Problems accessing my own sites

[SpongeBob]

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I've got a weird problem here and I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas.

I've got a server that I've moved a few sites to. Periodically, however, when I try to access my sites in my browser I get a 'Page not found' error. If I do a ping or tracert it can't resolve the domains. If I try it on another PC then I have the same problem.

However, if I try on another broadband connection, I can access the sites. So they're there and working.

This keeps happening - they work ok, then I can't access them for a while. The first domain has been on the server for a couple of months with this problem so it's not an issue of domains propagating.

It may be that there's a problem with my broadband, if I can access the sites on another connection. However, why does it only affect my sites? And they all go down together and back up again together. Also, the main domain on the server doesn't get affected by it even though they all have the same IP.

I've raised a support ticket with my hosting company to see if they can figure it out, but I can imagine it won't be easy if it's just a problem with me accessing the site. Well, for all I know others could have the same problem but seeing as the sites are up and running when I test on another connection then I've no reason to think others can't reach the sites.

Basically, it seems like a localised problem accessing sites with my broadband connection, but it's strange as it keeps happening and always affects all my sites on that server at the same time, except for the main domain.

[suedeapple]

You didnt say if the sites were Apache or IIS based.

If IIS then...
Sounds like an application pool problem to me. The sites are running out of memory, and shutting down the process and restarting. Maybe check for any memory leakages in your coding, i.e. are you closing DB connections. There maybe also memory hogger websites on your server if you are using shared hosting.

You main site is probably held on a separate application pool, and less memory hungry, and hence been unaffected.

[SpongeBob]

You didnt say if the sites were Apache or IIS based.

If IIS then...
Sounds like an application pool problem to me. The sites are running out of memory, and shutting down the process and restarting. Maybe check for any memory leakages in your coding, i.e. are you closing DB connections. There maybe also memory hogger websites on your server if you are using shared hosting.

You main site is probably held on a separate application pool, and less memory hungry, and hence been unaffected.

They're actually Apache, and the first domain that's been hosted there for a few months is basically just a holding page - it's not doing any database access or anything at the moment.

Also, if I access the site via a different connection (via my mobile broadband connection rather than my BT Broadband connecting) then the sites are up and running ok - if there was a problem with them then I'd not expect it to matter which connection I was using to access them.

The sites are also on a decent dedicated server - I've merged 2 reseller accounts into one dedicated, so whereas they were on shared hosting they now have their own quad core with 4 gig ram.

It's like there's a problem resolving the domain names, but all my sites become inaccessible at the same time (on my main broadband connection - they remain fine for other people) and then all come back up again ok later.

It's very odd!

[suedeapple]

Hmm.. couuld be a DNS problem. Are your sure the nameserver service for the domain you are using is reliable?? and are they the same for the site that works fine?

I sure one of the apache peeps on here would be able to shed more light.

[SpongeBob]

The domains are held at 123-Reg and the nameservers were set up with the dedicated server by Clook, who are one of the more reliable hosting companies.

I have raised a ticket with Clook so they can look at it, so maybe they'll find something...

[SpongeBob]

I've found something that might cause the problem, though might make no difference.

When the dedicated server was set up I used a main domain (we'll call it 'MainDomain.co.uk') and they set up the server with a host name of something like '111.MainDomain.co.uk'.

Anyway, I then read that a host name should never start with a digit so they changed it to 'server.MainDomain.co.uk'.

Well, doing a tracert on the domains on the server now it finishes when it reaches '111.MainDomain.co.uk' - i.e. the old host name. In my WHM it gives the host name as "server.MainDomain.co.uk" so they don't match up.

I've just updated my ticket with that finding, though I don't know if that would result in the strange, unreliable access to the sites. It certainly seems wrong, but I'd have thought if there was a problem then there'd always be a problem rather than it being sporadic.

[chickendippers]

You will probably need to contact your host to have them update the server's Reverse DNS. That's something we need to have our NOC staff do.