Recent Problems With Forum Address.

[Hidiot]

Lately, trying to connect to the forums with forum.outpost2.net etc. seems to fail a lot. (I get a could not find server error).

Now, The same thing is happening to forum.outpostuniverse.net. (same error)
I can only access the forum via forum.outpostuniverse.net.

Anything to get me out of the dark hole of not knowing what's happening would help.

[Arklon]

I'm not getting this problem. You could try going into command prompt and typing "ipconfig /flushdns" (I think that's right).

[Hooman]

I've never encountered this before. If you could find anything out about it, I'd be very interested.

I suppose try ping, and check what IP, if any is resolved. If not, there are some DNS tools to figure out what is happening, although, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with their use, or even what their names are. I have used them though, and I'm pretty sure they exist for both Linux and Windows, or possibly close equivalents.
 

[Hidiot]

So, now it seems that anything on the site won't work until I use the outpostuniverse.net domain. Wiki, main page,forum, everything.

DNS won't resolve for outpost2.net or outpostuniverse.net.

[Hooman]

You can try nslookup from a command prompt. On Windows XP hit <Windows>+R to open the Run dialog box, and type in cmd. From there, type in nslookup.

From within nslookup, you can type the address you want to lookup, such as outpost2.net, or www.outpost2.net. You can also specify a name server if you don't want to use the default. In fact, you can go directly to the outpost2.net IP and ask the name server there where the site is.  
outpost2.net
outpost2.net 67.225.133.207


Let me know what you find and we'll go from there.
 

[Mez]

Sounds like you need to change your dns servers.

Personally my new ISP's dns servers suck so I use opendns instead.

try configuring your dns servers to be:
https://www.opendns.com/start/

This is a link to the opendns website with lots of pictures on how to change the dns servers you use, depending on your setup

[Hidiot]

Well, with a similar problem (if not the same) manifesting again, I went with Hooman's idea and used nslookup.

It returns a DNS request timeout on outpost2.net and Non-authoritive answer on outpostuniverse.net

[Mez]

No problems with my dns servers
Non-authoritative answer for both.

Which DNS servers do you use?

If its your ISP's. Which ISP is it?

What are their DNS server IP addresses that you use.

They will be displayed somewhere in your routers status info.

EDIT: Mistype

[Hooman]

I don't think you need to worry about the non-authoritative answer part. I think that just means it sent back a cached value rather than continuing to search for the server that actually knows for sure. It saves on network traffic, but also means DNS changes can take a while to propagate throughout the net.


The request timeout would suggest you've got a DNS server configured that was not reachable. Perhaps it's a temporary problem where the server went down. Normally, there are two DNS servers setup, and occasionally 3. If you don't have a secondary, or if one of the servers you have setup is bad, perhaps you should update your network setup:
My Network Places -> Properties
  Local Area Connection -> Properties  (Assuming you're connected through a LAN)
    Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Properties
      Set Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server (these values will depend on your ISP, so ask them, or use DHCP on your gateway device and it should fetch these values for you).


If want you more DNS info, you can use nslookup interactively:
nslookup
> set d2   (show full debugging info)
> outpost2.net
... (lots of info)

I'm not too sure what you'd do with that info, but it might be interesting to take a quick peak. Like what server replied, and how long it's answer is supposed to be good for.

 

[Hidiot]

I'm connected to the internet via a router, which I own, so I will have to work with that.

Router always displays a DNS and an alternative DNS, although they change, along with my IP, whenever it reconnects to the ISP. So, basically, the ISP sets everything for me, leaving me with little control.

I had it not working again this morning, though I didn't do the lookup. I'll try to keep in mind to run these checks when the site or just forum is not working.

[Mez]

I'm connected to the internet via a router, which I own, so I will have to work with that.

Router always displays a DNS and an alternative DNS, although they change, along with my IP, whenever it reconnects to the ISP. So, basically, the ISP sets everything for me, leaving me with little control.

There should be an option to statically define the DNS servers you use, whilst still getting a different IP from your ISP everytime you re-connect.  This will allow you to use a more reliable (non ISP controlled) set of DNS servers.