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I'm trying to run split testing on some landing pages I "designed" with Unbounce, but it requires that I set the CNAME record for my domain/sub-domain and I'm having trouble figuring out what is the right way to do it. My host is arvixe (www.arvixe.com) and their customer support has failed to help me for the past 5 days (I spoke to them multiple times).

I followed the directions for setting the CNAME record and I was able to set the CNAME record, but I'm consistently unable to verify that the CNAME record is set up correctly. I followed the instructions on Unbounce to verify the CNAME record for my sub-domain (beta.devboost.com) and here are the results:

No records found
reverse lookup  smtp diag   port scan   blacklist

Reported by ns1.SNARE.arvixe.com on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 5:49:57 PM (GMT-6)

Here is my DNS zone record from the control panel of my host (last record, CNAME unbouncepages.com): DNS Zone Record

Is there something wrong with my DNS Zone Record? What's the right way to do this?

Update:
I also have a CNAME record for beta in my root domain (devboost.com): enter image description here

I've updated my sub-domain record now: I've removed most of the other DNS records and I've removed the beta label for the CNAME record: enter image description here

Is that correct? Is there anything else I need to do?

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  • You have more problems with zone than CNAME Nov 11, 2011 at 3:01
  • >nslookup beta.devboost.com Non-authoritative answer: Name: beta.devboost.com Address: 65.98.33.193 Nov 11, 2011 at 3:02
  • >nslookup mail.devboost.com Non-authoritative answer: Name: ghs.l.google.com Address: 209.85.143.121 Aliases: mail.devboost.com, ghs.google.com Nov 11, 2011 at 3:03
  • @LazyBadger, I registered my domain with a different provider and I transferred hosting to arvixe.com, so I assume that this is the reason I'm getting the non-authoritative answer. However, and forgive my ignorance, I'm not sure why that would be a problem...
    – Kiril
    Nov 11, 2011 at 4:04
  • Write here your business-task, not technical - you mess all in technical part into terrible mix Nov 11, 2011 at 15:10

2 Answers 2

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Short answer: all extremely bad&mad

Long answer

> Quering 65.98.33.192 for {beta.devboost.com.,ANY}
; Answer ID: 18467  QR: true  OPCODE: QUERY  AA: true  TC: false  RD: true
; RA: false  RCODE: NOERROR  qc 1  an 6  au 0  ad 2

; Question section:
;beta.devboost.com. IN ANY

; Answer section:
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN MX 10 mail.beta.devboost.com. 
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN MX 21 mail2.beta.devboost.com. 
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN A 65.98.33.193 
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN SOA ns1.SNARE.arvixe.com. hostmaster.beta.devboost.com. 2011111006 3600 600 1209600 86400 
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN NS ns2.SNARE.arvixe.com. 
beta.devboost.com. 1d IN NS ns1.SNARE.arvixe.com. 

Ok, it seems as subdomain of devboost, but - I can't AXFR devboost zone from primary NS (bad one) for verify, screenshot show me useless CNAME record instead of mandatory NS glue records (bad two)

ADD: Final observaton

Well, now I have read Unbounce "KB" and I have to say only one: "Forget this crap". In order to get landing page on Unbounce web-server for host beta.devboost.com in domain devboost.com you have

  • remove subdomain beta., totally
  • add RR (host) beta into domain devboost.com with type CNAME, pointing to unbouncepages.com (record idetical to CNAME record on screenshot for beta. subdomain)I overlooked CNAME, you already have it in zone
  • Nothing more, after expiration time for old bad data you'll see expected result
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  • RA: false means also ns1.SNARE.arvixe.com. not considered as authoritative for domain beta. Nov 11, 2011 at 15:06
  • ! ROCK ON!!!! That was it! Thanks a lot for the help!
    – Kiril
    Nov 12, 2011 at 0:44
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As specified your CNAME is for beta.beta.devboost.com. If you have a CNAME for beta.devboost.com it has to be specified in the devboost.com domain. Also, you can't have any other records NS, MX, SOA, sub-domains, etc for beta.deboost.com if it is a CNAME.

EDIT You need to remove all the beta sub-domain records for the sub-domain, and the domain. You may need to remove the NS records for beta from the domain first. By configuring NS records for the sub-domain, you are delegating authority for the sub-domain to those name servers.

To have a CNAME for beta, the CNAME needs to be defined in the devboost.com domain, and be the only record for beta. As a CNAME beta is not allowed to have sub-domains, or any other records.

It is not necessary to delegate to sub-domains. These can be handled by the domain. Defining mail.beta in the domain is equivalent to defining mail in the beta sub-domain.

4
  • I tried to delete the NS, but the I get an error message: "Cannot delete NS record - DNS zone must include at least two NS records." I have deleted everything else, but the NS, the CNAME records and the records for cp, ftp and mail. Should I delete the cp, ftp and mail records as well?
    – Kiril
    Nov 11, 2011 at 3:57
  • You need to remove the delegation from devboost.com and define the CNAME record there.
    – BillThor
    Nov 11, 2011 at 4:04
  • what do you mean when you say "the delegation from devboost.com"? In devboost.com, I also has a CNAME record for beta and it's also pointing to unbouncepages.com, is that correct? Sorry, I'm just a total noob when it comes to web hosting.
    – Kiril
    Nov 11, 2011 at 4:13
  • It's not webhosting, it's hostmastering, which also a task of professionals Nov 11, 2011 at 15:07

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