Why do I have to do a 301 for www.

[Zombies]

Hi

An old one and been asked lots of times but I cant find the answer

this is the first time ive have this problem in years and dont know what to do


i have set the dns name servers and the site is up and running

http://websitename.com works
http://www.websitename.com doesnt work

I have done a 301 perm to get round this and I havent had to do this before

the site im using to do the dns i havnt used before, used to godaddy etc
why does godaddy domain dns settings work ok and this one doesnt
I cant for the life of me get the www. one working i have to 301 it

[VIPStephan]

Actually, redirecting either the www domain to non-www or vice versa is the preferred approach according to http://no-www.org (while avoiding www altogether is the more “natural” approach). “www” is actually just a sub domain and not required (or shouldn’t be) to view a website.
Anyway, it’s generally best to not have two domains display the same contents (websites) but rather redirect either one to the other. So what you’re doing is actually the best you could ever do.

[Zombies]

thanks for replying

i use 1and1 and godaddy and a host for the files
1and1 and godaddy are ok, never had a problem

I am using another domain site to set the dns that I have never used before for another domain name and this one doesnt appear to let me use the www. whereas 1and1 have done, obviously the way 1and1 sets up the domain its doing it automatically
I believe I have to set this myself but need to know how, I have read some vague replies on how to do it (zone file) but I need clear instructions

doing my head in, I hate crap domain site setups