For client sites, do you check DNS or hosting first?

[NiceNIC]

When a client reports that a website is down, the first step is usually figuring out whether the issue is with the domain setup or the hosting server.

Sometimes DNS records or nameservers are the problem. Other times the server, SSL, CDN, or application is the real cause.

For hosting providers, agencies, or domain resellers, do you follow a fixed checklist?

Do you check DNS and nameservers first, or start with hosting logs and monitoring?

 

[bigredseo]

Here's my normal checklist:

1. Ping domain.com
2. croxyproxy.com - proxy check if others can access the site
   1. works? check logs
3. whois domain.com - check expiration
4. intodns.com - check DNS responding
5. Test uploading TEXT file via the webhost file manager
   1. Contact the host if nothing responds
6. Test uploading phpinfo.php
   1. Contact the host if nothing responds

In pretty much every case, we start with this process. If we have shell access (which we do for a lot of our clients), we often fire that up at the same time while checking above.