Dynadot Help

Troubleshooting

• What does it mean when a website is cached and how do I clear my cache?

  Caching is the temporary storage of web documents such as HTML pages and images. Basically, your web browser stores copies of web pages you've visited recently to reduce its bandwidth usage, server load, and lag.This could be why your website is offline, why it seems like your name servers still aren't set, or why you can't see the changes you've made to your website.If you suspect this is the case, you can first try clicking "refresh" on your browser a few times. If this still does not work, you can clear your browser's cache to see if that is the problem. Each browser is different, but here are some links to the most popular browsers cache clearing instructions: Chrome Firefox Safari Internet Explorer Opera If any of these links don't provide the information you need to clear your cache, there are many other resources online that can help.You can see an un-cached view of your website, using our snapshot tool.Another good tip is to visit the website on a device after turning OFF the wifi. This should get you a real-time view page and confirm a local caching issue on the original machine.

• I just changed my name server settings. Why are they not updated yet?

  It takes time for all of the zone name servers located all over the world to update their lists. So, when you change your name server options in your Dynadot account, these changes must be updated to all zone name servers before your domain displays the correct web page. This is what people mean by waiting for their domain to resolve, since the zone name servers will, at first, contain your old name server settings until they update. Depending on the central registry (Verisign, etc.), they may update within five minutes or (very rarely) take a whole day to update.Use the IP lookup tool in your Dynadot account to determine if your name server settings have been propagated.

• Why is my website offline?

  There are many reasons why you may not be able to see your website. The majority of these reasons fall into these 3 categories: If you recently set your name servers, your settings may not have propagated yet. You can do an IP lookup in your Dynadot account to see if your new name server settings have been propagated through the system. If they haven't propagated yet, you'll see a "name servers misconfigured" error. The website or the old name server settings for your domain are cached. If you aren't getting the "name servers misconfigured" error in your IP lookup, you can try refreshing your site a few times. If that doesn't work, you can try clearing your cache. Click on "cached" above for more information & browser instructions. Your web host has not set up their name servers to handle web requests for your domain yet. We recommend contacting your web host about the issue.

• Why are my forwarded messages not coming through?

  If you are using our email forwarding service (free with domain registration), all emails that arrive in your inbox are sent over a common server, even those sent from outside sources. When you mark unwanted emails as "spam," email providers such as Yahoo, Gmail, and Comcast may end up blocking the forwarding server, believing it to be a spam source. Even though these messages are coming from 3rd party sources, the result is that you will end up blocking your own messages.While it does seem counter-intuitive, we recommend not flagging forwarded messages as spam, or using another email provider altogether.NOTE: This applies to email forwarding only. Email addresses created in the Email plan are not affected.

• When the first domain record is a CNAME, why are MX records not allowed?

  RFC 1034 published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recommends the following: "If a CNAME resource record is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different. This rule also insures that a cached CNAME can be used without checking with an authoritative server for other resource record types."We do have a workaround for this issue.

• I am trying to set my name servers, but the page just reloads when I click on it. Why?

  If you are trying to access your domain's name server settings and the page is simply reloading, this is because you need to verify your contact record. When you create a new contact record, you must verify it in our system. To do this, we send you an email with a link that you can use to complete the verification. This email is sent to the registrant email address indicated on that contact record.If you do not have this email, you can request to have the Contact Record Whois Verification email resent from within your account.