# WARNING: This server does not appear to be accessible at
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [March 18, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755 "2020-03-18T21:54:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sturdy2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sturdy2)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/1 "2020-03-18T21:54:49Z")
Hi all…newby here. I’m trying to install Discourse in a Droplet at Digitalocean to create a discussion forum in a subdomain hosted by GoDaddy. I have recently installed SSL at that subdomain. During my installation attempts some files have been installed, presumably by the Discourse installation process. When I enter “https://talk.mydomain.com”, I get a page with my admin email address so I assume that part is working correctly. I must have previously done something right. 😀
However, when I run ./discourse-setup, I get the following error msg:
```
Hostname for your Discourse? [discourse.example.com]: talk.subdomain.com
Checking your domain name . . .
WARNING:: This server does not appear to be accessible at talk.subdomain.com:443.
A connection to http://talk.subdomain.com (port 80) also fails.
This suggests that talk.subdomain.com resolves to the wrong IP address
or that traffic is not being routed to your server.
```
There is also a comment about editing app.yml but, other than email, it contains no reference to the subdomain.
Can anyone identify what I have done wrong and point me in the right direction? TIA…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/2 "2020-03-18T22:14:42Z")
> [@sturdy2](#):
>
> This suggests that `talk.subdomain.com` resolves to the wrong IP address or that traffic is not being routed to your server.
As suggested, it’s almost certain that your `talk.subdomain.com` doesn’t point to your droplet. The alternative is that you went to some extra work to turn on a firewall that turns off ports 80 and 443.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/3 "2020-03-18T23:03:53Z")
Your DNS entry for the domain is not correct. You’ll need to edit your DNS, most likely at the same place you bought the `subdomain.com` domain from.
---
### Author:  [@sturdy2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sturdy2)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/4 "2020-03-19T16:48:30Z")
Hi Jay, thanks for the reply. The DNS “A” record points to my domain hosted by GoDaddy. As I first noted, I can enter “[https://talk.domain.com](https://talk.domain.com)” in a browser and access the subdomain page that displays my admin email. That page was apparently built and installed by the Discourse install.
Is that “A” record correct or should it point to the Discourse server at DigitalOcean?
I have done nothing to the firewall. Droplet UFW status indicates ports 80 and 443 open.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/5 "2020-03-19T16:49:19Z")
> [@sturdy2](#):
>
> The DNS “A” record points to my domain hosted by GoDaddy
It needs to point to your Digital Ocean droplet.
---
### Author:  [@sturdy2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sturdy2)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/6 "2020-03-19T16:54:14Z")
Hi Jeff, thanks for the response. Please see my reply to Jay. Are you referring to that DNS “A” record for the subdomain? I used cPanel to create the subdomain which created the “A” record that points to the domain IP. Edit the “A” record to point to the Discourse server instead?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/7 "2020-03-19T17:27:02Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> As suggested, it’s almost certain that your `talk.subdomain.com` doesn’t point to your droplet.
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> It needs to point to your Digital Ocean droplet.
I don’t know how else to say this. `talk.domain.com` should resolve to the very same IP as the Digital Ocean droplet that you’re installing discourse on. If you point it to whatever you have at GoDaddy you’ll get whatever is at GoDaddy, not the Digital Ocean droplet that you claim you are trying to configure.
---
### Author:  [@sturdy2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sturdy2)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/8 "2020-03-19T18:08:18Z")
Success, and thanks again.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/9 "2020-03-19T18:33:16Z")
Can you suggest what the text that `discourse-setup` should say that you would have known what to do when you read it?
How about this, @sturdy2?
```plaintext
Hostname for your Discourse? [discourse.example.com]: asdf.com
Checking your domain name . . .
WARNING: This server does not appear to be accessible at asdf.com:443.
WARNING: Connection to http://asdf.com (port 80) also fails.
This suggests that asdf.com resolves to the wrong IP address
or that traffic is not being routed to your server.
The first thing to do is confirm that asdf.com resolves to the IP address of this server.
You usually do this at the same place you purchased the domain.
If you are sure that the IP address resolves correctly, it could be a firewall issue.
A web search for "open ports YOUR CLOUD SERVICE" might help.
This tool is designed only for the most standard installations. If you cannot resolve
the issue above, you will need to edit containers/app.yml yourself and then type
./launcher rebuild app
```
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/10 "2020-03-19T18:46:03Z")
Probably needs to say what we said above Jay:
> Your DNS entry for `forum.example.com` does not point to this server’s IP address. You’ll need to edit your DNS, most likely at the same place you bought the `example.com` domain from, so that `forum.example.com` points to the IP address of this server.
Feel free to make it so, or I can!
---
### Author:  [@sturdy2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sturdy2)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/11 "2020-03-19T20:19:46Z")
I think the issue is probably not what you are saying but more about what I am understanding. The wording in the discourse-setup is very general as is the wording of most of the documentation and forum responses. Because of my lack of general network understanding, much of what is said and written is ambiguous to me. Especially reference to “this server.”
> Your DNS entry for `forum.example.com` does not point to **this server** ’s IP address. You’ll need to edit your DNS, most likely at the same place you bought the `example.com` domain from, so that `forum.example.com` points to the IP address of **this server**.
In the above, nowhere is “this server” identified. Reading the sentence it appears to refer to my domain server previously mentioned. I had no idea I could change an “A” record to point to another domain. Now I know (thank you). If you instead say “Discourse server” it becomes obvious.
A similar issue is saying “edit the DNS record.” As a newbie I didn’t know until two days ago that I could edit a DNS record, let alone which record. I may have missed it, but I didn’t see anywhere where the “A” record must point to the Discourse server. I assumed that the Discourse installation setup would do the necessary pointing. Probably obvious to most but not to me…sigh.
I hope this helps. I’ve learned a lot and I do appreciate your assistance.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/warning-this-server-does-not-appear-to-be-accessible-at/144755/12 "2020-03-19T20:53:18Z")
> [@sturdy2](#):
>
> In the above, nowhere is “this server” identified.
“This server” means the computer on which you are running `discourse-setup`.
> [@sturdy2](#):
>
> If you instead say “Discourse server” it becomes obvious.
Hmm. OK. I’ll see what I can do. Thanks.