Optimizing to avoid DNS subdomain error snagging

[bj]

You might want to first read this article about DNS Error Adserving at the Washington Post to understand what I'm talking about.

After reading the article I punched into my browser location bar blah.kickasswebdesign.com and sure enough, my own ISP is highjacking MY subdomain, and serving ads on it. I am NOT a happy camper about this.

Now, it mentions in the article that there's a way to wildcard redirect so that any subdomain typed in will redirect to my main domain (I don't use subs.) Can anyone tell me the proper .htaccess syntax so I can fix this mess?

I'd also advise you to check your own domains. Earthlink isn't the only ISP doing this. QWest and Verizon are also mentioned, and I'm sure there are others.

[seiretto]

You pays for what you get! Buy cheap hosting and expect it to be the dogs b**** then moan as the host optimises its possible profits in a way you do not agree with, in my opinion sorry but thats TUFF!
(it reminds me of when the 404 page not found was being hijacked by some cheap and nasty hosts, probably is still too).

Would we do either of these things? NO, NEVER.

The solution is not with htaccess as their hijacking will be at DNS level.

Solution: Host with a decent provider.

[speed]

As it looks like all the subdomains are going to your site you could try the following in .htaccess:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.kickasswebdesign\.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.kickasswebdesign.com/$1 [R=301,L]

That should redirect from all non-www versions to www, if that doesn't work then as said above change host.

[bj]

Thanks, speed, my hosts both fixed all my sites last night. It had to be done through a DNS entry and httpd.config on a domain by domain basis. Apparently on shared hosting this is the way it needs to be handled.

Solution: Host with a decent provider.

This wasn't being done at the hosting level, it was being done at the ISP level, on the last mile. As they say on Slashdot, RTFA.

[bj]

seiretto, maybe this will explain it better! ROFL!

[speed]

Originally Posted by bj

Thanks, speed, my hosts both fixed all my sites last night. It had to be done through a DNS entry and httpd.config on a domain by domain basis. Apparently on shared hosting this is the way it needs to be handled.

Well I did wonder, however I wouldn't call it 100% fixed as I still seem to be able to access your site as www.kickasswebdesign.com, blah.kickasswebdesign.com, paul.kickasswebdesign.com or just about anything else I can think of, which means your site content is available on an infinite number of sub-domains.

If I was malicious and pointed a few links at one of them are you going to get penalised for duplicate content?

I'm not an SEO but I know one, so based on his advice I like to be cautious about such things and have my site show once on one and only one domain/sub-domain e.g. www.kickasswebdesign.com and I always redirect the non-www to the www version or the other way around.

Normally with shared hosting the web server and DNS only respond to the domain you created the account for, both with and without the www, and any sub-domains you add. If you don't create blah.kickasswebdesign.com then the server won't respond to it.

[seiretto]

Originally Posted by bj

seiretto, maybe this will explain it better! ROFL!

WHY THE HECK would you want any sub-domain that does not exist or should not ever exist to be displaying, as "speed" correctly stated, duplicated information????

bj you appear to be way of the mark!

[bj]

Oops, good catch. blah.bitchslappin.net and all others work fine. blah.kickasswebdesign not. I just fired off a support request again. *sigh*

[speed]

Originally Posted by bj

Oops, good catch. blah.bitchslappin.net and all others work fine. blah.kickasswebdesign not. I just fired off a support request again. *sigh*

Actually blah.bitchslappin.net isn't correct, I just went there with Firefox live http headers plugin on and that sub-domain returned 302 Moved Temporarily. It should return 301 Moved Permanently.

However as that sub-domain isn't actively used it should not exist, what a mess.

[seiretto]

A mess in deed!

If someone wanted to be malicious they could submit some horrible sub-domains to search engines like:
"all-we-do-is-spam.[domain in question]"
"get-your-viagra-here.[domain in question]"

I suggest bj gets it fixed or hosted properly ASAP.

[speed]

I'm being slow here and was blaming the hosting company for a stupid DNS setup which is not the case, well it is a stupid setup but it's not their fault.

There's 2 different issues here but as I see it the 2nd is caused but the 1st.

The first issue is the ISP is serving ads when their DNS servers detect there's no domain match. Using your own or some other DNS servers resolves that for you but not other uses of the ISP visiting your site.

The second issue is the host is wildcarding the sub-domains and serving the site on any requested.

This seconds issue is caused because you had to add a wildcard A record to stop the ads showing, therefore you need to correct this with a .htaccess and permanent redirects.

However this also means that if you go to a sub-domain of my domain then you'll see ads because you are using the ISP to resolve site names, therefore I and indeed ALL websites would need to create wildcard A records to stop the ISPs showing ads under our domain names.

Put another way it doesn't actually matter where you host your site if the visitor is using their ISP to resolve domain names then they may see ads on your unused subdomains, unless you accept traffic for any and all subdomains.

To answer your question on your blog about using your own nameservers, yes it is possible if you have a dedicated server or VPS, providing your IP is permitted to issue the queries.

[wige]

The thing is that there are several cases where you run into problems, as speed mentions. There is a three step fix, but so far you are at step two.

The first thing you have to do is wildcard your DNS entry, so that all subdomains that don't have an entry will be sent to the same IP address as your main site.

The second thing is that the server must properly handle all these possible subdomains. Generally, this is done by wildcarding the server. Otherwise, the server will respond with an "Invalid Request" message that the ISPs (or Google toolbar, soon) can intercept and alter. This is usually done in the virtual server configuration, and will generally be done by the support team of your hosting company. This change will cause all requests to made up subdomains to see the same content. This is where you are right now, and where you should be until step three.

The third step is to create the rewrite rule mentioned above in the .htaccess file in the root directory of your web site. This will cause the server to redirect all requests to any of the made up subdomains to the correct main subdomain with a proper 301 redirect.

Originally Posted by speed

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.kickasswebdesign\.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.kickasswebdesign.com/$1 [R=301,L]