What happens when I don't add the www.

[tinggg]

Hi

I am using IE 6.0.

My organisation has a number of websites hosted with different hosts. We recently got a complaint that some of our sites returned an error page when the user didn't add the www. in the browser window.

e.g

http://www.mysite.com

(could view site)
mysite.com (returned error page)

Using IE 6 from within my network some I can view some of our sites without the www. and cannot view others. The hosts I have queried this with have said it is a browser problem but cannot explain why I can see some of our sites without the www.

Is this a browser issue? Anyone have an idea why this is happening?

Thanks

 

[smah]

It is probably not a browser problem. It's most likely a DNS problem or web server problem.

Steve

 

[tinggg]

Mmm, I contacted the domain registry who said it was a Host problem. I then contact one of the hosts and he said it was a browser problem; i'm just trying to get more info and what exactly is causing this problem and who can fix it.

Thanks

 

[trollacious]

That happens because your web host doesn't have their DNS server set up to resolve the web address without the www. I worked with an ISP/web hosting company and the owner told me he specifically configured all the websites they hosted to handle the domain name without the

http://www prefix.

Lee

 

[BabyJeffy]

I then contact one of the hosts and he said it was a browser problem

I suggest you find a way to reproduce the problem and then go back to this particular person and ask them to explain it again - since you are sure it's because the DNS is not set up to handle that A NAME correctly.

Cheers,
Jeff

[tt]Jeff's Page @ Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/blog/

[/tt]

What is Javascript? FAQ216-6094

 

[tinggg]

Hi

Thanks for the replies - i've just tried accessing the sites using Opera and IE from home and still get error pages so i'm going to go back to the host to query them about not

'having their DNS server set up to resolve the web address without the

http://www.'

This really surprises me because these are big companies and would have thought setting up domains to resolve with and without www. was just essential.

Thanks again.

 

[BabyJeffy]

It depends on exactly how you have your account arrangements.

You typically register a domain with a Domain Registrar. The registrar generally hosts the DNS records for your domain... but they may not actually be the company that handles the hosting for your domain. You might purchase your hosting from another company... and request that your DNS records at the Registrar are modified so that the Nameservers point to this hosting company Nameservers.

Either the Registrar or the hosting company could be at fault here... but once you've pointed your Nameservers from those managed by the Registrar to those managed by your hosting company... then the finger of responsibility points directly at the hosting company.

The hosting company may also make a DNS management tool available (often via a login web page)... and you could use this to extend your DNS entries. You can also really screw things up with this tool. If you have been fiddling... then they will happily claim they are not accountable.

It's a bit of a minefield... full of jargon and misunderstood methods of practice. Best to lean on the hosting company and see if they can "make things right" for you (rather than starting a witch hunt).

Hope that ramble makes some sense!

Cheers,
Jeff

[tt]Jeff's Page @ Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/blog/

[/tt]

What is Javascript? FAQ216-6094

 

[smah]

It's likely to be DNS, but don't forget that it could also be the webserver itself. You can find out which simply by doing a tracert on the non-

http://www address.

If it doesn't resolve the name, it's a dns problem. If the name does resolve, then it's the web server configuration.

Steve

 

[tinggg]

Hi

Thank you very much for your help - I have one more question.

If these domains are forwards to another sites is it also possible to get them to resolve with and without the www?

Some of the domains that I am looking at are forwards and I just want to check what the situation is with them.

Thanks

 

[smah]

There are different mechanisms that might be called 'forwards', but all methods should be able to be properly set up.

Steve

 

[tinggg]

Thanks

 

[IFRs]

Why doesn't the browser add the

http://www ?

 

[smah]

The browser should not add the www. The top level domain name really does not include the www. It is only by convention that the

http://www is

used for World Wide Web sites. Usually, the

http://www site

is the same as the non-

http://www site

but it does not have to be. Both the DNS system & the web server could have these be entirely different. From a DNS & web server standpoint, the 'www' is a subdomain designation, no different than any other. For example pdf.whatever.kom or store.whaterver.kom or [ignore]www.whatever.kom[/ignore] are all equivalent subdomains of whatever.kom (for this example I used .kom instead of the traditional .com extension to keep it from parsing as a real url).

Steve