Issues with subdomain not working (but works when I hardcode the ip in hosts file)

March 11, 2015 3.8k views
DNS Nginx Ubuntu
keslert
By:
keslert

I'm trying to point a subdomain to my droplet running a nginx server. Somewhere along the way I've done something wrong and when I try to go to my subdomain I get "Gateway Timeout: can't connect to remote host."

I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the DNS because when I add my subdomain to my hosts file and point it to my droplet's ip address everything works great.

The following is my zone file on DO:

$ORIGIN blog.bookroo.com.
$TTL 1800
blog.bookroo.com. IN SOA ns1.digitalocean.com. hostmaster.blog.bookroo.com. 1423974942 10800 3600 604800 1800
blog.bookroo.com. 1800 IN NS ns1.digitalocean.com.
blog.bookroo.com. 1800 IN NS ns2.digitalocean.com.
blog.bookroo.com. 1800 IN NS ns3.digitalocean.com.
blog.bookroo.com. 1800 IN A 104.236.83.209

The domain is managed by NameSilo and I have the following settings:

      A           107.161.23.204            NA  172816  www re-direct       
      A           107.191.99.114            NA  172816  www re-direct       
      A           142.4.203.239         NA  172816  www re-direct       
blog      CNAME   ns1.digitalocean.com  NA  172817  3rd-party       
www     CNAME     lb.cratejoy.com           NA  172816  3rd-party

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!

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5 Answers
bruns March 11, 2015

Delete the zone from DO. On namesilo, delete the CNAME record for blog. Create an A record for blog to 104.236.83.209.

Don't over-complicate things, and I highly recommend learning more about how DNS works.

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keslert March 11, 2015

Isn't the ip address dependent on the droplet? i.e. if I created a new droplet and wanted to use that I'd have to modify my hosting DNS again rather than just the DO side.

I understand why the new system would work, but can you explain why the old system wasn't working?

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bruns March 11, 2015

Yes, you will need to change the IP if the IP of the droplet changes.

I don't think you understand how DNS works.

A CNAME says to use the IP whatever hostname is referred to. If you cname blog to ns1.digitalocean.com, then the cname will return the IP of ns1.digitalocean.com, not your host.

Unless you have the DNS delegated for your domain to ns1/ns2/ns3 at digitalocean, and completely control your domain on their name servers, whatever you put into DO's domain manager won't have any effect.

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keslert March 11, 2015

Ah ok. Things are starting to make sense. I was confusing what I'd done with NameServers with DNS records.

So... is it better to use NameSilo for DNS or do all of that from the DO side (meaning if I used the DO nameservers)?

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  • bruns March 11, 2015

    I honestly couldn't tell you which is better. I run my own name servers, and don't have a need to use DOs or my registrars. Its more of a matter of what you feel more comfortable using.

keslert March 11, 2015

Ok cool. Thanks a lot for your help!

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