[Not MODx related] Strange DNS issue only with manager

I recently switched to a new dedicated server, and migrated all my MODx powered website to it.

Nothing very complicated here, went smooth as usual, except for one client which reports a strange problem : the frontend pages are served correctly from the new server, but when they go to the manager, it’s the old server (still up for now) login page (I made sure by locking their manager account on the old server). Everything works OK on my end, from several internet access.

This client is the only one which had DNS cache issues : they were still routed to the old website even a week after I changed the DNS. I had them flush the DNS with [tt]ipconfig /flushdns[/tt] and it worked. At least it worked for the frontend pages.

I first thought it was a blocked cookie issue, had them clear those, as well as session data and browser cache. I re-checked every MODx setting I could think of but didn’t find any inconsistencies.

Doesn’t work. They’re still redirected to the old manager
I am quite clueless, and suggested maybe they check with the network admin if it wasn’t a proxy issue with their local network (is there a DNS cache in proxys or something ?).

Do any of you have an idea I could try out ?
Thanks !

Are you sure he’s using a domain-based URL? I often use the IP address in the beginning when I’m getting started on a site and haven’t gotten the DNS propagated yet, then usually forget to change my ftp client, although usually I do remember to change my browser bookmark. So it’s possible that he’s still using an old bookmark from when you originally set up the site on the old server.

I’ll check the bookmark avenue...

In the meantime what do you see when you go to this adress : h*tp://www.gican.asso.fr/manager/ ?

If it’s the new server the name of the website will be gican.asso.fr (IP is 91.121.106.38) and if it’s the old server it will read gican.asso.fr (ancien serveur) (IP is 213.251.172.146).

I can’t yet reproduce the client’s problem... every time I end up on the right IP, as it should...

blue background, orange copyright background...

a ping to www.gican.asso.fr goes to the correct IP address as well.

Thanks a lot Susan, that’s reassuring

No answer yet from my client about the bookmark... my best guess is, this is an issue with their network’s config... I can’t get hold of their network admin until thursday, but this could be tricky as the guy does this on top of other things (meaning he hasn’t a lot of time for network admin, and also it’s not his area of expertise Saving bucks not hiring a real expert doesn’t save time that’s for sure ).

Definitely a local thing, though. Not that that will get you off the hook, of course

I had a client whose network admin always decided to add their externally hosted domain’s into the local network using a hosts file to map the IP’s to domains. Some developers also do this to trick their local computer to work with the remote domain. I’d be willing to bet anything the local network has an unusually long-standing local DNS cache, or there is a hosts file wreaking havoc on them.

Thanks Jason for the heads up, I figured there might be something like this, which would mean I’d have to ask the network admin to edit the host file or reduce the cache refresh to a lesser value...

Anyway, thank you both !

@Ganesh : Yes I did, they didn’t do it yet, but I’ll make sure they do !
In the meantime it’s lost time trying to solve this kind of thing

It’s the price to pay for my new toy I guess
(a nice upgrade for my dedicated box : 2Gb RAM, 250Gb HDD, Core2Duo E6750 with hardware RAID and 1Gbps bandwidth... and it flies I have dropped RedHat 7.2 for Debian 4.0 - latest Apache, PHP and MySQL, and on top of that DirectAdmin which is nice)

Quote from: ganeshXL at Jan 15, 2008, 09:14 AM

Or an internet-café, if these things still exist

LOL - they sure do. I had to work from one for 2 days last week while my power at home was out!

Definitely a local thing

This sort of thing is somewhat common (for me at least) when changing DNS. Someone will always get the old server due to open ended server cache timeouts.

If you have access to the old server, you can change the server to redirect (actually change the A records on the server) to the new IP and force the users the new server until the network finds it’s way. I do this with the A and MX records when I move servers to force mail and visitors to go to the new server.

In most cases this will fix itself with a bit of time, but that does not get you off the hook either.