How to check if your website is really down

Sometimes you try and access your blog / website and you get a “Server not found” error in your browser. This does not automatically mean that your website is down. It could simply mean that your ISP is having problems reaching the website.

There are ways you can determine what is going on:

1. Ping - a ping sends a hello to a remote server and waits for a response. If the  response waits too long the ping times out. The ping is measured in milliseconds. You ping a site in unix or windows command prompt by writing ping website. In case of dnxpert.com you would write ping dnxpert.com. You can also use an online ping tool to ping websites.

2. Traceroute - traceroute traces the path your data takes to reach its destination. In windows the command is tracert destination. In unix it’s traceroute destination. To traceroute dnxpert you would write traceroute dnxpert.com. You can also use an online traceroute tool to do the same.

3. Check DNS of your domain names. If you have just set up your DNS records for a domain name you should be aware that it takes a couple of hours for the DNS records to propagate and start functioning. You can use a DNS report tool to check the status of your domains DNS records.

4. Use a proxy service. Using a proxy service to access your site is the same as going over to a friend’s place and checking out your site. A proxy service lets you use different paths to access a destination.

5. Ask a friend to check out your site. Perhaps a friend from another country?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 9:15 am and is filed under Domain News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.