Akamai coming to custom hostnames

Baldy · January 16, 2009

Many customers have noticed that SmugMug is much faster from yournickname.smugmug.com than from www.yourcustomhostname.com .

As soon as we can make sure everyone has their custom domain names configured in a way that works with Akamai (the company behind the speed boost), we'll Akamize www.yourhostname.com and you'll see speed. The further you are from Silicon Valley, the bigger the boost.

This thread is primarily for people whose domains are not pointed to domains.smugmug.com. They are the only ones we're notifying by email and pointing to this thread.

Nasty little detail: I'm sorry to say that if you use an A record that points to our IP address, you won't get the same speed boost that you will if you use a CNAME that points to domains.smugmug.com (huh?).

The details about how to configure your domains are here.

Edit, March 20th:

Q: When must this be done by, the email you sent was a bit unclear.
A: Do it now please, as soon as possible, your domain may stop landing at your SmugMug site. Write to us, ATTN: Doc at the help desk, or post here, and we'll help.

Q: Will moonriverphotography.com be as fast as www.moonriverphotography.com?
A: Yes, if you have Cname setup for www, and enter this as your fully qualified hostname in your SmugMug control panel, and also an A-record set up pointing to our IP Address.

Q: Is there a way I can check that my domain is setup correctly from SmugMug?
A: Yes! See these directions for details.
Let us know if you have questions!

All the best,
Baldy

docwalker · January 16, 2009

I am editing this post so that folks with questions will see this. At no point have we said that your custom domain needs to change. Your business cards, website links, and other printed material are still every bit as accurate as they were before. The changes are made under the hood at your domain host. Your visitor will still use your custom domain to access your site. The only change is to how the domain points to SmugMug. So please... do not panic. I will help you get things setup correctly.

Also, there was some confusion early about A records. Please do not delete them. You do need to edit the A records to use the new IP address if they are used to point at SmugMug. The confusion comes because in order to get the speed boost, you must use the CNAMED custom domain in your SmugMug control panel. For most everyone that will be the www version of your custom domain. (people using subdomains will want to use the CNAME if at all possible) The A record will redirect automatically if setup correctly to the CNAME and that will give you the speed boost. I know that is probably clear as mud for some people. You do not need to understand how it works. Just trust me that it will.

So for example, if you setup yourdomain.com with an A record pointed at 208.79.45.23 and a www CNAME pointed at domains.smugmug.com You then enter www.yourdomain.com in the SmugMug control panel. When someone goes to www.yourdomain.com they will get the speed boost. If they go to yourdomain.com the system will automatically switch the domain to www.yourdomain.com and they will get the speed boost as well.

As with all domain issues, I am standing by to assist via the help desk.

I do ask that you not PM me on Dgrin. I do not check my PM's frequently.

As always, we're happy to do the setup for you - it takes only minutes to do, usually. If you need assistance, I will need:

your smugmug nickname or a link to it (not the custom hostname)
your domain host name (who is your domain registrar)
your custom domain (some users have multiples so I need to know which to work on)
the login id at the domain host
the domain host password (I do not need your SmugMug login)

Change your password it to something random and send me that new password ATTN: Doc at our help desk. When I am done, you can change the password back.

Send this information via email to the help desk. Use the subject line Attn: Doc - CNAME Help. Do not post it on Dgrin for the world to see.

These changes should not affect your site visitors, any links that you have given out or posted, or anything else with your site. This only changes something under the hood that visitors do not see.

--Doc
SmugMug Custom Domain Guru

ashishpandey · January 17, 2009

Baldy wrote:

As soon as we can make sure everyone has their custom domain names configured in a way that works with Akamai (the company behind the speed boost), we'll Akamize www.yourhostname.com and you'll see speed. The further you are from Silicon Valley, the bigger the boost.

That is very good news. One question. When you say - we'll Akamize - does this need to be done on a domain by domain basis, or do you mean that you will just setup the infrastructure on your side and it will start to show up for everyone (using cname)?

Andy · January 17, 2009

ashishpandey wrote:

or do you mean that you will just setup the infrastructure on your side and it will start to show up for everyone (using cname)?

ashishpandey · January 17, 2009

Andy wrote:

cool. Sounds very promising. Waiting to see this live. I do not know much about how it works, so ever since baldy posted it, I have started to read a little bit about Akamai to keep me polished. Way to go

Andy · January 17, 2009

ashishpandey wrote:

cool. Sounds very promising. Waiting to see this live. I do not know much about how it works, so ever since baldy posted it, I have started to read a little bit about Akamai to keep me polished. Way to go

Just use yournickname.smugmug.com for a while and see how much faster it is

ashishpandey · January 17, 2009

Andy wrote:

Just use yournickname.smugmug.com for a while and see how much faster it is

Ummm

, are you saying that smugmug already uses Akamai for yournickname.smugmug.com? I know it is faster, but I don't the reason

Andy · January 17, 2009

ashishpandey wrote:

Ummm , are you saying that smugmug already uses Akamai for yournickname.smugmug.com? I know it is faster, but I don't the reason

Click the very first link in Baldy's post, Ashish.

ashishpandey · January 17, 2009

Andy wrote:

Click the very first link in Baldy's post, Ashish.

. I am feeling so dumb now

All the way I though those were references to threads where people discussed regarding differences in speed. And I did not click at them earlier. Now that I have, I also came across the thumbnail security thread (had to search it, as it sounded interesting, and was done before I was a smugmugger), and as I type this, I am still reading it

AspectArts · January 18, 2009

Just a quick godaddy question. I have an A-record and a CNAME setup through GoDaddy for my site. Am I supposed to delete the A-record? I have it all setup with the CNAME pointing to the domains.smugmug.com and the A-record pointing to 208.79.45.23. This newb is a bit confused. I don't want to mess anything up unnecessarily.
Thanks,

Lisa

docwalker · January 18, 2009

The @ A record allows your custom domain to work without the www in front. If you want that to work, you will want only one @ A record and that should point at 208.79.45.23 Delete any others.

The CNAME is for either www in front, or if you use a subdomain. If you use either, they must be pointed at domains.smugmug.com

If you are using a subdomain to point at your SmugMug site, and have the domain pointed at another site do not mess with the A records, or the www CNAME. Only change the subdomain that is pointing at SmugMug.

AspectArts · January 18, 2009

docwalker wrote:

The @ A record allows your custom domain to work without the www in front. If you want that to work, you will want only one @ A record and that should point at 208.79.45.23 Delete any others.

The CNAME is for either www in front, or if you use a subdomain. If you use either, they must be pointed at domains.smugmug.com

If you are using a subdomain to point at your SmugMug site, and have the domain pointed at another site do not mess with the A records, or the www CNAME. Only change the subdomain that is pointing at SmugMug.

That's all I have - smugmug is where my main domain points. Good, I won't mess with it then! Thanks so much!

Allen · January 19, 2009

docwalker wrote:

The @ A record allows your custom domain to work without the www in front. If you want that to work, you will want only one @ A record and that should point at 208.79.45.23 Delete any others.

I thought it was stated that you have to delete the A record to see the
speed gain using a domain and live with domain without the www not working.

Baldy wrote:

...
Nasty little detail: I'm sorry to say that if you use an A record that points to our IP address, you won't get the same speed boost that you will if you use a CNAME that points to domains.smugmug.com (huh?).
...
All the best,
Baldy

docwalker · January 19, 2009

You do not get the speed boost with an A record as it points to our IP. The speed boost only applies to the CNAMEs. CNAMES point to the domains.smugmug.com address. That is where the speed boost comes in.

But almost all domain hosts do not allow for a blank or @ CNAME, so you must use an A record to get your domain to work without the www. That is why I mentioned it.

Subdomains can be either CNAME or A records depending on the host. Some hosts only allow CNAME record and require that all others are A records.

Baldy · January 19, 2009

docwalker wrote:

But almost all domain hosts do not allow for a blank or @ CNAME, so you must use an A record to get your domain to work without the www. That is why I mentioned it.

This is really unfortunate because once in a great moon we have to change our IP address. It's already happened once when we went with new load balancers and network config.

Doc, do you know any domain hosts who do allow for blank or @ CNAME records?

MrBen · January 19, 2009

docwalker wrote:

You do not get the speed boost with an A record as it points to our IP. The speed boost only applies to the CNAMEs. CNAMES point to the domains.smugmug.com address. That is where the speed boost comes in.

But the IP address we would point an A record to is the same as the domains.smugmug.com address, so why is it not the same? If anything, an A record should be marginally quicker as it's one less DNS lookup.

I agree using a CNAME does reduce admin going forward and allow you guys to make changes without having to give notice etc.

Ben

ashishpandey · January 19, 2009

MrBen wrote:

But the IP address we would point an A record to is the same as the domains.smugmug.com address, so why is it not the same? If anything, an A record should be marginally quicker as it's one less DNS lookup.

I agree using a CNAME does reduce admin going forward and allow you guys to make changes without having to give notice etc.

Ben

The whole idea of the boost comes from the fact that there is a dynamic DNS lookup for domains.smugmug.com based on where you are. Effectively when you try to hit domains.smugmug.com for images, you will end up hitting the nearest Akamai server, which may already have a cached version of your images

With an A record, you always point to one server no matter where you make the request from
The boost is simply due to less distance to travel on fibre. That is why the boost is higher when you are farther from Silicon Valley (assuming there is an Akamai server sitting very close to you)

I may have missed some fine detail, but I think thats the basic idea.

docwalker · January 19, 2009

Baldy,

They are rare... Very rare and I do not remember who they were. Sorry. I was also concerned as they also only allowed CNAMEs and not A records.

I can tell you the best thing to do is use one of the better domain hosts. That way there is less hassle making the changes in the future.

I love GoDaddy. I use them for my personal stuff and I love setting up customers that use them. I can usually make the changes in about 5 minutes or less.

Joker and Network solutions are also good.

MrBen · January 20, 2009

ashishpandey wrote:

The whole idea of the boost comes from the fact that there is a dynamic DNS lookup for domains.smugmug.com based on where you are. Effectively when you try to hit domains.smugmug.com for images, you will end up hitting the nearest Akamai server, which may already have a cached version of your images

With an A record, you always point to one server no matter where you make the request from
The boost is simply due to less distance to travel on fibre. That is why the boost is higher when you are farther from Silicon Valley (assuming there is an Akamai server sitting very close to you)

I may have missed some fine detail, but I think thats the basic idea.

Yeah, I understand how CDNs work. I just assumed Akamai used IP anycast rather than regional DNS responses to hit the nearest cache.

Ben

BeachBill · January 22, 2009

Baldy wrote:

do you know any domain hosts who do allow for blank or @ CNAME records?

We do... www.dnscentral.com

% host billgerrard.com
billgerrard.com is a nickname for domains.smugmug.com
domains.smugmug.com has address 208.79.45.23

Most domain registrars are just big marketing companies that quite frankly don't have a clue or care about the technical details of DNS. They are just in it to make a fast buck. Unfortunately the side effect of this is they severly limit what you can actually do in their DNS interface. They will just tell you what you want to do is not possible.

P.S. I just set up the billgerrard.com CNAME as an example. I was not using it for anything and I do not have a Smugmug site configured with it as a custom hostname.

Guardian27 · January 22, 2009

Also bought a domain from godaddy and this is what i see in smugcontrol...
That hostname doesn't resolve to SmugMug's CNAME (domains.smugmug.com). See our help section on custom hostnames.

Custom Hostname

A domain name you've already pointed to SmugMug using our help page.
custom hostname: Ex: www.yourdomain.com or photos.yourdomain.com (use lower-case!) - Help.

docwalker · January 22, 2009

Guardian, Have you completed the steps for setting the domain up?

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/GoDaddy+CNAME+Setup

Also, when asking for help, do not forget to include your custom domain name and the smugmug account url.

docwalker · January 22, 2009

"Most domain registrars are just big marketing companies that quite frankly don't have a clue or care about the technical details of DNS."

I am actually finding that there are a lot more fly by night small companies that are selling domains but offering no DNS services. They allow you to point to a namserver but that is it. That is why you can get your domain name for $5.00

They also offer no support at all.

If your service is offering blank CNAMEs, I will check it out when I have some free time. The RFC rules are clear, why domain hosts do not abide them is a mystery.

Guardian27 · January 22, 2009

docwalker wrote:

"Most domain registrars are just big marketing companies that quite frankly don't have a clue or care about the technical details of DNS."

I am actually finding that there are a lot more fly by night small companies that are selling domains but offering no DNS services. They allow you to point to a namserver but that is it. That is why you can get your domain name for $5.00

They also offer no support at all.

If your service is offering blank CNAMEs, I will check it out when I have some free time. The RFC rules are clear, why domain hosts do not abide them is a mystery.

Ok I did this but I want to make sure this is done correct...."

Click Add New CNAME Record in the box labelled CNAMES (aliases). If you are changing from an existing website, or if a www CNAME exists, click the pencil icon to edit it.
For the Name, enter only the subdomain of the address you want to use for your SmugMug site. For example, if you picked www.mydomain.com as your address, enter www here"

www, does this means i have to fill in my domain here, such as www.myname.com or only www?

docwalker · January 22, 2009

You should use www only in the first block. Leave the TTL as it is, and enter domains.smugmug.com in the name field.

BeachBill · January 22, 2009

docwalker wrote:

I am actually finding that there are a lot more fly by night small companies that are selling domains but offering no DNS services. They allow you to point to a namserver but that is it. That is why you can get your domain name for $5.00

They also offer no support at all.

If your service is offering blank CNAMEs, I will check it out when I have some free time. The RFC rules are clear, why domain hosts do not abide them is a mystery.

Well, domain hosts offer what services they want to offer. Most current DNS providers don't have any technical experience with DNS protocols or history. A good test is to ask them when they started offering DNS services. Over 95% will have started in 1999 or much later.

We've been offering DNS services since early 1996 (DNS Central was created in 1997) and I was involved in the working groups that helped form ICANN in 1998 and bring to the end the government granted monopoly held by Network Solutions. I have intimate knowledge of DNS and used that when building the tools we have today. Plus we've implemented many DNS level features that our customers throughout the years have requested.

It was actually deja vu when I discovered SmugMug. I thought to myself, wow here is another company that works just like we do., which is a rarity on the Internet and even in real life...

By the way, beware of any company charging at or less than what it actually costs them to acquire the domain name for you. The rock bottom cost that a registrar has to pay to the .com registry for a domain name is currently $6.62/year. This fee is also in the process of going up as Verisign (they run the .com registry) doesn't think they are making enough money for their shareholders.

robertodenis · January 29, 2009

I don t understand

AspectArts wrote:

Just a quick godaddy question. I have an A-record and a CNAME setup through GoDaddy for my site. Am I supposed to delete the A-record? I have it all setup with the CNAME pointing to the domains.smugmug.com and the A-record pointing to 208.79.45.23. This newb is a bit confused. I don't want to mess anything up unnecessarily.
Thanks,

Lisa

Hello!

It seems important. I read the comments a few times but I dont understand a single word. Can you help me?

I also read it somewhere: "
If you get stuck making the changes, we'll be happy to unstick you. Please send via email to the help desk the name of your domain host, your domain host customer number/login ID, and set a temporary password so that we can login. Send this mail ATTN: Doc in the subject line. We will go in and make the changes for you."

What mail? What message?

Thank you for your help.

RD

docwalker · January 29, 2009

In my signature below. There is a link to a page that includes the SmugMug help desk email. I will be happy to help.

DJT · January 29, 2009

Alright. I know at one time I had it setup correctly. I just logged on to my godaddy account and saw that "forwarding" was checked. I unchecked forwarding and setup the cname once again.

If in 1 hour or so it doesn't work, you'll get an email from me.

*note to others... godaddy changed account numbers on customers for a security update. I was locked out of my account and had to verify myself. They gave me a new account number. You'll need your last 4 digits of the credit card or your pin number.

um... what's this mean:

Invalid URL
The requested URL "/", is invalid.

Reference #9.3dc702cc.1233265120.0

JustMeAndre · February 6, 2009

CNAME changes at 1and 1Webhosting

docwalker wrote:

Baldy,

They are rare... Very rare and I do not remember who they were. Sorry. I was also concerned as they also only allowed CNAMEs and not A records.

I can tell you the best thing to do is use one of the better domain hosts. That way there is less hassle making the changes in the future.

I love GoDaddy. I use them for my personal stuff and I love setting up customers that use them. I can usually make the changes in about 5 minutes or less.

Joker and Network solutions are also good.

I changed my settings yesterday with 1and1 Webhosting and did everything correctly as far as I can see. I did everything as it was mentioned in the tutorials for 1and1's changes. Although, I did insert the smugmug ip address according to the tutorial instructions. Does that mean that I am loosing out on the speed boost?

If you want to, I am willing to give you my login settings if you would like to check for me. I am no "expert" but can help myself around these things when instructions are simple and straight forward.. but I will never know if there are better options or not as I am no expert and mostly just follow instructions.

My smugmug custom domain is www.photographmemory.com

Thanks

docwalker · February 7, 2009

1and1 is my kryptonite. There is not much I can do to help you with their setup. I have tried so many times to get their system to work correctly and I have finally given up. They do not use the standard CNAME and A records setup. They actually require an htaccess file to get part of their domains to work.

If you made the changes to the existing settings, you should be ok. If you are using the IP, you will not get the speed boost, correct. But at least the domain will work.

Akamai coming to custom hostnames

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