Publishing site - browsers

A

ah

Sunday, I modified my DNS names at my registrar to make
them point towards a new hosting company where I had
uploaded a newly designed website. The old website is
still hosted by the old hosting company.

This morning, typing the web address into different
browsers gave different results and I do not understand
why: with Explorer (on PC and Mac) and Netscape, the old
website would come up (I took care of cleaning the cache
and crtl refresh the page on Explorer or shift reload in
Netscape). With Safari, on a Macintosh the new website
appeared.

I am puzzled by those results. If someone had an
explanation for this, I would be extremely grateful.
 
K

Kevin Spencer

DNS records are propagated by expiration. That is, DNS (Domain Name
Services) is a fascinating and ingenious method of keeping track of domain
names and IP addresses, in that each DNS server only has records for those
Domain Names it receives requests for. If it doesn't have a record, or if
the record has expired, the DNS server will contact another DNS server to
get the IP address of the domain name. The DNS servers only retrieve new DNS
records when the ones it has have expired. When you change your domain to a
different IP address, therefore, it can take several days for all of the DNS
servers out there to "find out" about the new IP address.

Wait a few more days, and see if the behavior doesn't stop.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.
 
A

ah

I forgot to give the web address, in case someone wants
to go take a look. It is www.asmm.fr. Basically the old
website is in a shade of blue as the new one has a
presentation on 2 columns and one small square picture on
each side of the title (guitar and piano).
 
D

David Baxter

Are you running Windows 200/XP/NT on the non-Mac system? Do a search for
a file called "hosts" or "host" -- if it's anything but hosts.sam (where
sam = sample), look for your old IP address and delete it. Unless you're
on a network, you can delete the whole file and disable caching the IP
addresses there in the future.
 
D

David Baxter

The new one displays for me - Windows XP and Internet Explorer. Se my
previous reply.
 
G

Guest

I am running Windows XP Pro.

I found 3 hosts files. 2 just have one address:
localhost. The third one is bigger (over 100k) and
contains numerous entries but all correponding to the
same address. It says at the beginning:
This HOSTS file is a free download from:
# http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/
I don't remember downloading this but perhaps long ago...

I am not expert enough to be able to delete something I
do not know the use of.
 
T

Tom Pepper Willett

As Kevin said, it can take several days.
--
===
Tom "Pepper" Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---
About FrontPage 2003:
http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX01085802
FrontPage 2003 Product Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/frontpage/prodinfo/default.mspx
Understanding FrontPage:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/frontpage/
FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;fp10se
===
| >> if the record has expired, <<
|
| How long does it take to expire?
|
| >-----Original Message-----
| >DNS records are propagated by expiration. That is, DNS
| (Domain Name
| >Services) is a fascinating and ingenious method of
| keeping track of domain
| >names and IP addresses, in that each DNS server only has
| records for those
| >Domain Names it receives requests for. If it doesn't
| have a record, or if
| >the record has expired, the DNS server will contact
| another DNS server to
| >get the IP address of the domain name. The DNS servers
| only retrieve new DNS
| >records when the ones it has have expired. When you
| change your domain to a
| >different IP address, therefore, it can take several
| days for all of the DNS
| >servers out there to "find out" about the new IP address.
| >
| >Wait a few more days, and see if the behavior doesn't
| stop.
| >
| >--
| >HTH,
| >Kevin Spencer
| >..Net Developer
| >Microsoft MVP
| >Big things are made up
| >of lots of little things.
| >
| message
| >| >> Sunday, I modified my DNS names at my registrar to make
| >> them point towards a new hosting company where I had
| >> uploaded a newly designed website. The old website is
| >> still hosted by the old hosting company.
| >>
| >> This morning, typing the web address into different
| >> browsers gave different results and I do not understand
| >> why: with Explorer (on PC and Mac) and Netscape, the
| old
| >> website would come up (I took care of cleaning the
| cache
| >> and crtl refresh the page on Explorer or shift reload
| in
| >> Netscape). With Safari, on a Macintosh the new website
| >> appeared.
| >>
| >> I am puzzled by those results. If someone had an
| >> explanation for this, I would be extremely grateful.
| >>
| >
| >
| >.
| >
 
D

David Baxter

As I said, unless you are using XP Pro on a local network, you do NOT
need a hosts file at all -- the purpose is to cache IP addresses for a
LAN/intranet -- it is not needed and IMO not recommended for internet
browsing because it converts domain names to a fixed IP address - when
the IP address changes, as it just did for your site, the browser will
continue to go to the IP address listed for www.domainname.com in the
HOSTS file.

In this case, it looks like you downloaded it as some sort of
anti-parasite security measure. More commonly, it is downloaded as part
of a "speed up internet access" scheme. It is NOT necessary.

You have three choices:
1. delete the file
2. find the line with your website listed and delete just that line
3. MOVE the file to a different folder (out of /windows) or a backup
drive - then if it messes anything up (highly unlikely) you can put it
back
 
A

ah

As my domainname was in neither host file, I moved the hosts files out of
Windows but I am still taken to the old website.



What is very strange (for me) is that, depending on the ISP used to logon, I
access either the old site or the new one.

-----------------------
 
D

David Baxter

Hmmm... new information... do you mean that even from your Windows
machine, you get different locations depending on which ISP you use?

If so, this may be a DNS propagation issue -- OR: was your site
previously hosted with one of those ISPs? If so, contact tech support
there and ask them to investigate. I do recall some years ago having a
site hosted by my primary ISP -- the site went down due to a DNS error
of some sort but I wasn't aware of it until a friend notified me because
I could still locate it fine from that ISP.
 
S

Steve Easton

You don't say what OS, but if it's Windows XP or Windows 2000 do the following.

Shut down any connections. Open a command window by clicking Start > Run and typing: cmd and
then click OK.

In the window that opens type: ipconfig /flushdns and then press enter when it's done, close the
window and reconnect and see what happens.

Note, there is a space between ipconfig and /flushdns


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed............
........................with a computer
 
C

Craig Schiller

It sounds like the DNS listings have propagated to some of the ISPs you're
testing and not to others. See what happens today.
 
A

ah

do you mean that even from your Windows
machine, you get different locations depending on which ISP you use? <<
Indeed.



Not at all. The site was hosted until Sunday by Online, in France. I
transferred it to MyHosting in Canada and the ISPs I mentioned are Oreka.com
(I see the old site) and Free.fr (I see the new site).

-------------------------
 
A

ah

Ipconfig /flushdns: done



Result even more strange: using the ISP with which I usually see the old
site, I still see the old site with Explorer but I now see the new site with
Netscape.

Reassuring: I still see the new site with the other ISP
 
T

Thomas A. Rowe

That point this being a DNS issue, which can take up to 72 hours to propagated to all DNS servers
around the internet. Some ISPs only update their DNS servers once a week.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================
 
A

ah

Since Sunday afternoon it is now more than 72 hours but it finally works.

---------------------
 
T

Thomas A. Rowe

It all depends on the how the ISP schedule the updating of their DNS servers, some do daily, some do
a specific day of the week, etc.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================
 
Top