I’ve noticed that the DNS for my MySQL host is very flaky. On three
separate instances in the last two days, I’ve discovered it to be not
working for several minutes at a time (“rept” is a personal bash
function of mine that repeats a given command every n seconds):
09:45 msabramo@leeloo:~$ rept 5 ping marcblog.abramowitz.info ping: unknown host marcblog.abramowitz.info ping: unknown host marcblog.abramowitz.info ping: unknown host marcblog.abramowitz.info
and then a few minutes later, it resolved itself:
09:49 msabramo@leeloo:~$ rept 5 ping marcblog.abramowitz.info PING marcblog.abramowitz.info (205.196.215.97): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 205.196.215.97: icmp_seq=0 ttl=63 time=4.9 ms 64 bytes from 205.196.215.97: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=1.7 ms 64 bytes from 205.196.215.97: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=14.0 ms
The same exact thing happened to me a few minutes ago and also yesterday evening, although I’m not
sure exactly what time it was.
This sucks, because when it happens my blog is down. I guess WordPress generates the site on the fly and thus requires MySQL (MovableType generates the site as static content so it doesn’t depend on MySQL to view the site).
I am thinking of changing my WordPress config to reference the IP address instead of the hostname, but this sounds less than ideal. What if DreamHost changes the IP from time to time?
I’ve submitted two support requests to DreamHost – we’ll see how well they tackle support…
Anyone else seeing this?
I’ve heard reports of this before, but never seen it myself (in 5+ years). What I suspect is happening is that the servers are being load-balanced, so DNS is switching temporarily. If in doubt, as the DH staff … they are always happy to help.
DreamHost responded rather quickly to my email about this issue and the rep told me that he ran something to reset my DNS. Since then I have not seen the problem again, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.