I can’t access L’express Online with their non-www domain, i.e using http://lexpress.mu. Some browsers will display the page because they will force the address to www.lexpress.mu if the former gets a timeout. I tried using Mozilla Firefox.

With the www domain, the website can be viewed though.

When I queried both www and non-www domains, I found some inconsistencies. The non-www lexpress.mu showed the following:

; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-4.3ubuntu0.1-Ubuntu <<>> lexpress.mu
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 14004
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 4

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;lexpress.mu.           IN  A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
lexpress.mu.        23633   IN  A   79.125.117.226

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
lexpress.mu.        37585   IN  NS  ns3.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37585   IN  NS  ns2.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37585   IN  NS  ns1.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37585   IN  NS  ns4.p05.dynect.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns3.p05.dynect.net. 82436   IN  A   208.78.71.5
ns2.p05.dynect.net. 82436   IN  A   204.13.250.5
ns1.p05.dynect.net. 82436   IN  A   208.78.70.5
ns4.p05.dynect.net. 82436   IN  A   204.13.251.5

;; Query time: 9 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.1.1#53(127.0.1.1)
;; WHEN: Wed Dec 24 10:37:50 MUT 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 195

While www.lexpress.mu answered differently.

; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-4.3ubuntu0.1-Ubuntu <<>> www.lexpress.mu
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 35682
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 4

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.lexpress.mu.       IN  A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.lexpress.mu.    80708   IN  CNAME   lasentinelle-719316716.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com.
lasentinelle-719316716.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com. 29 IN A 176.34.114.114
lasentinelle-719316716.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com. 29 IN A 46.137.176.104

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
lexpress.mu.        37450   IN  NS  ns2.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37450   IN  NS  ns1.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37450   IN  NS  ns4.p05.dynect.net.
lexpress.mu.        37450   IN  NS  ns3.p05.dynect.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns2.p05.dynect.net. 82301   IN  A   204.13.250.5
ns1.p05.dynect.net. 82301   IN  A   208.78.70.5
ns4.p05.dynect.net. 82301   IN  A   204.13.251.5
ns3.p05.dynect.net. 82301   IN  A   208.78.71.5

;; Query time: 16 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.1.1#53(127.0.1.1)
;; WHEN: Wed Dec 24 10:40:05 MUT 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 279

Somehow the analysis answered my quest as to why I can’t access lexpress.mu without the www prefix. The addresses are pointing to different servers and one of them doesn’t appear to be responding correctly.

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Update #1

lexpress.mu is now redirecting correctly to www.lexpress.mu.

Update #2

I missed the part about ‘elastic load balancer’ in the DNS answer for www.lexpress.mu. Luckily, a friend explained me the same. It’s much clearer in my head now. Conclusion, the temporary inaccessibility was caused by one node, i.e 79.125.117.226.