Cache Check - "NO A RECORD" - only Palo Alto, CA

[sparky672]

While using the OpenDNS Cache Check tool (cachecheck.opendns.com) today and yesterday, I constantly get a "NO A RECORD" error, but only under the Palo Alto, California server.

At first I thought it was  just my domain name or only the sites at my hosting company.  But it's more widespread than that.  I've entered multiple random domain names, facebook.com, google.com, etc., etc. and I get the same error for all.

paloalto.jpg

[rotblitz]

You should always first check http://system.opendns.com/ in such cases. 
As you can clearly see, Palo Alto is undergoing upgrades and therefore re-routed and temporarily inoperational. 
http://system.opendns.com/2014/03/25/1031/

[sparky672]

Thank-you for your reply.  However, I'm only an end-user thinking he's doing a good deed by informing OpenDNS of their erroneous error message.  Months from now, if it happens again, I may or may not remember that they've put the burden on me to go verify server status on yet another page.  Even the error message misleads the user into thinking something is wrong with their domain name.  Clearly, this would be a great place to say, "our server may be down"

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One or more locations could not resolve this domain.

Try "Refresh the cache" first. That will fix problem #1 below.

Four possibilities:

1. Domain was recently moved and the new address has not propagated.
2. Domain does not exist in DNS.
3. Domain's nameservers have problems, temporary or otherwise.
4. There is a problem with a record on OpenDNS servers.

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A far better solution would be for them to fix their own Cache Check page so that it returns meaningful error messages, or better yet, simply not display a server location when it is inoperable.

[alexahar]

Hello,

Thank you for contacting OpenDNS. I can confirm that, as rotblitz said, our Palo Alto, CA location is displaying no A-Record for all cache check inquiries. This location is currently undergoing servicing, and all DNS requests are being rerouted from this location. As a result, the site appears to be having issues on the cache check page despite being no effect on DNS resolution. For more information regarding the rerouting of DNS requests at Palo Alto, please see our system status dashboard at http://system.opendns.com/.

I have also forwarded your suggestion on to the web team so that we may improve our error messages.

Best regards,