Why in the report some links marked as broken, but can be opened in the browser?
Environment:
Answers, Utilities, All supported versions.
Resolution:
Answer ID 2728: Checking for broken links in answers shows that staff members can check for broken links in HTML and URL answers. The purpose of this feature is to provide an avenue for knowledge managers to manage the links in the knowledge base. There are also three standard reports provided to assist in this endeavor ( Broken URIs, Top URIs, and URI Sources) and they can be found under \Public Reports\Common\Site\Administration\Link Checker.
"Link Checker" is a utility that is responsible for the link accessibility validation and works directly with the external site's primary DNS record. In some cases, a link can be opened in a browser without any problems but when opened within the report will display a 500 error.
That simply means that domain's primary DNS record is not configured correctly. To check that possibility:
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Copy URL of the link and paste it in a browser.
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Remove "www." part of the link and check if a link is resolved.
Generally, a 500 error will be returned as "A" record is missing in the primary DNS and the domain name is not mapped to the IP address. When an http hostname is requested, the request reaches out to a DNS server. It then gets converted into an IP address and it fails either if the hostname could not resolve into an IP or if the address simply does not exist.
In those cases, Site Administrators should add a correct "A" record into the primary DNS or set up permanent (301) redirects from "example.com" to "www.example.com".
For additional information, refer to the 'Validating answer links' section in the Online Help User Guide documentation. To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.
