Multisite on Hostgator – Dedicated IP / Map Domains

Hi all,

This is my first post, but I am a regular reader, and WP user.

Apologies for the long post. I have included as much info as possible ??

Some Background
I host a couple personal websites on a Multisite install, and use the WPMUDEV Mapped domains plugin to map the different domains to the different Multisite sites, with a A record in each DNS record pointing to a Dedicated IP.

Up until now, the install has been on Godaddy Hosting and worked fine. But after the saga that I have had with Godaddy hosting being not compatible with certain plugins ( BackupBuddy – I’m looking at you) I have decided to move my install to HostGator.

I have successfully moved the site manually, and it is live and functioning perfectly. Except…

The Problem
Now I am having trouble with Mapping domains.

I have a Business Plan that includes a free SSL and a Dedicated IP address.

I noticed that when I went through the domains and updated the A records to the new Dedicated IP, and waited for the delegation, visiting the mapped sites would take me to a 404 HostGator page.

So, when I type the Dedicated IP into a browser it does not take me to the main site. I get a 404 HostGator page too

After Speaking to HG Support, I was told that

the IP address assigned is a STATIC PUBLIC DEDICATED IP Address address

They sent me here: https://support.hostgator.com/articles/specialized-help/technical/ip-address-static-vs-dynamic-public-vs-private-shared-vs-dedicated

So after some investigation, it turns out there is no “reverse-lookup” enabled on the Dedicated IP. So I can ping the Dedicated IP, but cant visit it??!!

These are my questions

1. How can the Dedicated IP be “STATIC PUBLIC DEDICATED IP Address” if I can’t visit it from a browser?

2. Is there another way to map the domains?

3. Anybody else have this problem?