# DNS problem: query timed out looking up A for **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [February 25, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228 "2020-02-25T18:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beetlejesss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/beetlejesss/32/37430_2.png) [@beetlejesss](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/beetlejesss)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228/1 "2020-02-25T18:20:23Z")
Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help. My domain is: [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) (but I am seeing the same issue with several [red5.org](http://red5.org) sub-domains that I have tried) I ran this command: certbot-auto certonly --standalone --email [jessica@infrared5.com](mailto:jessica@infrared5.com) --agree-tos -d [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) It produced this output: earlier, i saw: Detail: DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up CAA for [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) - the domain’s nameservers may be malfunctioning on retry: Domain: [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) Type: dns Detail: DNS problem: SERVFAIL looking up A for [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) - the domain’s nameservers may be malfunctioning and when I tried again: Challenge failed for domain [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) http-01 challenge for [frenchdo.red5.org](http://frenchdo.red5.org) Cleaning up challenges Some challenges have failed. IMPORTANT NOTES: - The following errors were reported by the server: My web server is (include version): tomcat 8.49 (but it is currently stopped while trying to renew my cert) The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Ubuntu 16.04 My hosting provider, if applicable, is: seeing the same issues on AWS and Digital Ocean -hosted servers I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know): yes I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): no The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you’re using Certbot): certbot 1.2.0 I have asked my domain host if there are any issues with their nameservers, and they swear up and down that there are not. Nslookup works, and http access works as expected. ---
**Author:** ![mnordhoff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mnordhoff/32/22583_2.png) [@mnordhoff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/mnordhoff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228/2 "2020-02-25T18:23:14Z")
There have been problems between the DNS provider `red5.org` is using (Network Solutions/Web.com) and Let's Encrypt recently. 🙁 At this point there doesn't seem to be anything you can do about it. > [@DNS failures (SERVFAIL, timeout) for domains using Network Solutions/Web.com/worldnic.com nameservers](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/numerous-inexplicable-challenge-failures-across-disparate-domains-with-unreproducable-servfails/113235): > > E… ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228/3 "2020-02-25T18:29:51Z")
> [@mnordhoff](#): > > There have been problems between the DNS provider `red5.org` is using (Network Solutions/Web.com) and Let’s Encrypt recently. 🙁 It's also not happening very often: every `dig` trace or direct query works perfectly. However, when I ran a "Lets Debug", it gave inconsistent results: one non-DNS related error which had a good DNS lookup and for the CAA check it had a DNS-related error looking up the A record: [Let's Debug](https://letsdebug.net/frenchdo.red5.org/105046) Also, [unboundtest.com](http://unboundtest.com) doesn't report any error for the CAA record lookup: [https://unboundtest.com/m/CAA/frenchdo.red5.org/XN7UTJNL](https://unboundtest.com/m/CAA/frenchdo.red5.org/XN7UTJNL) ---
**Author:** ![beetlejesss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/beetlejesss/32/37430_2.png) [@beetlejesss](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/beetlejesss)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228/4 "2020-02-25T18:33:00Z")
Thank you! And boo ☹ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/dns-problem-query-timed-out-looking-up-a-for/114228/5 "2020-03-26T18:33:04Z")
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