UKC, Author at UK-Cheapest.co.uk

How to Bulk Update TTL on Plesk for server migration

March 21, 2012

Re: Preparing for a Plesk server migration, Bulk change TTL on Plesk

Occasionally you need to move all your clients to a new server. The hardware becomes aged (or slow) but the thought of moving all those clients (hundreds) and the DNS propagation time delay, not something that makes you feel great.

However, you can minimise the DNS propagation times by changing the TTL (Time To Live) on the Plesk domain DNS records. Usually the refresh rate is between daily and weekly. In preparation for a server migration, around a week before, change all domains to update ‘hourly’. You can do this in the panel for each domain name, or you can use this nifty shortcut.

First, change all the TTL’s to 3600 seconds (1 hour)

# mysql -uadmin -p`cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow` psa
 UPDATE psa.dns_zone SET ttl = '3600', ttl_unit = '60' WHERE id >1;

Now you need to dump the new SOA records to zone files for bind to us:

# mysql -Ns -uadmin -p`cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow` -D psa -e 'select name from domains' | awk '{print "/usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/dnsmng update " $1 }' | sh

You can test with:

# dig yourdomnain.co.uk SOA

When you have completed the migration and everything is fine, you can change the records back to the default which was 86400.

What does “Renewal request being processed” mean?

April 20, 2012March 20, 2012

This is a Nominet accounting status code indicating the registration status of your domain name. Even though it says “Renewal request being processed.”, this also means your domain is fully renewed. Once 30 days has passed, the status will change to “Registered until renewal date”.

Nominet explain the (sometimes confusing) status as follows: “This status is used after first registration but before the initial registration fee has been received. Please note that we (Nominet) issue monthly invoices, so it is possible that if this status is displayed your registrar has not yet been invoiced for the domain name.”.

For more information, see Renewal request being processed at Nominet.

What does “Registration request being processed” mean?

April 20, 2012March 20, 2012

This is a Nominet accounting status code indicating the registration status of your domain name. Even though it says “Registration request being processed.”, this also means your domain is fully registered. Once 30 days has passed, the status will change to “Registered until renewal date”.

For more information, see Registration request being processed at Nominet.

Problems forwarding to AOL email addresses

April 20, 2012March 19, 2012

AOL is constantly tightening their network to reduce spam through the network and to their users. Unfortunately this can cause problems for anyone using email forwarding addresses to their AOL accounts.

To increase your change of being able to send through the AOL network please check the following:

Ensure that your forwarding email addresses are added to your AOL Safe Senders List.
Check that you have a valid SPF DNS record. This is a DNS entry looking something familiar to:
“@ IN TXT v=spf1 a:microlite1.com ~all”
Ensure that your mail server IP has a reverse DNS pointer set. AOL will not allow connections from IPs that do not contain a reverse pointer. You can test this by entering the IP address or domain name here: Check Reverse DNS Pointer
If you forward email to AOL from email aliases then be aware that any spam you forward to your AOL address will be marked as originating from your forwarding address and not the original address. This may result in AOL blocking your domain name in the error of assuming that it is sending SPAM into the AOL network.
If you receive SPAM in your AOL inbox that is forwarded from one of your own domain names DO NOT MARK IT AS SPAM. This will result in your own domain name being blocked on the AOL network. AOL will then not allow and connections from your domain name to the AOL network.

External resources:

It is EASY to block your own domain name from sending email through the AOL mail network. If you get “Deferred: Connection refused by yourdomain.com” with your domain name in the message, you are blocked.

If you suspect that you have blocked your own domain name through the AOL network then simply await for the block to expire or contact AOL and attempt an early unblock of your domain name through the AOL support network.

Top 10 Web 2.0 Places to Post Articles

March 18, 2012

As explained time and time again, it is of utmost importance to get great Web 2.0 sites to link back to your site. You may have covered all the obvious Web 2.0 sites but there are plenty you will have missed.

We have compiled a list of 10 Web 2.0 sites of PR6 which we think you might have missed.

This week, make a pact with yourself to take a few hours and and sign up to each of the above services. Keep a copy of your username and passwords in a spreadsheet.

Keyword Targeting

Compile a list of keywords and key phrases that you would like to dedicate all the lovely link juice that these articles will bring to your site. Use these keywords in your anchor text which will link the article back to your site.

Putting Pen to Paper

As much of a drain that it is, write a unique article about your web site and post it. A good unique well written article will be accepted by the site owners and in time will begin to pass link juice to your site. Try not to include more than 2 links back to your site. A good rule of thumb is one link back to your root domain and one to an inside page.

SEO is a long term effort. The seeds that you sow here will help you reap the rewards of the future.