CentOS - May 2009 - URL of website doesn't point anymore to CentOS/Drupal installation

sorry for the vague subject, but I couldn't find a better one.

I have the website http://digifreedom.net running on a Centos 4 VPS
with Apache and Drupal 6.10 . This is a multisite Drupal setup: only
one installation, with subdirectories in sites/, and a separate mysql
database for each website. For several reasons, I had setup DNS,
drupal and everything to work without the www prefix on domain
names. In other words, http://digifreedom.net is OK,
www.digifreedom.net was never used.

Everything worked perfectly for months, if not years. Five minutes
ago, somebody wrote to me that a digifreedom.net URL I suggested him
to read "doesn't work".

I checked, and what happens now is that, if I type
http://digifreedom.net/node/82 the browser is immediately redirected
to www.digifreedom.net/node/82, which (of course) returns an error
message:

"Firefox can't find the server at www.digifreedom.net"

That error message is OK, because I had NOT set up DNS and apache to
answer to that address. What I don't get is why http://digifreedom.net
now becomes www.digifreedom.net. I haven't changed anything myself in
DNS, drupal or apache config for many weeks, so why all of a sudden
something started to behave differently?

The weirdest thing is that this "forced redirection" from example.com
to www.example.com happens with some, but not all of the other domains
configured in the same way and running on the same server off the same
Apache/Drupal installation!

How can I find, at least, which piece of the puzzle is responsible for
this problem? I am aware that probably this isn't even a centos issue,
I just need a pointer in the right direction.

TIA,
	Marco

-- 
Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84

michel at michel:~/test$ wget http://digifreedom.net
--2009-05-17 00:45:37--  http://digifreedom.net/
Resolving digifreedom.net... failed: Name or service not known.
wget: unable to resolve host address `digifreedom.net'
michel at michel:~/test$ wget http://www.digifreedom.net/
--2009-05-17 00:46:24--  http://www.digifreedom.net/
Resolving www.digifreedom.net... failed: Name or service not known.
wget: unable to resolve host address `www.digifreedom.net'
michel at michel:~/test$ 





Op zondag 17-05-2009 om 00:36 uur [tijdzone +0200], schreef M.
Fioretti:
> sorry for the vague subject, but I couldn't find a better one.
> 
> I have the website http://digifreedom.net running on a Centos 4 VPS
> with Apache and Drupal 6.10 . This is a multisite Drupal setup: only
> one installation, with subdirectories in sites/, and a separate mysql
> database for each website. For several reasons, I had setup DNS,
> drupal and everything to work without the www prefix on domain
> names. In other words, http://digifreedom.net is OK,
> www.digifreedom.net was never used.
> 
> Everything worked perfectly for months, if not years. Five minutes
> ago, somebody wrote to me that a digifreedom.net URL I suggested him
> to read "doesn't work".
> 
> I checked, and what happens now is that, if I type
> http://digifreedom.net/node/82 the browser is immediately redirected
> to www.digifreedom.net/node/82, which (of course) returns an error
> message:
> 
> "Firefox can't find the server at www.digifreedom.net"
> 
> That error message is OK, because I had NOT set up DNS and apache to
> answer to that address. What I don't get is why http://digifreedom.net
> now becomes www.digifreedom.net. I haven't changed anything myself in
> DNS, drupal or apache config for many weeks, so why all of a sudden
> something started to behave differently?
> 
> The weirdest thing is that this "forced redirection" from
example.com
> to www.example.com happens with some, but not all of the other domains
> configured in the same way and running on the same server off the same
> Apache/Drupal installation!
> 
> How can I find, at least, which piece of the puzzle is responsible for
> this problem? I am aware that probably this isn't even a centos issue,
> I just need a pointer in the right direction.
> 
> TIA,
> 	Marco
>

M. Fioretti wrote:
> 
> Everything worked perfectly for months, if not years. Five minutes
> ago, somebody wrote to me that a digifreedom.net URL I suggested him
> to read "doesn't work".
> 
...and a few minutes before that someone was editing your domain:

whois digifreedom.net

    Domain Name: DIGIFREEDOM.NET
    Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
    Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
    Referral URL: http://domainhelp.opensrs.net
    Name Server: A.NS.BYTEMARK.CO.UK
    Name Server: B.NS.BYTEMARK.CO.UK
    Name Server: C.NS.BYTEMARK.CO.UK
    Status: clientDeleteProhibited
    Status: clientHold
    Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Status: clientUpdateProhibited
    Updated Date: 16-may-2009
    Creation Date: 15-may-2006
    Expiration Date: 15-may-2010

 >>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 16 May 2009 23:02:28 UTC
<<<


Your DNS looks missing/dead. Did someone play with the DNS records/servers?

On Sun, May 17, 2009 00:36:00 AM +0200, Marco Fioretti wrote:
> I have the website http://digifreedom.net running on a Centos 4 VPS
> with Apache and Drupal 6.10... Everything worked perfectly for
> months, if not years... what happens now is that, if I type
> http://digifreedom.net/node/82 the browser is immediately redirected
> to www.digifreedom.net/node/82, which (of course) returns an error
> message: "Firefox can't find the server at
www.digifreedom.net"
Thanks to all the members of this list who immediately replied, both
here and privately, explaining what the now obvious, stupid problem
was: the domain registration had expired a few hours earlier.

I had inconsciously excluded this possibility because I was *sure* all
payments were OK. Due to a misunderstanding between me and the ISP,
they thought I knew I should proceed myself, I thought that also
domain renewals would be handled automatically by their system.

After you helped me to realize this wasn't the case, I went back to
the control panel to pay and everything is OK now.

Thanks again!
       Marco
-- 
Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84