Are we hosting this site or not??

jfrizelle · #1 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 06:00 AM

Hi,

This is a bit strange... we used to host a website for a company, and I'm not sure if we still do - we were getting out of the hosting business, concentrating on other things instead.

When I do an IP lookup on the company's website address, it does point to an IP address within our range. So I went onto our webserver (we host a small number of websites), went into IIS and it's in there.

Anyway, on this company's homepage our old logo is appearing, so I copied the correct logo into their Images folder, and changed the homepage code to show the new logo.

Back to the browser, hit F5 - old image still showing. Right-click, view source - code still shows that it's displaying the old logo.

I went back into IIS and stopped the site, just to check that it would no longer be available - back to browser again, hit F5, website is still up and running.

So according to the IP lookup (I used Whois - IP Address - Domain Name Lookup) it would seem that the site is still hosted on our server, yet the changes I make are not being reflected.

Edited to add: when I type the IP address directly into the browser, I get an error "The system cannot find the file specified."

Any ideas?

Thanks,
J.

**wige** · #2 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 10:32 AM

Interesting situation. It is possible that there is some redundancy that is causing the server to be backed up elsewhere on your network (for example if you are in a Windows domain forest, there may be a failover that makes the site accessible on another server) or it is possible that you get routed differently internally. If you would like, I could try to track it down for you. Just PM me with the domain name, and the IP address that it currently shows up as being on, and I can try to find where the site actually is.

RichAtVNS · #3 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 06:26 PM

You guys can't be serious with this one???????

HMMMMMMMM....
is your browser IE or aol?

If so your browser is caching the pages.

And the images.....

a53mp · #4 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

You guys can't be serious with this one???????

HMMMMMMMM....
is your browser IE or aol?

If so your browser is caching the pages.

And the images.....

Yeah... I'm thinking it's probably good you are getting out of this business. lol

LinksAndTraffic · #5 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

You guys can't be serious with this one???????

HMMMMMMMM....
is your browser IE or aol?

If so your browser is caching the pages.

And the images.....

Absolutely! Clear your cache, then reload.

datetopia · #6 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 07:00 PM

Haha... traceroute it.

nashville · #7 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 07:46 PM

Just send them a bill and they will tell you

Sorry I could not resist.

deepsand · #8 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichAtVNS

You guys can't be serious with this one???????

HMMMMMMMM....
is your browser IE or aol?

If so your browser is caching the pages.

Not necessarily so.

I've a similar situation, where there is no question re. the host, file uploads work just fine, and yet, changes to a particular file are not being reflected on any view, using any machine!

joezstuff · #9 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 07:58 PM

I was trying to put another button on my home page.
On Expression Web it looks great but it won't publish.
I have never had this problem.

I changed a few littlte things but it won't show the link button
www.theoakswatch.com

SeeMyBiz · #10 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 08:07 PM

In spite of some of the sarcastic comments - please let us know the answer if you find it. The answer may seem simple and forthcoming to some, but for some of us more experienced in life, we know things are not always what they may seem. Sometimes an answer is too simple to see and at times may be difficult but elusive; I have seen many an expert stumped by a simple problem that they knew the answer to.

You asked a great question and to be rudely reprimanded by some folks here is really unfortunate. I hope you find your answer.

Best!

LuckyCharms · #11 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a53mp

Yeah... I'm thinking it's probably good you are getting out of this business. lol

I was thinking the same thing too. Then again, the initial post just looks like an attempt to spam the url for the whois lookup script. Notice the anchor text and the fact the op hasn't responded to the thread.

deepsand · #12 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyCharms

I was thinking the same thing too. Then again, the initial post just looks like an attempt to spam the url for the whois lookup script.

If that's a criteria for being "spam," then nearly everyone here is a spammer, including yourself by virtue of your Signature Links.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyCharms

Notice the anchor text and the fact the op hasn't responded to the thread.

Also, notice the time of the OP's opening post; and then, consider that we know neither his Time Zone not his own personal schedule.

subsystems · #13 (**permalink**) 10-08-2008, 10:48 PM

I've run into this numerous times.
The webserver is likely caching the files. A reboot of the server would reveal this. Of course you could simply restart IIS if it is a Windows Box.

I've also seen issues where I make a change to a file on the website and some time later the file reverts back to a previous state. It is like the file has not been written to disk and is still in the page file. You check the file and it shows the changes. Restart the server and the file goes back to what it was before. Very frustrating when the server starts throwing up 500 Internal Server errors because only some of the files have saved correctly.

ManagedLinks · #14 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 12:55 AM

Ping Domain name returns ip address whois records may be outdated
nslookup can get lots of DNS info
restart IIS
quit the hosting business if you don't now the basics you are stealing people money

NetProwler · #15 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 01:01 AM

>> when I type the IP address directly into the browser, I get an error "The system cannot find the file specified."

It is quite natural. Your server has many Vhosts set up and the Virtual hosting is based on domain names. So if you just give the IP address the server will try to locate the file in the main server's document root.

As for the pages/images not getting updated, you may have a caching system in between you and the HTTP server.

madjohn · #16 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 05:43 AM

My two 'spams' worth..! :P

Here's a simple answer: have you uploaded your image into the wrong folder? It's quite simple to sometimes upload a file without specifically drag-n-dropping it into the correct folder. The directory path on the remote server may be different to that on your local server.

Visually check that the file (image) is in the right place.

Nice.

jfrizelle · #17 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 05:46 AM

Wow, lots of nasty replies there! I didn't say that I personally am hosting the site - the company I work for USED to do hosting - I'm just trying to figure out a problem. My time zone and other commitments prevented me from checking back until now. And please - I'm not trying to spam any site.

Thanks for the genuine replies. I've refreshed the page in IE, Firefox, Opera - and they're all showing the old logo. We still host our own website (on the same server as the one giving the problem - we only have one webserver, btw), and I maintain the site and have NEVER come across this problem - on our website I update a page, and bingo, the changes are live immediately when I refresh the page in the browser.

I've restarted IIS and it made no difference. I pinged the domain name and it also shows the same IP address - one in our range. I also did an NSlookup on it and it shows the same IP address.

I downloaded VisualRoute to do a traceroute, and it showed 6 hops, but also said that the host could not be reached "it does not respond to VisualRoute's diagnostic packets. Hops after hop 4 could not be identified - this is usually indicative of a firewall at that point". It did show a header saying 'Report for <website address> [IP Address]' and sure enough it's the same IP address as all the other tests.

As far as I knew we had stopped hosting this company's website some time back...

jfrizelle · #18 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 05:50 AM

Hi Madjohn, thanks for your spam!

The image is uploaded into the right place alright. I've given it a different name and I've changed the code to point to the new image name. Also the image was a link and I've removed that link... but when I 'View Source' the code hasn't changed.

J.

madjohn · #19 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 05:58 AM

Did you also re-upload the .html file?
Sorry, I'm sure you have but as already mentioned, it's sometimes the easiest of mistakes (that I've made myself!! lol)

jfrizelle · #20 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 06:05 AM

Not that simple unfortunately, but a nice idea!

I RDP'd into the server, went into IIS to see the home directory, and went straight to the home directory to edit the live file. They're the only files I can find for this company, there is no sign of any test/design version.

But also I stopped the site in IIS - surely that should kill it until I restart it again?? But it didn't - stop the site, refresh my browser (any browser) and the site is still alive and kicking...!

madjohn · #21 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 06:42 AM

Ok. Odd.

With my limited knowledge, I am thinking that they have placed their website with another host provider but not removed your logo from it. Even though the IP is within your IP range (here's where I start looking dumb) can it not have the same address IP address if the DNS is pointing to a different host? The DNS woudl resolve to the host and then the host allocate an IP in the same range as yours but on it's 'local' hosting network.

I need an aspirin...!

jfrizelle · #22 (**permalink**) 10-09-2008, 06:48 AM

Hmmm, but the whole point of a DNS record is to point a particular domain name at a specific unique IP address.

Like storing contacts on your phone - the phone number you specify for a contact is a unique phone number which can only connect to one destination.

You need an aspirin? I need a brandy!!