DNS – Thesis Hosting

One computer on Network Slow Internet Connection: Simple Fixes

When most of the computers on a network are running fine, but one computer on network has a very slow connection, it can be a little crazy-making trying to troubleshoot.

If you’re me, you go more than a little crazy because you know very little about networking. All I knew was that something was very wrong with my speeds.

You can verify that it’s a problem with one specific PC by running a speed test on the sluggish computer and also on another that appears to be functioning properly. (If you don’t have access to test another computer, try using a phone connected to the same wireless network to compare.)

Don’t ask me to explain these fixes or why they can work, because that’s above my pay grade. I can tell you that these are safe to try and may help.

Method One: Flushing DNS

press windows logo key
type “cmd” to find command prompt
select “run as administrator” and allow the program permission to make changes

Then type the following commands into the command prompt box, in this order:

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset

You’ll want to restart your computer after running these commands, and then return to the speed test. You may also want to retry the speed test in a few minutes to make sure the fix “sticks.”

Method Two: Fix Wireless Connection

Last time this was an issue, I had something fishy going on with my wireless connection. So check your wireless.

But take note: while the network indicator I first looked at (accessed from the computer’s Taskbar) said my wireless was fine, going into the control panel to check gave different results: it said the wireless was disconnected.

You can open the right location this way:

Get to the Run dialog (got by pressing Win + R keys) and click OK to open the interface. Type in this and return: input ncpa.cpl

This is what you’ll see…

Make sure you’re checking your wireless connection in the control panel, under Network and Internet/Network Connections.

After toggling the connection on and off a couple of times, it now was saying I was, indeed connected and I got my high speeds back.

Note: I also noticed while the wireless network was disconnected, DNS for certain websites wasn’t working, meaning I could go to some websites but not others. This was super obvious since one of the sites that wasn’t working for me was the speed testing site.

I will not even remotely hint that I understand wireless networking, why Windows shows the wireless connection as just fine in one place but not in another, or how this interacts with DNS.

Just sharing what worked for me, since this is a crazy annoying problem and I wanted to have a record of what I did in case it happens again and maybe help somebody else dealing with the same.

Good luck to you!

SPF Records for Google Apps Email

If you’re using Google Apps for email–and it’s a solid choice with lots of storage space, spam management tools and integration with other free services–after creating the appropriate DNS records to route your email, you’ll want to add an SPF Record. This ensures better email delivery and prevents vile spammers from forging their spam as having come from you!

Some domain registrars give you adequate tools to add an SPF record directly, but if not, it’s simple enough to add it directly in WHM. ((Thanks to this helpful article on Tech Talk Point.))

You’re using the “Edit Zone” command; select the zone for the domain in question, and add a new text record.

Google Apps Mail SPF

Use domain.com. (keeping period at the end intact) as the entry, and the code below for the text part of the record (keeping quotes intact).

"v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"

See? That didn’t hurt much.

Hosting Subdomain on a Different Server than Main Domain

There may be times where you want to host a subdomain on a different server than the main domain. To accomplish this, you need an A record, added either at the domain registrar if possible, or the server that hosts mydomain.com.

sub.mydomain.com. 14400 IN  A  XXX.XXX.XXX

The X’s should be replaced by the target server’s IP address. I prefer changing this info at the domain record level, since that doesn’t require cooperation of the main domain’s host, and thus can be changed by the domain owner in the event the target server’s IP changes.

For this to work, the subdomain MUST be added to the target server. A very simple way to do this is to add the main domain as an Addon in cPanel, and then set up the subdomain which will add all the relevant DNS entries (even though the main domain is not actually hosted on the target server). ((Caveat – I’ve found you may see occasional weirdness, though, with the approach described, such as a WordPress installation that requires uploads to go straight to the upload folder to work, instead of month and year-based folder settings. Would probably be better to add the subdomain to your server configuration directly for long-term robustness.))

Testing Your Website on the New Web Host Before Switching Domain Records

From Uncorrupted Hosting Blog: ((Emphasis added.))

You can test everything by editing the hosts file on your PC

Go to: C:WindowsSystem32driversetc and open up the hosts file with a text editor, go to the end of the file and type the IP address of your new server, press tab & type your domain name, save the document, close your web browser, and clean your DNS cache (click start, click run type ipconfig /flushdns & press enter). Next, open your browser and go to your site – everything should work. When you’re done testing, delete the lines you added to your hosts file and then save/close it.

At this point, all that’s left to do is change the DNS servers for your site and point them at the DNS servers provided by your new host.

Using this approach, you can test a database driven site (like WordPress) on a new host before officiallygoing live at the new host. Always allow overlap between your old hosting account and new hosting account to make the move more seamless!

For my Mac friends, find your host files in the /etc folder. To access this file in Finder to to Go > Go To Folder, and type in /etc. ((Thanks to Mac Tips & Tricks for the info.))

When you’re done, delete that entry in your hosts file, and you’ll see what everyone else does when going to that domain.