Can anyone help me with Blogger/Custom domain/DNS issues?!.

[OneGrassRoot]

DUer going crazy here. I asked at the computer forum but it's very quiet there today. Posted at Bloggers board but they're swamped. I'm in deep shit here.

I've been over and over the steps and just can't see why the site isn't working.

Can anyone pleeeeeeez help?

Thanks. :)

[NJmaverick]

1. Are you sure it's a domain issue, and not a website issue?

Also it's a good idea to clean out the cache of your browser and internet connection.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. If I take it off the "custom domain", it comes up fine....

and, yes, I cleaned out the cache, though I only remembered to do that an hour or two ago. I've been struggling with this for 24 hours. LOL.

Thanks. :)

[NJmaverick]

3. do you have a link?

[OneGrassRoot]

4. If okay, I'll PM you....

every time I ask website questions at DU, they end up showing on Google as the primary hit for these sites. LOL

Thanks much. :)

[NJmaverick]

5. Your A record is missing

either it hasn't propagated or it wasn't configured correctly

[OneGrassRoot]

6. The A record should only have the 10-digit IP address, right?

I was given four different ones.

A 216.239.32.21
A 216.239.34.21
A 216.239.36.21
A 216.239.38.21

That's what I inserted.

So, the error message could be coming up because it needs to propagate? Wasn't sure if a different type of message would come up if that were the only issue.

Thanks again!

[NJmaverick]

7. Are you sure about those IP addresses? They are Google's IPs

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Yes, because it's a Blogger address that is involved. n/t

[NJmaverick]

9. I am knowledgeable, but not an expert

it's my understanding that those IP addresses should come back to your hosting company, not Google. Plus 4 addresses for your blog seems like a 3 too many.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. I just don't know....

I followed the directions given to others with the same questions at the Google Group for Blogger.

It's at mydomain.com (literally, the hosting site), where I have DNS management, and that's where I inserted the IP stuff and CNAME info, not at Blogger. All I had to do at Blogger was reset the publishing feature to custom domain.

Thanks for trying NJ! I appreciate it very, very much. Maybe it is just a propagating thing at this point. :)

[NJmaverick]

11. OK, I understand now what you are doing

Google has free blogging hosting (which is why those are Google IPs). mydomain.com naming company. If you followed the instructions correctly, it should work. Although looking at the Google instructions I didn't see where you put in any IP address, just a CName.

Other hosting services
Log in to your account on your hosting service's website, and go to the DNS management page.
Since CNAME records are special Domain Name Service (DNS) records, they may be in sections such as DNS Management or Name Server Management. It's possible that you will have to enable advanced settings to create a CNAME record.
Delete existing CNAME entries for the address you want to use with your blog.
Before entering a new CNAME record to point to Google, you should first delete any existing entries for the same alias. If you plan to transfer an existing web address to Blogger, you may want to copy any content currently at that address elsewhere first.
Use the information in the following table when you create your CNAME record.
If your service requires you to enter server information directly into the DNS tables, the entry below needs to have a type CNAME associated with them.
Host Name/Alias
Value/Destination

www ghs.google.com
* This is the part of your website's address that you designated. For instance, if you chose www.mydomain.com as the address, www is the host name.

MY NOTE- Don't let mydomain.com fool you. This is actually the new name you picked, not your naming companies adress.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. Okay, bear with me, please it's becoming gibberish a bit...lol

First, it's cool: I literally mean that my hosting company is Mydomain.com. My various URLs are inserted there, with the individual DNS control panels. I don't use "mydomain.com" in any of the DNS info. :)

Yes, at the basic Blogger info for custom domains, they only give the CNAME instruction. And, that's all I had to do with another site!

I did everything you kindly wrote above. (BTW, thanks for investigating on your end...but I know this is taking up your time...so sorry)

So, when it didn't work this time, the Blogger Helper group at Google Groups (linked to from the Blogger site itself) said the IPs would need to be inserted in the A value. So, I did.

You said:

If your service requires you to enter server information directly into the DNS tables, the entry below needs to have a type CNAME associated with them.
Host Name/Alias
Value/Destination

www ghs.google.com

* This is the part of your website's address that you designated. For instance, if you chose www.mydomain.com as the address, www is the host name.


Are you saying that if I have the URL as www.blahblah.com, but in the CNAME it's ghs.google.com, what I may need to do is change it to www.ghs.google.com?

I am indeed working with the full domain name, including the www. In fact, one of Blogger's other features in the publishing part is, after you switch over to "custom domain," it then offers another prompt where you can select for blahblah.com (without "www") to be forwarded automatically.

[NJmaverick]

13. I would make it www.ghs.google.com, just to be safe

most of the time it doesn't make a difference, but just to be sure...

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Thank you so very much! I'll give that a shot....

and otherwise will be patient since the instructions consistently say it takes 48 hours.

Maybe pointing something to Google takes longer than pointing elsewhere, for obvious reasons?

Who knows. Thanks again!

[NJmaverick]

15. 48 for full propagation, but it usually takes less time than that

12 hours usually does the trick for US based stuff (but it's still possible to take a bit longer)