Ah, I see you have the machine that goes PING!

We are currently undergoing a big upgrade to our web systems that requires I "babysit" the entire process to confirm when the sites go down and when (more like "if") they come back up.  There is also a live troubleshooting IRC channel for employees to get on and seek help.  Amid the upgrade, I was watching the chat and saw this:

Some Guy: Hey!  I need to get to my dev site and I can't!
Web Manager: All our sites are down.  They work internally with IP's but outside they're inaccessible.
Some Guy: Well, I can ping it internally by IP.
Web Manager: I think I just said that.
Some Guy: But when I put the name into my browser, I don't get anything.
Web Manager: I think I just said that, too.
Some Guy: Ok, so any suggestions?  Like I said, I can ping it interally by IP.
Web Manager: How about typing that IP into your browser bar?
Some Guy: Good Troubleshooting Idea!  I'm going to try that, hang on.
Web Manager: Okay.
Some Guy: It only kinda worked.
Web Manager: How do you mean?
Some Guy: when I use the IP, I get the site, but the address bar doesn't change from the number.
Web Manager: That would be the expected behavior.
Some Guy: Oh?  Ok.  So just use the number from now on?
Web Manager: No, only during the upgrade cycle, afterwards, you can you the names again.


(submitted by effbo)