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Common issues where custom domain is involved.

In BHF, one of the common issues we face is setting up custom domain. We already have a lot of information on how to setup a custom domain. So I am going to go ahead and write on the troubleshooting tips for custom domain.

This article is dedicated to Chuck Croll who has been/is a great mentor to me since the beginning.

So let's start with the first and foremost golden rule of Custom domain troubleshooting.
Any issue where you have custom domains involved, first check if the custom domain is setup properly.
Some common issues where custom domain  are involved and you'll not know DNS was causing the trouble are,
  1. You'll be able to see the custom domain while some of your friends/users will not be able to. In this case, you shall use DWI to see if the DNS addresses are righteous.
  2. Cannot get thumbnail on Facebook. What can I do?
    • So what? Use Facebook OG Object Debugger is what most people think.
    • There comes the case, Inspite of using Facebook OG Object Debugger, I am not able to get thumbnail. So What now? Simple. Use DWI. It could be incorrect DNS Setup.
  3.  And the list goes on.
What on earth is DWI?
DWI is expanded as DigWebInterface which is an online DNS Lookup tool which can be found at http://www.digwebinterface.com

The detailed article on how to use DWI and what is the required custom domain setup for blogger is written here -> http://howtoblog.krishnainfotron.com/2017/01/how-to-use-dwi.html

I could not find anything in the DWI. What now?

The moment you realise DWI gives you back SOA records or you cannot see any CName/A records, the next thing to do is a Who Is lookup.

What is Who Is Lookup?
Who Is lookup gives exactly what the name means. "Who Is". In addition to Who Is, this will give few useful information like,
  1. Registrar Information
  2. Registered date and expiry information
and so on.
A detailed writeup of Who Is lookup and troubleshooting can be read through here -> http://howtoblog.krishnainfotron.com/2017/01/who-is-lookup.html

I did not get a proper DNS response and no issues with Who Is. What do I do now?
In this case the next thing could be a Corrupt DNS. If the DNS is corrupted, none of the above troubleshooting could help.

In that matter we need to know two important things.
  1. How do I know my DNS is corrupt?
  2. Where do I report about my corrupt  DNS?
A detailed writeup on troubleshooting corrupt DNS could be found here -> http://howtoblog.krishnainfotron.com/2017/01/dns-is-corrupted-how-do-i-know-and-what.html

I cannot find a DNS Zone to edit. What can I do? 
When you cannot find a DNS zone to edit, there could be two reasons,
  1. You do not know where it is.
  2. There really isn't one.
When it is Case 1, you have to figure out where your DNS Zone editor is available or the best thing is to contact your registrar.

When it is Case 2, it could be that you're using Google domains to which the integration is different. Please read the support article of Google domains -> Integrate Google domains with Blogger.

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