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This sounds for all the world like SNI, which is (simplified a lot) yourwebsite.com and mywebsite.com both resolve to the same IP address. The webserver decides whether to respond with content for yourwebsite.com or mywebsite.com depending on which of them is in the HTTP request sent by the browser.
It's a bit more complicated but that's basically the gist of it. It's a way of serving out multiple websites from a single IPv4 address (these are scarce, and expensive).
A quick skim through the Lightsail docs is silent on whether it uses SNI, but based on what you describe that does sound like what's happening.
This situation you're describing is not a common issue with Amazon Lightsail static IPs, and it's highly unlikely that your static IP is actually assigned to another website you don't own. Static IPs in Lightsail are dedicated to your account and can only be attached to one instance at a time.
What you might be experiencing is a DNS propagation issue or a misconfiguration in your domain settings. When you create a static IP and attach it to your Lightsail instance, it becomes exclusively associated with your account and that specific instance.
If you're seeing another website when you enter your IP address directly into a browser, it's possible that:
- DNS changes haven't fully propagated yet. It can take up to 48 hours for DNS changes to propagate globally.
- Your domain's DNS records might not be correctly pointing to your Lightsail static IP.
- Your instance's web server might not be properly configured to serve your website.
To resolve this:
- Verify that you've correctly attached the static IP to your Lightsail instance.
- Ensure your domain's DNS records (particularly the A record) are correctly pointing to your static IP.
- Check your web server configuration on your Lightsail instance.
If you can view your website correctly after typing your domain name, it suggests that your DNS is set up correctly. In this case, the issue you're seeing when directly accessing the IP might be related to how your web server is configured to handle requests that don't match your domain name.
Remember, a static IP in Lightsail is dedicated to your account and should not be shared with or assigned to websites you don't own. If you continue to experience issues, it's recommended to contact AWS support for further assistance.
Sources
Create and attach a static IP to your Lightsail instance - Amazon Lightsail
Static IP addresses in Lightsail - Amazon Lightsail
Networking - Amazon Lightsail
Create a DNS zone to manage domain records for Lightsail instances - Amazon Lightsail
Hi MindMingleStories, Can you please elaborate on how you identified that the static IP is also assigned to another website ?
- Did you do an reverse lookup?
- Or did you navigate to the IP address using your browser and it presented a different website? If so, what URL shows in the address bar of your browser ?
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my WordPress instance gave me the other website via analytics plugin, then I run nslookup https://otherDomain and found that it resolves to the same IP. I am just making sure that there is nothing to be concerned about and from what you discribed above, it seems like a standard procedure.
Thank you all for your replies!
As Steve mentioned, IPv4 addresses are in limited supply which means someone else may have used the same IP address in the past and configured their DNS records to point to the IP address now assigned to your instance. Lightsail does not use SNI to share IP addresses. An IP address is assigned to a single customer at a time.
We recommend customers create and attach a Static IP to their instance in order to maintain the same IP address (the public IP can change when you stop, then start an instance).
Even if a DNS record is pointing to the static IP now assigned to your instance, you would likely get an HTTPS error or your website content if you navigate to the other address. It's like when someone gets a new phone number and receives calls for the previous owner.