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DWI - Not all the time "Authoritative" helps

We already saw the common issues when custom domain is involved where we saw a tool called DWI - Dig Web Interface which will help us get DNS records of a particular domain. Today while coming across a forum thread , got to notice a strange thing ever. It's not the first time however. If you refer the article about corrupted DNS , the blog URL used had similar issue. It is normally recommended to use "Authoritative" under Name servers when digging a domain. However this doesn't always workout. Let us consider the following URL in issue. newsblok.com www.newsblok.com The actual authoritative Dig Log gives us the following results, newsblok.com@dns1.name-services.com.: /usr/bin/dig: couldn't get address for 'dns1.name-services.com.': failure newsblok.com@dns2.name-services.com.: /usr/bin/dig: couldn't get address for 'dns2.name-services.com.': failure newsblok.com@dns3.name-services.com.: /usr/bin/dig: couldn't get address

Gadget in mobile home page alone

We had a query in the forum on how to make a gadget appear only on mobile home page. So thought of sharing it. ( Note - This post is for Blogger's first generation classic themes and not applicable if you are on a new generation responsive templates) Also Read: How to make a gadget appear only in Home page or the page you wish? Sign in to blogger . First Backup your blogger template . Go to Layout. Add a HTML/Java Script gadget that you want to make appear only in homepage of your blog and title it as homeonly (for qucik reference) Go to Dashboard > Template > Edit HTML. Press Ctrl + F and find homeonly . You will see a code as follows. <b:section class='main' id='main' preferred='no'> <b:widget id='HTML1' locked='false' title='homeonly' type='HTML'> <b:includable id='main'> <!-- only display title if it's non-empty --> <b:if cond='data:title != &quot;&q

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, 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. 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,

DNS is corrupted. How do I know and What to do?

As far as custom domain troubleshooting is concerned, it's not always there'll be issues with, DNS Records Who Is Issues like  Domain expiration clientHold There is a case where the DNS could be corrupted. In that matter we need to know two important things. How do I know my DNS is corrupt? Where do I report about my corrupt  DNS? How do I know my DNS is corrupt? The diagnosis on a custom domain issue with DWI will tell you there could be an issue in DNS while WhoIs Lookup will confirm. I had to face one such thread whose diagnosis steps are shown below, The above is the dig log of the custom URL which gave me very weird results. I went ahead and checked for expiration/non registered URL/clientHold at Who Is Lookup , Registry Domain ID: 1619884945_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com Registrar URL: www.enom.com Updated Date: 2016-10-12T03:07:49.00Z Creation Date: 2010-10-11T18:39:00.00Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date:  2016-

Who Is Lookup

Again as a part of Custom Domain Troubleshooting , we do Who Is lookup which gives us a handful of information. 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, Registrar Information Registered date and expiry information and so on. How to do Who Is Lookup?

How to use DWI?

In  BHF, when it comes to custom domain, I or Chuck or any other expert mentioning a dig log URL mentioned most of the times as DWI. What on earth is DWI? DWI is expanded as DigWebInterface which is an online DNS Lookup tool.  How to use DWI?  1. Go to https://digwebinterface.com/ In the H ostnames or IP addresses text box, enter your full custom domain URL and naked domain URL as shown below and choose "Authoritative" under Nameservers list. (However not in all the cases, "Authoritative" works ) After doing this, click on Dig. When the dig is complete, you should expect the following, (i.e) 4 A records and 1 CName record. @        1799    IN    A    216.239.36.21 @        1799    IN    A    216.239.32.21 @        1799    IN    A    216.239.34.21 @        1799    IN    A    216.239.38.21  www    1800    IN    CNAME    ghs.google.com. When you see an extra A record or a different CName record than this, or a different A record than t