(Writing this for my future self and for future people that might have similiar problems)
Quite awhile ago, I made the decision to move all my domains from GoDaddy to a mix of Google Domains and Name.com. I enjoyed managing my domains through the Google interface and thought it was one of the better UIs available. It made things easy!
Sadly, like most beloved Google projects (RIP Google Reader), they decided to shut it down and transfer all domains to Squarespace. Well, I didn’t really want to use them. So, I decided to transfer many of my domains to Name.com.
The process to transfer was pretty easy. I figured I’d have to wait a day or two before I could see the changes.
One day goes by. Two days go by. Three days go by. It’s been four days and I’m still getting this when attempting to view my blog and a few other domains of mine from my home network.
What the heck is going on! If we check some domain propogation tools, I see that my site is pretty much unreachable throughout most of the world.
Interestingly, if I popped off my home network and used my phone, I could reach the site.
Okay! Now we’re getting somewhere. Sort of.
After much Googling, I found a post on the Cloudflare forums where someone had a similiar issue. The solution was that the “DNSSEC” settings were incorrect. I don’t use Cloudflare, but it seemed like something that was in the right direction.
2-3 days ago I changed the nameservers towards those of cloudflare, and since I cannot reach the website anymore. I’ve added all the DNS records that should be relevant. However in the dashboard it keeps saying pending nameserver update and the website can’t be reached. After 2-3 days still… The hosting company says that the NS points to those of cloudflare, and I’m at a loss at what I did wrong to make it go through cloudflare…and be able to be reached again.
A solution to this issue stated:
Your domain’s DNSSEC setup is broken
Interesting. I hadn’t touched anything related to DNSSEC settings at all, as Name.com said it would auto import all settings during the transfer process. In fact, I couldn’t see anything related to DNSSEC management at all.
Oh, wait. It turns out, it’s waaaaaayyyy down at the bottom of the page when managing your domain!
Let’s see what happens if we click on it.
Oh! There is a value there:
Interestingly, there is an option to remove this entry. Let’s see what happens. I mean, the site is already broken and unreachable right. So, I click remove and wait a few minutes.
And then…
the websites are accessible again!
Wow. Lesson learned — double check everything when transferring domain registrars.