The Internet is diverse and large - and the Internet directory system, aka the DNS Infrastructure, supports the diversity and size.
When we setup a new domain, the registrar frequently advises us to wait patiently, before continuing.Congrats on your new domain! Now, we suggest that you wait 24 - 48 hours for the new domain to propagate, before trying to publish to the domain.
When we update a domain - and add or delete a single DNS address - we won't always get advice about waiting, from the registrar.
Responsible helpers will occasionally provide advice to be patient, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
After you correct the addresses, please wait 8 hours (2 x "14400" seconds) before continuing. This will let all DNS servers on the Internet receive the corrected addresses.
This advice is generally given, for domains that use a 4 hour ("14400" second) or greater Time To Live or TTL.
Many registrars use a 1 ("3600") or 2 ("7200") hour TTL, for individual domain DNS addresses. Domains with 2 hour or less TTL generally do not require latency advice, because most forum topics take more than 2 - 4 hours to complete.
Adding a domain - and updating a domain - involve different latency.
The difference between "new domain" and "domain update" advice - and irregular presence of either - causes confusion.
Some advice about domain updates involves unnecessary waiting. In other cases, new domain owners jump right in, and try using their new domains, immediately - and regret later.
Moving too quickly, with Blogger custom domain publishing, can lead to Google database corruption. Fear of the apocryphal "Another blog ..." error - and similar Blogger access disruptions - leads many technical helpers to routinely advise unnecessary waiting periods.
People who make changes, and see their changes work immediately, cause similar confusion. Somebody who is advised to wait 2 to 4 hours, before publishing the blog to the domain - and who observe that the domain, perversely, is immediately operational - may misunderstand.
Remember that everybody who wants to read a blog won't have the same DNS service. Differences between one reader (or search engine), and another, will cause various confusions.
Waiting too long wastes time - but not waiting long enough can cause worse problems. For best results, there will be unnecessary waiting, sometimes.
Just be aware of the different latency periods - and try to provide relevant advice.
- Domain addition latency can be 24 to 48 hours ("86400" to "172800" seconds).
- Domain update latency can be 10 minutes, to 48 hours ("600" to "172800" seconds).
Domain addition latency can be 24 to 48 hours ("86400" to "172800" seconds).
Domain addition latency results from the different name servers - and server owners and update policies - all over the Internet. Any given name server updates their local domain master database periodically, by retrieving the zone file from the various master name servers.
If the domain master database on a given server is updated daily - and if your domain was setup 1 minute after the daily update, your domain will not be added to that server until the next daily update.
Now consider that there are thousands of name servers, owned by hundreds of registrars, ISPs, and other Internet services. All local name servers are updated on a schedule considered appropriate, by the owner of each service.
For best results, your domain needs to be indexed on any name server that might be used by any one of your readers - or any one of the search engines that provide necessary search results, for any one of your would be readers. Do you see the possibilities for confusion, for any new domain?
This justifies waiting "24 to 48 hours", so your new domain will be visible to everybody, at the same time. This strategy hopefully will prevent possible Google database corruption.
Domain update latency can be 10 minutes, to 48 hours ("600" to "172800" seconds).
Update of individual DNS addresses will generally be more prompt - and can be researched, using a Dig log or similar display. The TTL latency for any given DNS address - unlike the domain master updates - can be easily adjusted, and determined.
As an example, here is the DNS address which controls visibility of this blog, as shown in a Dig log.
See the "3600" for "blogging.nitecruzr.net"?
See the "3600" for "blogging.nitecruzr.net"? That tells us that "blogging.nitecruzr.net" updates on a 1 hour (3600 second) basis.
All things being equal, and every name server on the Internet properly updating, if I was to correct addressing for "blogging.nitecruzr.net", every name server would be issuing the updated Blogger addresses within 3600 seconds - and the average latency would be 1/2 hour. To increase reliability when advising address correction, I would adviseAfter you correct the addresses, please wait 2 hours (2 x "3600" seconds) before continuing. This will let all DNS servers on the Internet receive the corrected addresses.
Since most Blogger forum discussions about DNS addressing take place over hours or days, a 1 hour latency is generally inconsequential. Keeping it simple, I don't bother with a 1 to 2 hour latency, when providing address correction / update advice.
A 4 hour or greater latency, on the other hand, I generally mention in my advice.
After you correct the addresses, please wait 8 hours (2 x "14400" seconds) before continuing. This will let all DNS servers on the Internet receive the corrected addresses.
When adding a DNS address, as part of address correction, latency will be close to 0 seconds. If you need to retrieve an address for a new host, just defined by the blog owner, you'll either get it immediately from cache on the local name server, or from the local server requesting an immediate update from the domain master server.
Deletions and updates, which reference out of date / redundant addresses, are subject to address latency.
Understand the different latency numbers.
Additions are only relevant for NEW domains - and they lead to the "24 to 48 hour" advice, as the latency involves the Internet infrastructure in general. Address corrections are relevant for UPDATED domains, such as DNS address corrections - and latency is involved on an individual address basis.
By being more selective when we advise waiting "24 to 48 hours", we can provide more consistent and vigourous testing advice - and encourage more effective domain additions and updates. And this will be better for custom domain publishing, in general.
Need More Detail?
For more discussion, you can read:
And, try these DNS Propagation Checkers, for experimentation.
Not every Blogger blog owner understands the cause, and the effects, of DNS latency - or the detail that there are multiple latency figures, which affect custom domain publishing in various ways.
To better plan a custom domain update, it is good to understand the different causes of latency.
Custom domain setups continue to confuse blog owners - and lead sometimes to frustration, expressed in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
When I am trying to set up a custom domain for my new blog, I'm not getting the 2nd CNAME Record, but the settings get saved.
In some cases, the domain may be operational - and other times, the domain will be broken, and no corrective instruction is provided.
The details in the instructions, Blogger Help: How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?, are misleading - and have resulted in broken domains.
The Blogger instructions are confusing.
5. Go to your domain registrar's website and locate the DNS (Domain Name System) settings in the control panel.
Not a lot of details, there.
10. Before you move onto the final step, wait about an hour for your DNS settings to activate. If you attempt the final step before your settings are activated, we'll let you know with a warning message.
All registrars don't use "3600" second TTL.
That's 2 examples of possible problems.
Publishing a blog to a custom domain is so much easier - and produces more reliable results - if you follow basic principles.
- Learn to use your registrar's zone editor.
- Learn to read a Dig log.
- Setup the DNS addresses, for your domain.
- If necessary, add domain ownership verification.
Learn to use your registrar's zone editor.
The registrar dashboard / zone editor is the portion of the registrar's website, that is created to let you, the domain owner, setup your own domain.
The zone editor is unique, for every different registrar - just as every website is different. One of the signs of uniqueness is hinted, by Blogger.
Each CNAME is composed of two parts - Name, Label or Host and Destination, Target or Points to.
These two (only two) terms here refer to the most essential details, in the zone editor, that make your domain operational. The two details have no consistent names - so we use examples.
The first CNAME is the same for everyone, Name being "www" and Destination "ghs.google.com."
That one sentence is the most essential, for all domains. It looks so simple - but it's so easy to get it wrong. Not every blog owner will see "Name" and "Destination" in the zone editor display. This leads to many imaginative - and wrong - alternatives.
Each registrar labels their zone editor, as they see fit. I've seen other terms used, in addition to the 6 implied. Both "Name, Label or Host" and "Destination, Target or Points to" are merely three examples, for each of these two essential elements.
These details are only hinted, by the Blogger instructions.
- Go to your domain registrar's website and locate the DNS (Domain Name System) settings in the control panel.
- Now it's time to enter the CNAMEs. Where it says Name, Label or Host simply enter "www" and list ghs.google.com as the Destination, Target or Points to.
Learning how to look, in the zone editor, is much more reliable than being told what to look for.
Learn to read a Dig log.
Compared to the confusion behind the registrar's zone editor, a Dig log is simplicity.
There are three basic DNS configurations, which produce a reliable domain for publishing a Blogger blog. 99.99% of all blog owners will use only one of the three.
ourdomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.32.21
ourdomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.34.21
ourdomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.36.21
ourdomain.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.ourdomain.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
This is the asymmetrical DNS address configuration. Excepting one known variation, the asymmetrical configuration - with no options - is most reliable.
Setup the DNS addresses, for your domain.
As long as you have access to the zone editor, and understand the above issues - "Learn to use your registrar's zone editor" and "Learn to read a Dig log" - the rest will fall into place.
Unfortunately, not everybody has zone editor access. Similar to Blogger dashboard access, registrar dashboard access is not always a done deal.
Even having zone editor access, the Blogger instructions can mislead.
- Optional: You can also enter A-records, which links your naked domain (example.com) to an actual site (www.example.com). If you skip this step, visitors who leave off the "www" will see an error page.
- Optional continued: After completing Step 8, enter your domain name in the format example.com, and list the I.P. addresses shown below in the "A" section. You'll need to create four separate A-records which point to four different Google IPs.
Many problems, reported in the forums, indicate that using the domain root properly is (should be indicated as) a necessity.
Once again, the domain root, configured properly, should not be suggested as an option.
- Before you move onto the final step, wait about an hour for your DNS settings to activate. If you attempt the final step before your settings are activated, we'll let you know with a warning message.
All registrars don't use one hour TTL.
Be careful of the TTL setting. Unless you know better, stick with the registrar's TTL setting - and try to understand the effects of TTL latency.
If necessary, add domain ownership verification.
Returning to the Blogger instructions, we see
The second CNAME is particular to your blog and your Google Account, and is therefore different for each person.
Not every blog owner will see the second CNAME - whether or not the domain is properly setup.
The Blogger dashboard Publishing wizard only displays the "Error 12", and the second CNAME, under specific conditions. In some cases, the blog will be published to the domain - and the second CNAME will not be provided.
You may not see the instructions for the second "CNAME", until your base addresses are right. If you need the second "CNAME", the "Error 12" display will provide details - when the base addresses redirect properly. If the blog publishes, a second "CNAME" is not necessary.
That is my suggestion. Get the addresses right, before you start - then publish to the domain URL.
If the blog publishes to the domain, and the addresses are wrong, the domain will be broken - or unreliable.
The bottom line.
It's good to have instructions, they suggest the need for proper domain setup technique. Just don't be surprised if following them blindly gives you a broken domain - and an offline blog.
If you are lucky, the blog will appear offline immediately after using the Publishing wizard - and you will know that there is a problem to be fixed. Other times, you (or some readers) might not realise a problem until months or years later.
In the latter case, we'll see you, one day, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
I published my blog to my private domain, last month - and the blog pageviews have been in the crapper, ever since!
The instructions supplied by #Blogger, for setting up a custom domain published blog, can be misleading. Blindly observed, they can lead to an immediately offline blog - or to a blog that is online for some, and intermittently offline for others.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/Jv0fT5cws3U
After too many years of Blogger blog owners struggling with setting up their custom domains, Google is now selling domains - though right now, in a select number of countries.
Having ended "Buy a domain", and its problems - and now dealing with blog owners setting up domains purchased through numerous registrars, and those problems - Blogger / Google has cleaned up the domain purchase and setup process.
This year, we see Google Domains - where Google actually registers domains, and can control the DNS hosting. And, they have developed a clean and lean dashboard / zone editor, for maintaining their domains.
I setup a Google Domain, several months ago.
Adding DNS addresses to a recently purchased Google Domain is quite simple. Start by logging in to Google Domains.
Once you login, you have the Google Domains dashboard Home page. Find your domain, in the list - and select the "DNS" icon,for your domain.
That gives you the "DNS" dashboard, for your domain. This is also known as the "Zone Editor", in some instructions. Scroll to the bottom of the "DNS" dashboard, and "Custom resource records".
There are the 4 x "A" + "CNAME" entries. You will have a different domain - but your address entries will be otherwise similar to what you see (with either "ghs.google.com.", or "ghs.googlehosted.com.").
Add the first address entry. Paste "216.239.32.21" into the box labeled "IPv4 address", and hit "Add".
Add 3 more addresses - "216.239.34.21", "216.239.36.21", "216.239.38.21" - in the same way. Then, change "@" to "www", select "CNAME" in place of "A" in the pull down menu, enter either "ghs.google.com.", or "ghs.googlehosted.com." into the address box, and hit "Add" for a 5th time.
Checkout the zone editor, for your domain. It should be similar to what you see, above. This is the well known "asymmetrical" DNS configuration, provided by "Buy a domain", not so long ago.
I don't think manual DNS address setup could be much simpler.
With the new domain properly addressed, wait 24 to 48 hours hours for the domain to propagate, then go to the Settings - Basic page of the Blogger dashboard.
Select "Setup a Google Domains URL for your blog", and follow instructions.
Use the "Setup a Google Domains URL for your blog" link in the Publishing wizard, in Settings - Basic to connect the blog to the domain.
Then get to work, publishing more content in your newly addressed blog.
