What is Package Authority?

Package authority issues occur when two customers have a hosting package with the same name. This article will explain how this happens, also detailing what you need to look out for to find this issue and how it can be resolved.

Customers can create domain references. A hosting package can be created without having a live domain, this lets customers host sites at 20i before pointing the DNS to us. 

The issue arises when two customers both create the same domain reference (i.e. package name), one package then won’t be authoritative and simply won’t work.

There are multiple services that a hosting package will handle, including website, email, and DNS. If a hosting package doesn’t have authority then none of these services will work correctly on the hosting package. Even the temp URL will be set differently, instead of using the domain name within the temp URL it will use a random string instead.

Symptoms of Non-Authority

• The most obvious is that the temp URL doesn’t have the domain name included. The temp URL will show something like domain1234a1.stackstaging.com instead of the standard domain-com.stackstaging.com format.
• The wrong website will show if there are 2 hosting packages on the platform. This is because the website on the package with authority will show.
• The website could show a 403 error even if it is set to point to the correct IP address.
• The website could simply show a blank white page.
• The FTP username will likely have a suffix on the end of it, instead of showing as the domain name it will show something like domain.com-00ab for example.
• The domain name’s DNS shows differently from what is set on the DNS page within our control panel.

Methods Used to Prove Domain Ownership

• You own the domain in your 20i account
• The nameservers for the domain point to your virtual nameservers
• The domain is on your own IPS tag
• Adding a TXT record that is provided to you by the support team to the DNS.
• Removing one nameserver record from the domain as specified by the support team. (This won't take your website offline and it can be re-added later!)

Using any of the above methods will be enough for our support team to be able to provide authority to your package.

If you require further assistance, please speak to our support team who will be able to help.