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  1. #1

    * Registrar says NSs aren't reachable to be set up, hosting provider says registrar has to set them up

    Hi there,

    I recently bought a VPS from a vendor (which is here too), with one IP (in retrospective, I should've had two, as most registrars won't allow for one only and it's considered good practice to have two). I'm having troubles to change the DNS with the registrar and, while the registrar blames the bad name servers set up and the VPS vendor blames the registrar for not doing their job, I'm left hanging.

    So, with due apologies for the long message below, I would appreciate it if you could please have a look and suggest some solution(s) if possible.

    I want the domain name mydomain.com to have its own name servers, like this, ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com. The domain name already exists and it has a website on it, which works just fine and is now hosted somewhere else - but, naturally, I want to transfer it to the VPS I bought. I made the data transfer successfully, I've tested the installation and everything looks all right. The only thing left is to change the name servers at the registrar, from its current hosting provider to the VPS I bought. However, despite my long email exchange with the registrar and almost as many with the VPS vendor, I'm exactly where I started, nowhere, that is.

    When I try to change the name servers in the registrar panel, I get an error (can't be done type of error) and I get in tocuh with the registrar to enquire about it. The registrar says "The problem are actually the nameservers itself. The ones you want to set are not online or reachable, so you can not set them as your domain would not work with them." I go to the VPS vendor, and he says that if the registrar won't first change the name servers there, they cannot be online; the registrar needs to add the name servers before he checks that these are online. The IP the VPS vendor gave us is online.

    I go back to the registrar with a request to tell me what exactly does he gets when he makes his tests. Is there an error because I have the same IP on both name servers, or is there somehting else? I make a print screen with my current set up in the DNS Zone in WHM and ask him is he sees anything out of order there, something that I would need to fix. I use Google Public DNS for DNS resolution, so that shouldn't be a problem. I then ask for specifics, precisely to avoid generic answers and learn from my mistakes if there's something to learn:

    • what tools / methods are you using to determine that the names of the servers can't be resolved on the internet?
    • which IP are you testing? Our VPS IP is 185.x.x.x - and it's certainly reachable, like I said before.
    • How exactly do you make a lookup on the server names?


    ... thinking that if he answers point by point, I can then explain in those terms what I have done and why - should that be the method he is using, although I doubt it - simply pinging ns1.mydomain.com won't work. To which he goes like this:

    "Okay, so - if you want to set nameservers for a domain, you can not use nameservers that are not online yet. The nameservers need to be online, active and give answer. So the domaintool checks if the server you filled in is reachable and works. This is not the case for your servers - these are not online und the name ns1.mydomain.com and not reachable. The system does not accept servernames that are not reachable right now."

    The VPS vendor says that the registrar needs to actually register these name servers for them to work. If he can't do it using eh domain name (ns1.mydomain.com), he should use the IP I've provided them with. The set up can only be made at the registrar end and there's nothing he can help me with. He goes on to suggest that since the registrar doesn't allow me to set up the name servers using the IP, I should change the registrar. This, while sounds appealing, would add extra expenses, particularly time-wise and I'm not very keen to do it.

    Now this is been happening since 2 weeks ago or more and I'm at the end of my patience. I need to make a decision and I would appreciate someone more experienced than me to suggest a direction.

    Thanks for reading.

    P

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    The VPS vendor says that the registrar needs to actually register these name servers for them to work
    This is the clue. You appear to be trying to assign the nameservers to the domain name, but have not yet created them with the registrar. You need to "create nameservers based on this domain name", assigning them the IP they will have. Then you need to set those up on the VPS as well, and then assign them to the domain name at the registrar.

    They need to be created before they can be used.
    Your one stop shop for decentralization

  3. #3
    Thanks, @bear, that was helpful.

    It looks like I finally got through to the registrar as well after I requested the guy assigned with my case to pass it to someone else in the firm.

  4. #4
    An update to my situation.

    The registrar tells me the following:

    "There are 2 things wrong - first, the names of the nameservers ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com need to be resolvable by name (so the nameservers answer with the IP).

    Also we can not register two nameservers on the same IP-address, you would have to set up 2 IP's."

    I know some registrars don't accept the same IP for both nameservers, so I suppose I'll have to buy another IP. But what does he mean when he says that the nameservers need to be resolvable by name? Can these nameservers be resolvable by name before they are registered? And if yes, what exactly does that mean for me, what do I have to do to comply with that, please?

    Thanks.

    /P

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    657
    Ok,

    1) Your hosting provider will create the DNS Zones in their server.
    2) Your hosting provider will give you the IP addresses for their DNS Servers. (Where the specific zones for your domain name were created).
    3) The domain registrar will now be able to accept your IPs as nameservers and finally allow your domain to work.

    If this is not respected, it will not work. And yes, it will be unreachable for your domain registrar. (This apply, when using your host dns servers to hold your domain zone).
    IT
    Is Nice.

  6. #6
    Thanks for your input.

    Forgive my ignorance please, but if I understood this correctly, then for:

    1) It should already be done, apart from the second IP, which will need to be added in the DNS Zones.
    2) It already gave me one IP; once it gives me the 2nd one and I'll add it in the DNS Zones, it should all be all right, am I correct?

    But I don't quite understand what does the registrar means by "nameservers answer with the IP" and not being resolvable by name. Is there something else that I have to consider or change?

    Thanks again.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    657
    The thing is, the registrar servers have to "authenticate" if your domain exists in your host or not, if it doesn't, you'll see the error you're speaking about.

    So it doesn't matter whether this is 1 IP, 2 IPs, 3 IPs, ect. This might be a registrar condition, mostly requires two different IPs to work. Although, the servers "configured" to "listen" in these IPs, might "reply" hey this domain "xxx.com" exists here, if they doesn't, then the registrar won't accept the configuration...
    IT
    Is Nice.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by primadoner View Post

    But I don't quite understand what does the registrar means by "nameservers answer with the IP" and not being resolvable by name. Is there something else that I have to consider or change?
    You will need to add A records for your ns records. Maybe that's what the registrar requires. Seems weird they can't just set your nameservers up though. Every registrar I use has this automated and does not require the domain to have any DNS before setup of the nameservers. Who is the registrar?

  9. #9

    Lightbulb

    Quote Originally Posted by MAXZEUS View Post
    It doesn't matter whether this is 1 IP, 2 IPs, 3 IPs, ect. This might be a registrar condition, mostly requires two different IPs to work. Although, the servers "configured" to "listen" in these IPs, might "reply" hey this domain "xxx.com" exists here, if they doesn't, then the registrar won't accept the configuration...

    Yes, it doesn't matter whether you configure two nameservers name pointing the same IP or two different IP. This might be a registrar condition....

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil_techie View Post
    Yes, it doesn't matter whether you configure two nameservers name pointing the same IP or two different IP. This might be a registrar condition....
    Thanks. I'm aware that having one IP for both nameservers is not generally a problem but it's good practice. Anyway, I got the 2nd IP, to avoid more delays.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by PCTechMe View Post
    You will need to add A records for your ns records. Maybe that's what the registrar requires. Seems weird they can't just set your nameservers up though. Every registrar I use has this automated and does not require the domain to have any DNS before setup of the nameservers. Who is the registrar?
    The A Records are added as far as I know. The registrar is hostpoint.ch

  12. #12
    OK, this can be closed now, the transfer was finally made and it's all working fine. Apparently I had set up everything correctly, it was just the "missing" second IP for the DNS2 that caused the incredibly long delay.

    Thanks everyone for your answers, I appreciate it.

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