Question

DigitalOcean Droplet connection problem

Posted on February 10, 2024
DigitalOcean Droplets DNS
Asked by Adnan Alper Demirci

Yesterday I created a new droplet with selecting Plesk from the marketplace as auto-installation.

Droplet features: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 1 CPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB SSD (the 6$ droplet plan) AMS3 Datacenter

I have moved two of my websites from my old droplet, which has the same size and the same datacenter with an older Ubuntu version.

Site 1: Nameservers directed to DigitalOcean prefixed ns1, ns2, and ns3.

Site 2: Nameservers directed to CloudFlare prefixed kim and tony.

Both sites have the same configuration and different versions of WordPress. I migrated successfully. I haven’t destroyed the server blocks of both of the websites in the old droplet. I am sure both sites are directed to the new droplet.

This evening, I had trouble with Plesk control panel which is accessed from droplet’s IP address. I could not access the website as my browser could not connect there. I inspected all over and I have found these inconsistencies:

Connected to home wi-fi with any device:

I cannot access the IP address of the droplet from my browser. So I cannot login to Plesk control panel.
I cannot access the FTP. The error message is strangely in Turkish, despite all of my computer setting is in English.
I cannot access the SSH connection.
I can only access the droplet console from the console link in DigitalOcean panel.
The droplet is working with no issues.
I cannot access the Site 1.
I can strangely access the Site 2. I doubted that it is directed back to my old droplet, but the WordPress Site Health screen shows the properties of the new server.
I checked Site 2 in https://www.whatsmydns.net/ and realised that all the DNS direction is reverted back to my old droplet.
When I try to connect the FTP of Site 2, it resolves to the IP address of the old droplet.
I check the WordPress Site Health and it is still the new droplet. And CloudFlare A record is set to the new droplet.
I can access to the index.html page created by Plesk in new droplet for Site 2. So the DNS is pointing to the new droplet for sure.

I reset the modem and the above observation does not change.

Connected to mobile network:

I can access everything related to the new droplet. Both Site 1 and Plesk control panel is accessible.
Site 2 still shows the IP address of the old droplet in https://www.whatsmydns.net/
But Site 2 still shows the features of the new droplet in WordPress Site Health screen.

So, there are two problems. 1- My home wifi blocks the connections to the new droplet 2- Site 2 DNS setting resolves correctly in practice (WordPress Site Health) but wrong in theory (What’s My DNS).

My questions are:

Why does my home wifi blocks the connection to the IP address of the new droplet? It could connect 2-3 hours before I have written this message.
How can I re-enable my home wifi to connect to the new droplet again?
The reason that I can access Site 2 is that it makes use of CloudFlare, right?
Do I need to care the results of Site 2 in What’s My DNS even though it works correctly?

I will appreciate any clarification. Thanks for your time.

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• February 11, 2024

Hey Adnan,

Your situation presents a couple of interesting challenges that are quite common when migrating websites and dealing with DNS changes.

1. Home WiFi Blocks Connection to the New Droplet

Possible Causes:

DNS Caching: Your home network devices, including your router and individual devices, cache DNS records. If you recently pointed your domain to a new IP address, your home network might still be resolving the domain to the old droplet’s IP due to this caching.
ISP DNS Propagation: Sometimes, ISPs cache DNS records longer than expected. While you’ve made changes at the registrar or DNS service level, your ISP might not have refreshed its records.

Solutions:

Clear DNS Cache: On your devices, clear the DNS cache. This process varies by operating system. On Windows, you can run ipconfig /flushdns in the command prompt. On macOS, you can use sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder in the terminal.
Change DNS Resolver: Temporarily switch your DNS resolver on your device to a public DNS service like Google (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1). This can bypass local caching issues.
Restart Router: Sometimes, a simple restart of your home router can clear the DNS cache stored on it.

2. Re-enable Home WiFi to Connect to the New Droplet

Following the steps above (clearing DNS cache, changing DNS resolver, and restarting your router) should, in most cases, resolve the issue with your home WiFi not connecting to the new droplet.

3. Access to Site 2 via CloudFlare

Yes, the fact that you can access Site 2 but not Site 1 likely indicates that CloudFlare’s DNS and caching services are serving Site 2’s content. CloudFlare acts as a reverse proxy, caching content and serving it to your users, which can sometimes mask underlying DNS or server issues. CloudFlare might still be serving the content from its cache, or its DNS might have updated faster than your local or ISP’s DNS servers.

While it’s important for diagnostic purposes to check DNS resolution globally (as with “What’s My DNS”), what matters most for your users is the actual accessibility and performance of the site. However, discrepancies can indicate propagation delays or misconfigurations that could affect users in different regions differently.

DNS Propagation: It can take up to 48 hours for DNS changes to fully propagate worldwide. During this time, some users might resolve to the old IP while others to the new one.
Consistency Check: Ensure that all DNS records, especially A records and possibly CNAME records, are correctly set to point to the new droplet’s IP address. Since CloudFlare is involved, make sure the records there are accurate and that any changes are reflected across all DNS servers.

Given the complexity of DNS changes and caching, it’s not uncommon to experience temporary access issues. I would recommend to monitor the situation for 48 hours typically allows enough time for global DNS propagation and local caches to update.

If problems persist beyond this window, reviewing the DNS configurations at your domain registrar, CloudFlare, and any other DNS services involved, as well as consulting their support services, might be necessary.

Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Bobby