connecting to my server and domain

I made a linode and it worked. I was finishing learning how to edit the /etc/hosts file on the server and when I queried my terminal about it I guess I typed something in wrong. It came up "127.0.0.1www.mydomain.commydomain.comwwwlocalhost"

I tried writing over the file to change the output of hostname but it wouldn't work and (I forget what I queried) stopped working. I may have been trying to install something. The file looked like it did but the hostname output wouldn't revert.

I panicked, deleted the linode and made a new one, forgetting that I could rebuild my installation and now I can't use my domain to connect to any linode I create. I tried swapping the IP to a one click minecraft server and it won't even work using the ip address to log in.

I tried getting ahold of someone to help but while she was willing to assist me I prematurely hung up and didn't check to see if my problem was solved. After deleting my linode I couldn't change my RDNS. She told me that I needed to change the IP in the domain A/AAAA records to the new linode ip and I did. That enabled me to change my RDNS but I still can't connect to my domain.

I just deleted my domain page and started over, I'm hoping it just takes a while to propagate.

Thanks for any help you guys can give.

UPDATE:

So I fixed it. Not sure what was wrong, even opening ports with ufw didn't help. I canceled my linode account briefly and started it again and now it works just fine. I know that's not a solution, but, that's what I have :<

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I'm glad to hear you were able to fix it! It sounds like a few things happened here.

It came up "127.0.0.1www.mydomain.commydomain.comwwwlocalhost"

This probably was a result of some syntax errors in your /etc/hosts file. Generally, you would want that file to look like this:

127.0.0.1    localhost
1.2.3.4         hostname
1.2.3.4         domain.com
# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
(rest of file)

In this example, 1.2.3.4 is your Linode's public IPv4 address. Each entry should be on a separate line; one for your Linode's hostname, and a new line for each domain.

I tried swapping the IP to a one click minecraft server and it won't even work using the ip address to log in.

When you swap IP addresses, the Linode must be rebooted with Network Helper enabled in order to pick up the new IP. Otherwise, the Linode won't respond to the new IP address, which seems to be the case here.

That enabled me to change my RDNS but I still can't connect to my domain.

While a valid A record will provide a link from your domain to your IP address, your web server still needs to be configured in order to serve content to the domain. This means that ports 80 and 443 must be open on your Linode, your web server must be running, and the web server must be configured to respond on the domain name and serve content from the proper directory on your Linode. The exact steps for this depend on what web server you're using, though. It can also take some time for DNS changes to propagate. When you see an error when visiting your website, it's important to take note of what kind of error it is, as that can help with tracking down the cause of the issue.

I hope this provides a bit more context about the various errors you encountered so that you have the tools you need to troubleshoot any future issues that may arise.

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