Getting A/AAAA records right for two domains
I have two domains. One is adonax.com and the other is hexara.com.
I'm trying to get my web server to distinguish and give browsers the corresponding content (static at this point).
First things first, I'm wondering if I have the A/AAAA records set up correctly. I have both domains set up as "masters" and pointing to my IP. Within the domains the A records are as follows (am leaving out the AAAA records from the question, they are "parallel"):
domain adonax.com (two A records)
hostname: adonax.com
hostname: web
domain hexara.com (two A records)
hostname: hexara.com
hostname: web
All point to the same IP.
Browsing the URL's gives the following:
http://adonax.com - reaches index.htm for adonax.com
http://www.adonax.com - reaches index.htm for adonax.com
http://hexara.com - reaches index.htm for adonax.com (OK for now)
http://www.hexara.com - reaches dnserrorsearchassist.att.net
I assume that once the webserver software is configured correctly to handle the split, hexara.com will arrive at the index.htm for hexara.com. I'm not so concerned about that not being set up correctly YET.
First things first, shouldn't www.hexara.com work the same as hexara.com? Am I misunderstanding how to set up A records?
Curiously, http://adonax.com/hexara brings up the index.htm for the hexara.com site. I don't understand why this is happening. The hexara content folder is NOT located within the adonax content folder system.
Does any of this have to do with the /etc/hosts file? (If I understand correctly, the "hosts" file only pertains to requests originating from my Linode, and has nothing to do with requests arising from an external browser.)
I would like to verify I have these A files set up correctly before taking the issue to a forum for the Jetty software I'm using as a web server.
2 Replies
Hi,
First things first, shouldn't www.hexara.com work the same as hexara.com?
Not necessarily. As far as the web server is concerned they are 2 different hostnames - as much as www.hexara.com and somethingelse.hexara.com and can be configured independently. It’s just become an “accepted norm” that the www and non-www are the same site.
Does any of this have to do with the /etc/hosts file?
No you are correct - outbound DNS queries from your Linode use the hosts file.
This A record does not exist in DNS. Looks like the page you’re seeing is one being “faked” by your ISP when you encounter a non-existent website.
You do need to set up both a “root” A/AAAA record (e.g. hexara.com) and a “www.hexara.com” record to be able to use both the www and non-www version of your domain.
Hexara.com currently only has the root record, not the www one.
Adonax.com has both records in place.
Thanks for the assistance.
I can't believe how dumb this mistake was. I had put in "web" instead of "www".
It is good to get the reassurance that I am interpreting the "hosts" file correctly.
Also your confirmation of what should be occurring with the www.hexara.com helped make me take a second, and closer look. Again thanks for taking the time!