Troubleshooting Record Resolution Issues

The following is checklist of common issues to help you if a record isn’t resolving correctly.

Check the domain resolution status

To use our DNS hosting service, the domain should resolve with DNSimple. Check this list of common domain resolution errors to determine if the domain is resolving with DNSimple.

Check that you’re using a fresh DNS cache

Every DNS record lookup is cached by default up to the value specified in the time-to-live (TTL) setting of the record.

Whenever you change a record, the old record value may live in your cache until the expiration, giving you the impression the update wasn’t performed. This results from a fresh dig query for the record www.dnsimple.com. Notice the ANSWER section:

$ dig www.dnsimple.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> www.dnsimple.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 63190
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.dnsimple.com.      IN  A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.dnsimple.com.   3600    IN  CNAME   dnsimple.com.
dnsimple.com.       600 IN  A   50.31.209.238

;; Query time: 605 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Fri Jul 19 15:15:39 2013
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 64

This is the same query performed a few seconds later. Again, notice the ANSWER section:

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.dnsimple.com.   3543    IN  CNAME   dnsimple.com.
dnsimple.com.       543 IN  A   50.31.209.238

dig says I have to wait 3534 seconds (about an hour) before the cache for the record is expired. If I make a change now, it may not be visible from my local machine for an hour.

Clear the DNS cache before checking a record update. This may involve:

Clearing system level DNS cache
Restart browser sessions

Alternatively, check the changes with a mobile device or another computer outside your local home or office network.

Check the record with +trace

The +trace option from dig shows exactly how the name is delegated.

It executes a recursive query against each of the name servers in the chain, starting from the root name servers. It’s useful for debugging delegation issues.

$ dig CNAME www.dnsimple.com +trace

;; global options: +cmd
.           6438    IN  NS  k.root-servers.net.
.           6438    IN  NS  l.root-servers.net.
...
;; Received 717 bytes from 1.1.1.1#53(1.1.1.1) in 42 ms

com.            172800  IN  NS  j.gtld-servers.net.
com.            172800  IN  NS  g.gtld-servers.net.
...
;; Received 1176 bytes from 199.9.14.201#53(b.root-servers.net) in 86 ms

dnsimple.com.       172800  IN  NS  ns1.dnsimple.com.
dnsimple.com.       172800  IN  NS  ns2.dnsimple-edge.net.
dnsimple.com.       172800  IN  NS  ns3.dnsimple.com.
dnsimple.com.       172800  IN  NS  ns4.dnsimple-edge.org.
...
;; Received 842 bytes from 192.33.14.30#53(b.gtld-servers.net) in 38 ms

www.dnsimple.com.   3600    IN  CNAME   dnsimple.com.
;; Received 59 bytes from 162.159.27.4#53(ns4.dnsimple.com) in 34 ms

In the resulting query chain, you can see each hop to resolve the CNAME. First, the root name servers are queried. Then, the query is passed along to the “.com” name servers and then to DNSimple’s name servers. Finally, DNSimple returns the CNAME record. If DNSimple’s name servers are not present in this trace, you’ll need to point to DNSimple.

If you recently made changes to your record, the update may still be in progress. See the Check the record propagation delay and Check the record update delay sections.

Check the record propagation delay

If you recently changed a record, it may take a while for the change to propagate. This is especially true if the record has been cached by your local ISP.

You usually can bypass a propagation delay by passing a custom name server in the dig call.

The following command checks the DNS record against the ns1.dnsimple.com name server:

$ dig www.dnsimple.com @ns1.dnsimple.com

If you get the expected response, the record has been updated in our system, but the changes still need to propagate. They should be visible after the TTL period.

You can check it against any of DNSimple’s name servers.

If the query isn’t returning the correct value, make sure the record update isn’t delayed. See the section Check record update delay.

Check the record update delay

When you change a record in our system, the changes are published almost immediately.

Our update queue may sometimes take a bit longer. Wait a couple minutes and check again.

Follow our blog or Twitter account for updates. We publish status updates when there’s a known issue with our update queue.