host name with www works just http:// not working

10/14/2011 4:34:06 PM

digitaliway

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host name with www works just http:// not working

I have a two site environment setup.

in iis 7 I have the bindings for both sites setup with and without www.

SITE ONE: works fine both with and without www

SITE TWO: with www works fine but does not work without www

I have checked for typos in the admin and on the server - all checking out

Any ideas??

Thank you

10/16/2011 2:30:10 PM

Joe Audette

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

You need to go into the Site Settings for site 2 and put both of the host names as assigned to that site, ie you need one for www and one for without www assigned to the child site

The reason it works without this for site one is because any host names that are not explicitly mapped to a child site resolve to the master site.

However for best SEO you should not have your site working at 2 host names you should force it to one or the other either with or without the www.

Hope that helps,

Joe

10/17/2011 7:44:34 AM

digitaliway

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

thanks Joe, few issues I want to mention before I force.

I log-in to site one go to administration - site list - site two - host name mapping.

There I verified that I already have (mydomain.com and www.mydomain.com)

If I do the same thing just going to site one I do not have any host names there which I thought was correct.

still only www.mydomain.com works for site two.

thank you

10/17/2011 10:14:21 AM

Joe Davis

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

Hi,

Yes, it is correct to not have any host name mapping on Site 1 because any host names that are not explicitly mapped to a child site resolve to the master site.

What comes up when you don't use the www on your domain? Does Site 1 come up or does something else, maybe an error? If neither Site 1 nor Site 2 come up, you probably either have a DNS issue or you don't have the domain setup properly in IIS.

HTH,
Joe D.

10/17/2011 12:47:15 PM

digitaliway

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

Thanks Joe, I did find an error in dns and now the site does load properly with both host names, MY BAD!

I do have a final question on this if you do not mind. What would you recommend for the forced hostname - (with or without the www)?

Just a note - I use BING web master tools and it seems that BING saves sites without the www and google allows with or without the www when using their webmaster tools.

maybe I just need to standardize my approach for one or the other?

Thank you

5/29/2012 11:43:03 PM

DavB.cs

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

I am having this same problem, and could use some help figuring this out. I have searched the documentation and forums quite a bit.

I am trying to host multiple sites using one mojoportal installation. I am using Arvixe shared hosting. I have successfully set up 8 sites, and able to view them locally by adjusting the hosts file on my machine. One of them has been live for a month (siteID 3) and Mojoportal works to show that site when I use "www.mySite.com" but not without it (just "http://mySite.com"). within Arvixe, it is set up as a Domain Pointer to the primary site of Mojoportal (siteID 1).

I have added both versions of the url to the Host Name Mapping section, along with testing many different variations (eg with trailing slashes, including the url protocol, etc). Still the site reverts to the primary site (siteID 1) whenever I leave off the "www".

I need all 8 of these sites to work with both url formats so that I can leverage the "Forcing a Preferred Host Name" method.

After testing different DNS settings on Arvixe's WebSitePanel, and then using my local hosts file to redirect the "mySite.com" to the correct IP numbers, I suspect this is a problem on the Mojoportal side, but I am at a loss as to why or how to correct it.

Digitaliway: any insights about the DNS error you gound?

when I ping the "mySite.com" I get the correct IP numbers.

The Host Name Mapping section contains "www.mySite.com" and "mySite.com" currently. What can I do to further test this?

Thanks to mojoportal for a great product. I really love it.

5/30/2012 2:55:26 PM

Joe Audette

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

Doesn't sound like your domain pointer is configured correctly. It may point to the correct ip address but unless that is a dedicated ip address only used by your site and not used by any other sites, then it would also require an IIS host header to make it point to the correct IIS web site. You can't go by your hosts file for a public ip address, it should resolve correctly to the ip address by DNS without adding anything in the hosts file on your machine.

It definitely is not something caused or controlled within mojoPortal, it sounds like you have the settings correct in mojoPortal host name mapping (except you don't need any trailing slashes, that is not part of the host name, you also don't need any protocol like http://, that also is not part of the host name). I'm doing the very same thing on this site but the preferred host name is www.mojoportal.com so mojoportal.com redirects to www.mojoportal.com.

Hope that helps,

Joe

6/1/2012 12:57:49 PM

digitaliway

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

The DNS problem I had was that I forgot to add an record in the zone file for "http://domainname.com"

once I added both A records with www and without the www the site resolved fine.

each of my domains had a zone file with and without the www all pointing to the same IP of the website.

also in the main IIS site I needed to make sure that the bindings/host headers had entries with and without the www for all domain names.

after all that I added the host names to mojo for each site and it worked.

6/1/2012 9:54:03 PM

DavB.cs

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

Thank you Joe and Digitaliway,

I will be taking up my problem with Arvixe. When the domain pointer is configured (so that site #3 points to mojoportal site #1), it has an option which enables DNS by default and adds the following records (among others)

Name Type Data

[blank] A 123.123.123.123

www A 123.123.123.123

the [blank] column value is literally blank. I take this to mean that the domain without a prefix is set to go to the correct IP numbers (which in fact it does, because it shows my Site#1 from my mojoportal installation) but apparently the host headers are not set up correctly this way. It seems like they should be, but the fact is that it doesn't work. When I turn off the 'enable DNS' the site goes away (after a time) and my site #1 does not show up, further confirming that the interface provided by Arvixe works but only partially.

I have tried a great deal of varieties to get it to work without success, and I believe now that it's an Arvixe issue. So far I have been very pleased with Arvixe, and I am hoping they can help me clear this up.

I am also going to try removing the [blank] A record and trying a CNAME like so:

[blank] CNAME www.mydomain.com

perhaps that will work, it also seems like it should. Unfortunately this has been my first deep dive into the DNS waters. Thanks for your time, and I hope that others may benefit somehow.

6/2/2012 5:34:21 AM

Joe Audette

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

Hi,

"I take this to mean that the domain without a prefix is set to go to the correct IP numbers (which in fact it does, because it shows my Site#1 from my mojoportal installation)"

If it is reaching your mojoportal installation using the blank domain (ie without www) then DNS is setup correctly and no additional IIS host headers are needed. At that point setting up the host name mapping in mojoPortal should take care of it if you want it to resolve to a different site than your default site.

DNS and IIS host records can only point to your installation they don't point to specific site ids. As long as it is pointing to your installation then it should work fine to assign the host name to a specific site within the installation using the host name mapping in site settings.

If it doesn't bring up the correct site after assigning the host name mapping in mojoPortal, try touching web.config to receycle the app. Make sure the host name is not mapped to more than one site and make sure it is mapped to the correct site in site settings. Any host name that points to your installation but has no host name mapping in mojoPortal will resolve to the first site.

Hope that helps,

Joe

6/2/2012 12:50:18 PM

DavB.cs

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Re: host name with www works just http:// not working

This is resolved. Thanks for your time.

It turned out to be a PEBKAC issue... Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair... in other words this was entirely human error on my part. I had duplicate Host Name Mappings for the mydomain.com naming. It was resolving to my #1 site because I was explicitly telling it to. I didn't think to check the host name mapping section of my primary site.

Thanks for your help -DavB (with egg on face)