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The Site Loads by IP but Not by Domain Print

  • dedicatedips, dedicated, domain, dns, cpanel, nameservers, domainrenewal, cloudflare, troubleshooting
  • 0

This narrows the problem to DNS.

WHAT IT TELLS YOU

The server is running, your files are present, and the site works. Only the name-to-address mapping is failing.

WHAT TO CHECK

  1. Is the domain registered and unexpired? Look it up in WHOIS. An expired domain produces exactly this symptom.
  2. Do the nameservers match the pair for your account? Compare WHOIS against Services > My Services.
  3. Has enough time passed since a change? Up to 24 hours.
  4. Does the zone have an A record pointing at the right address? Check cPanel > Zone Editor, or your external DNS provider if that is where records live.
  5. Are you editing records in the right place? If your nameservers point at Cloudflare, cPanel changes have no effect.

A CAVEAT ON TESTING BY IP

On a shared address, visiting the address directly does not show your site, because the server cannot tell which of its sites you want. This is normal and not a fault. Use a hosts file entry instead, which supplies both the address and the hostname.


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