Domain forwarding not working ...used to work

[mavin]

I have a domain www.techmavin.com that forwards to techmavin.yolasite.com.

It used to forward ok until a month ago.

Godaddy support says it works on their server.

It works on my phone when not connected to my wifi.

I am using Forwarding only no masking.

Default nameservers

But I get this error:

This site can’t be reached

www.techmavin.com took too long to respond.

Try:

• Checking the connection
• Checking the proxy and the firewall
• Running Windows Network Diagnostics

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

I am able to ping and tracert on the PC to techmavin.com

A record points to Godaddy forwarding server.

I have CNAME for www pointing to @

I have another site on another provider that forwards fine.

Something has changed at GODADDY.

Any ideas how to fix the issue?

[PL281]

@mavin 

I would suggest clearing your cache and restarting your modem - I just tried with and without the www and it forwarded just fine for me

[mavin]

It now works in Firefox but not in Chrome, Edge and IE. Anyway to make forwarding work in all browsers?

[PL281]

@mavin 

This is something on your local device - nothing from the server / visitor side

[mavin]

After running windows network diagnostics I get the following.

It has something to do with the way GoDaddy is forwarding URLs. Something must have changed from a few months ago. As it used to work in all browsers.

Windows Network Diagnostics Publisher details

Issues found
website (www.techmavin.com) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts.website (www.techmavin.com) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts.
The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 80, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.  Detected Detected
Contact the service provider or owner of the remote system for further assistance, or try again later Completed
 

Issues found Detection details

6 website (www.techmavin.com) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts. Detected Detected
 
The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 80, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.  
Contact the service provider or owner of the remote system for further assistance, or try again later Completed
 
 

Detection details Expand

InformationalNetwork Diagnostics Log
File Name:  CD7A8AC9-8C76-43D2-9506-230E1441E38F.Diagnose.0.etl
 
InformationalOther Networking Configuration and Logs
File Name:  NetworkConfiguration.cab
 
Collection information
Windows Version: 10.0
Architecture: x64
Time: Monday, January 4, 2021 3:58:54 PM

Publisher details Expand

Windows Network Diagnostics
Detects problems with network connectivity.
Package Version: 4.0
Publisher: Microsoft Windows

[PL281]

@mavin 

I'm not sure what to tell you other than it is something with your local computer / modem - There isn't anything that has changed on the GoDaddy side.

From a tech perspective, all that this is doing is connecting to the GoDaddy server and doing a 301 redirect to the URL you've entered 

[mavin]

The 301 forwarding should be platform and browser independent. I have another URL that has absolutely no issues and forwards perfectly on the same computer and with the same LAN and ISP. Further, a few months ago I had no issues with www.techmavin.com.

Some change has been done @ GODADDY either in their servers or software. I read in a reddit post that they were shortening forwarded URLs.

If the problem is at my machine why was it working a few months ago? I am still using the same PC, same router and same ISP.

[JesseW]

Hi @mavin. Thanks for posting. 301 redirects are platform independent. What @PL281 is trying to convey is that this seems to be something specific to either your computer or network. Computers and networks are like people, while they all have similar characteristics, there are enough differences to make each one unique. It's entirely possible that something changed in your computer or network within the window of time you're asking about, even if you didn't change anything intentionally.

A few things I would suggest taking a look at:

• Look up the URLs you're using on https://httpstatus.io/. This will show you the server response codes and redirect paths. 
• Make sure that none of the browsers/devices you're using are adding HTTPS to your URL. This can sometimes happen due to caching or settings. HTTPS will not work with forwarded URLs. 

In regard to the shortening that you may have read about, we changed our forwarding back end to from an older system to a newer system in late 2018/early 2019. That system is the same one we used for our URL shortening service. That may have been what the Reddit post was talking about, but it's hard to say for sure without looking at the actual post. 

[mavin]

Thanks. I checked HTTP Status Code Checker | httpstatus.io

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HTTP Status Code Checker | httpstatus.io


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got the following:
301,http://,techmavin.com,

200,http://,techmavin.yolasite.com,
However the Redirect latency is 342.35 ms which is poor.
Thanks,
Mavin

[mavin]

I transferred my domain to another provider and it now works with masking. It was a Godaddy problem.

[GDC_User]

I am having the same problem.  Seems to be a common (and unsolvable) issue on GoDaddy.

[GDC_User]

Domain URL forwarding that previously worked, and new domain forwarding attempts, now do not work.  Attempts to access these domains fails with ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT.

I have attempted this in Private browser windows in both Chrome and Edge.  The target webpage loads without problem on its own, or using the "Preview" function in the domain forwarding setup.  The domain forwarding URL is set the have an http (not https) prefix.  I am not on any network (that I know of), just connected by WiFi directly to my Verizon FIOS router at home.

And this may be a related or unrelated issue, but when I attempt to reconfigure the domain forwarding for some of the domains, I get the following error when I click Save:  "There was an error processing your request. Please try again. If this issue continues, contact support."

Any tips?

[GDC_User]

Just a follow-up while I'm waiting for a response here...

The error mentioned in my last paragraph ("There was an error processing your request.") is intermittent and seems unrelated to the main issue (time out errors).

In addition to all of the things I tried that are mentioned in my original post, I've now attempted to remove domain forwarding (this works and redirects the domain to the "Parked" page) and then subsequently reconfigure the domain forwarding.  Unfortunately, this did not help -- the domain always fails to resolve with ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT errors.  Thus, I have now tried every single suggestion that I was able to find by searching the forum for similar questions, and I'm out of ideas.

I noticed that setting up domain forwarding changes the DNS "A" record to the IP address 184.168.131.241.  If I just type this IP address directly into my browser's address bar, I also get the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error, so this may be part of the problem.  However, this IP address can be reached with a 70-ms round-trip time using ping, so the serevr certainly isn't down (it's just not responding to HTTP or HTTPS requests).  I have also tried http://ip-184-168-131-241.ip.secureserver.net/ and https://ip-184-168-131-241.ip.secureserver.net/ in the browser's address bar, which both also fail with ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT.

How do I get domain forwarding to work??? Help!

[PL281]

@GDC_User 

What is your domain - The IP is correct as that is the GoDaddy forwarding server and not an IP assigned specifically to you

[GDC_User]

If you use your browser to navigate to 184.168.131.241, is it supposed to deliver some webpage, or is it normal for it to time out?

I have several forwarding domains.  One that you can look at is syens.net.  It used to forward fine, but now nothing I try works.

[PL281]

@GDC_User

1) no page is meant to be displayed
2) I see you are using masking on that page to load google. More and
more sites are blocking be loaded in an iframe and therefore you
cannot use forwarding with masking

[GDC_User]

@PL281

I have previously tried every combination of masked, unmasked, temporary, or permanent.  Nothing worked.  Now, I have just removed the masking on the syens.net forward, in case you want to test it again.

P.S. The forwarding to Google is just for testing purposes; I haven't been able to make this work for any target URL. 

[PL281]

@GDC_User 

I just went to http://syens.net and it forwarded to google without issue.

I'm on a Mac using Xfinity for my internet connection in Florida

[GDC_User]

That is interesting, but it doesn't work consistently (and for my computer, which is not in an esoteric environment, it never works).  Attached is recent screenshot from httpstatus.io.

[PL281]

@GDC_User 

Odd  - I get ok on both 

[GDC_User]

@PL281 

For some reason, GoDaddy's implementation of domain forwarding is not robust.  It does work consistently, which is bad for anybody who relies on domain forwarding to drive traffic.

Ultimately, I found that the best solution was the one proposed by @mavin in their thread:  Simply switch the DNS to another provider who has a more robust implementation of domain redirect services.  Now it works with no problem!