their DNS servers. But you have the chance to change to another DNS server like Google’s public DNS.

Windows:
Go first to “Control Panel,” then “Network and Internet” and later “Network and Sharing Center.” There click the “Change adapter settings” and select the network that you are using. Go to properties, search for the “Internet Protocol Version 4” and click on the properties. Set the following DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

Mac OS:
“System Preferences,” Network,” and then “Advanced.” Click on DNS and add the same 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Mac OS DNS settings

Linux (Linux Mint, Ubuntu):
Open “System Settings,” “Network.” Then select the network that you are using and choose “Settings.” Go to the “IPv4 Settings,” and there you will see “Additional DNS servers.” add “8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4”.

Linux Mint DNS settings

4.    Chrome Flags Reset.

Maybe the problem comes from your Chrome browser. Go to your Chrome browser and type “chrome://settings/clearBrowserData” in the address bar. Delete the “Cached images and files,” “Cookie and other site and plugin data” and “Browsing history” from “the beginning of time.”
After that type “chrome://flags/” and a menu will open. Click on the “Reset all to default.” Now restart the browser, and you are ready.

Google Chrome flags reset to default

Conclusion

Next time when you see the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN don’t panic. There are easy solutions to this problem. Just try one of those, and you will be ready is a few minutes.
If the site that shows the error is yours, and after trying nothing is happening, go and check if the domain is correctly redirected. If no, do fix it.

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DNS history

DNS history. When and why was DNS created?

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

We have talked a lot about DNS. How does it work, and all the related topic around it. But we have never spent some time about the DNS history. What led to the need for DNS? Who was the great person who invented it?

DNS history

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DNSSEC. The security extension for DNS

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

Now we will talk about what is the Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC) and how it can protect you and your clients from DNS spoofing. If you have activated it, you can have additional verification of the DNS servers and evade “poisoned” servers who redirect your visitors to a different IP address.

DNSSEC

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Dynamic DNS

What is Dynamic DNS? How does it work and how to setup DDNS?

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

What is a Dynamic DNS?

Dynamic DNS is a service that automatically and periodically updates your DNS’s A (IPv4) or AAAA (IPv6) records when your IP address changes. These IP changes are made by your Internet provider.

How does DDNS work?

The DDNS monitors the IP address for changes. When the address changes (which it will if you have a dynamic IP address), the DDNS (or DynDNS) service updates your new IP address.

Why is it useful?

It can be very useful for people who want to host their website, access CCTV cameras, VPN, app or game server from their home computer. It is cheaper than to have a static public IP and by setting up Dynamic DNS, you will avoid the need to update all of your records whenever your IP changes manually. Also, static IP address is not always an option; it depends on your Internet provider.

Continue reading “What is Dynamic DNS? How does it work and how to setup DDNS?”

Monitoring your DNS, should you do it?

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

DNS provides, have excellent security measures to protect your DNS and deliver outstanding performance. The paid plans include DNS Failover & Monitoring, DNSSEC, many nameservers, and even more Anycast DNS locations. With so many safety measures should you be monitoring your DNS or should you just leave it without supervision?monitoring

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10 most used Nslookup commands

Boyan Peychev / / DNS

What is Nslookup?

First lets clarify what is Nslookup – it is a powerful network administration command-line tool, available for many of the popular computer operating systems for querying Domain Name System (DNS) to obtain domain names or IP addresses, mapping or for any other specific DNS Records.

Need more details what is nslookup? Check the nslookup page on wikipedia.

Here are the 10 most used Nslookup commands that will help you to understand better your domain’s management:

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DNS zone file and zone transfer

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

We have already covered the bases of DNS, so you know what it is and how does it work. This article will help you understand one of the concept inside the DNS – zone transfer. In order to explain it, let’s first see what a zone file is.

zone transfer

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DNS Failover, the backup that keeps your site online

Martin Pramatarov / / DNS

It is Monday, you just entered the office, and it is a total mess. Apparently, during the weekend your website was down. There are plenty of angry e-mails from customers, and your IT specialists are running crazy to fix the problem. You lost sales and potential new clients, and all of this just because you didn’t have a DNS Failover. DNS Failover can keep your website online even if some of the PoPs are down and it is not hard to set up. Would you like to know more about it?

DNS Failover

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