Diagnosing Problems With Custom Domains - Case Study #2

The DNS setup shown in my first custom domain case study, "martinezumc.org", isn't typical for all custom domains. That domain, as I showed in my previous post in this series, Diagnosing Problems With Custom Domains - Case Study #1, was symmetrical - both "martinezumc.org" and "www.martinezumc.org" were defined with "CNAME" referrals, and I could have published the blog to either of the two URLs.

When you setup a custom domain while using the "Buy A Domain For Your Blog" wizard, this isn't going to be the case. In this case, the "www" alias will be defined with a "CNAME", but the primary domain won't be.

Let's take a look at "nitecruzr.net".

There are 4 URLs to study here.

1. The primary domain "nitecruzr.net".
2. The "www" alias for the domain "www.nitecruzr.net".
3. The primary BlogSpot URL "nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com".
4. The "www" alias for the BlogSpot URL "www.nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com".

First, let's dig the DNS records for the primary domain "nitecruzr.net".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;nitecruzr.net.   IN A
 
;; ANSWER SECTION:
nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 64.233.179.121
nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 66.249.81.121
nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 72.14.207.121

Next, the "www" alias "www.nitecruzr.net".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.nitecruzr.net.  IN A
 
;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.nitecruzr.net. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
ghs.google.com.  586847 IN CNAME ghs.l.google.com.
ghs.l.google.com. 203 IN A 72.14.207.121

This is different from my previous case study.

nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 64.233.179.121
nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 66.249.81.121
nitecruzr.net.  3600 IN A 72.14.207.121
www.nitecruzr.net. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

Here, only the "www" alias is using a "CNAME", and the wizard automatically publishes the blog to that. In my case, to "www.nitecruzr.net".

Now, let's look at browser connect logs. First, this is what we get for the "www" alias in the domain "nitecruzr.net".

3/29/2008 08:50:42  Trying http://www.nitecruzr.net
Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Next, the primary domain "nitecruzr.net".

3/29/2008 08:50:17  Trying http://nitecruzr.net
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

As in the previous study, we see

HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net

This appears to be automatic, and it makes sense. When you setup a brand new domain, you'll likely want the primary domain = the "www" alias. The "302 Moved Temporarily" is a bit dodgy though.

Now, let's look at the BlogSpot URLs.

3/29/2008 08:56:48  Trying http://nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

and

3/29/2008 08:56:38  Trying http://www.nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.nitecruzr.net/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Both "nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com" and "www.nitecruzr-dot-net.blogspot.com" redirect to "www.nitecruzr.net", again as in the previous study. This is a asymmetrical, but complete setup - that is, you can see your blog from any of the 4 aliases enumerated above. In earlier setups using the "Buy a Domain ..." wizard, the above results weren't consistently seen.

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Diagnosing Problems With Custom Domains - Case Study #1

Google Custom Domains, that give us the possibility of having a blog with a non-Blog*Spot address, are a major improvement over plain old Blog*Spot to many bloggers. Occasionally though, problems arise, and diagnosing the symptoms, to allow us to focus on the problems, will require some technical ability, and the right tools. And, note the possible effects of cache and DNS latency, any time that you diagnose or examine a custom domain problem.

Here's a baseline study, which will show what you should see as the best possible case. My first custom domain, "martinezumc.org", I was able to setup with 2 "CNAME" referrals. I call this "symmetrically configured".

There are 4 URLs to study here.

• The primary domain "martinezumc.org".
• The "www" alias for the domain "www.martinezumc.org".
• The primary BlogSpot URL "martinezumc.blogspot.com".
• The "www" alias for the BlogSpot URL "www.martinezumc.blogspot.com".

First, let's dig the DNS records for the primary domain "martinezumc.org".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;martinezumc.org. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
martinezumc.org. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
ghs.google.com. 61848 IN CNAME ghs.l.google.com.
ghs.l.google.com. 300 IN A 72.14.207.121

Next, the "www" alias "www.martinezumc.org".

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.martinezumc.org. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.martinezumc.org. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
ghs.google.com. 61733 IN CNAME ghs.l.google.com.
ghs.l.google.com. 185 IN A 72.14.207.121

This shows us two "CNAME" referrals in operation, ie "symmetrically configured".

martinezumc.org. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
www.martinezumc.org. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

Now, let's look at browser connect logs. First, this is what we get for the primary domain "martinezumc.org".

3/28/2008 07:42:11 Trying http://martinezumc.org
Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Next, the "www" alias "www.martinezumc.org".

3/28/2008 07:35:25 Trying http://www.martinezumc.org
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://martinezumc.org
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

The key item here is

HTTP/1.0 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://martinezumc.org

When I setup the domain, the blog "martinezumc.blogspot.com" was published to "martinezumc.org", and I selected "Redirect www.martinezumc.org to martinezumc.org.".

Now, let's look at the BlogSpot URLs.

3/28/2008 07:52:38 Trying http://martinezumc.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://martinezumc.org/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

and

3/28/2008 07:53:33 Trying http://www.martinezumc.blogspot.com
Redirect!
Header:
HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://martinezumc.org/
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Both "martinezumc.blogspot.com" and "www.martinezumc.blogspot.com" redirect to "martinezumc.org". Blogger only recently corrected two design deficiencies in the Custom Domains product

• Allowed "www.martinezumc.blogspot.com" to redirect to "martinezumc.org".
• Allowed me to make the selection "Redirect www.martinezumc.org to martinezumc.org."

When these corrections were made, the Custom Domain product became usable for people with serious domain publishing requirements. This lets all 4 possible URLs (enumerated above) work predictably.

The domain "martinezumc.org" isn't typical of all Custom Domain setups, unfortunately. Next, I'll show an asymmetrically configured domain, my recently setup "nitecruzr.net".

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