While we might see the internet as a complex, modern miracle, the reality is that many of its foundations were laid more than five decades ago. By modern computing standards, much of the internet is held together by little more a bunch of text files and good will. And, this week, I saw first hand how a little thing can result in it falling apart for someone.
It started as an email issue
Earlier this week, I was asked for some help by a friend whose email stopped working. Email is handled through Google Apps and the domain name is registered through a local service provider.
I looked through a bunch of Google settings, figuring there might have been a problem with billing or something broken in the Google account. That proved to not be the issue.
Once we got a look at some of the bounce messages received by people sending to my friend’s email address we had the critical clue.
Your message couldn’t be delivered. The Domain Name System (DNS) reported that the recipient’s domain does not exist.
Next stop was the service provider the domain name was registered through.
Domain names in Australia
The global DNS (Domain Name System) is the global register that links domain names to specific services on the internet. Every domain name can point to different services such as websites and email servers.
There are dozens of service providers .au domains can be registered through. Domain names that are just plain .com, like australianapplenews.com, are administered differently to .com.au.
Something like mydomain.com.au might be purchased through a provider like GoDaddy but that domain name is then listed with the Australian domain registrar .auDA (.au Domain Administration) that manages DNS for Australian domains. And that comes with some rules including that you generally need to be a commercial entity with a connection to Australia such as an ABN, ACN, or Australian Trade Mark.
Those requirements aren’t just at the point of registration – they must be maintained. And that brings us to the problem.
My friend stopped using their ABN. The ABN was cancelled and, at some point, auDA figured this out and suspended the domain. When the domain was suspended, it was removed from the global DNS and email stopped working.
The big lesson
When we looked closely at the domain record using whois.com we learned that the contact information for the domain was out of date. Contact email addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers were all defunct.
So, it’s possible that .auDA tried to let my friend know about the pending issue but that the messages were never received because the contact information was incorrect.
Keeping your contact details on domain records is essential. Some companies send periodic reminders to do this. But if your domain reseller doesn’t, set a reminder to check this every year.
Fixing the problem
We started trying to resolve this problem by calling the company the domain name was purchased by. That proved to be fruitless as all they could tell us was what we already know – the domain name was removed from the DNS.
DNS problems can be notoriously difficult to troubleshoot. Fortunately, a call to .auDA solved the problem.
.auDA reinstated the main name to DNS with the email issues resolved almost instantly. However, the issues with the domain aren’t fully resolved. There’s still some paperwork to fill in to sort out the ownership of the domain with a valid ABN and corrected contact details.
But once that’s done, my friend’s domain name and email will be sorted.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.