Akamai coming to custom hostnames

Andy

leanne-b wrote:

Oh my, this is like reading greek for me. And I can't navigate around Go Daddy very well at all. Is there anyone that could help set this up for me, or someone I could even pay?

Thanks,

Leanne

Pay??? bah. Like we say all over this thread - just write our help desk ATTN: Doc, and he'll help you. Don' t worry one second more about it.

Suzikane

MMM...I feel blond right now...

My gallery is a stand alone website and not pointed to any other websites...

I have several fansites and I use www.suzikane.smugmug.com as the main gallery for all my sites. There are no links in between my sites and my smugmug account.

Hope someone can help me out??

Suzette

Andy

Markjay wrote:

Thank you for your kilted reply.

I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions, Doc.

Markjay

Actually, please read post #1 again, Mark.

Andy

Suzikane wrote:

MMM...I feel blond right now...

My gallery is a stand alone website and not pointed to any other websites...

I have several fansites and I use www.suzikane.smugmug.com as the main gallery for all my sites. There are no links in between my sites and my smugmug account.

Hope someone can help me out??

Suzette

Do you want your custom host name to lead to your SmugMug Site?

josephhand

You Guys Rock!

docwalker wrote:

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

Not only is this awesome news, but the way you guys get the word out and the willingness to help is amazing!
Thank you!
joe

photobug

Made updates at registrar and *WOW* it's fast now!
I changed the A and CNAME records at GoDaddy last night (the step-by-step tutorial was very helpful).

I just this morning tried to access my Smugmug site and HOLY COW! is it fast now. It's darned near as fast as if it were locally hosted. Incredible. That was 10 or 15 minutes' time well spent!

wellman

cabbey wrote:

Howdy Folks, many of you are asking how you can validate that your changes at your DNS registrar are correct. Here's a way to validate that SmugMug sees your changes correctly... it's a bit manual, but easier than making the changes at most domain registrars:

1. copy and paste this url into your browser's navigation bar: http://www.smugmug.com/homepage/dig.mg?hostname=
2. add your custom hostname to the end of the url, so that it looks something like: http://www.smugmug.com/homepage/dig.mg?hostname=www.moonriverphotography.com
3. hit enter and wait for the page to load.
4. If you see a green "Pass", then you're good so far
5. If you also setup the non-www version of your domain name, then remove the www. from your domain name in the url bar, so that it looks like http://www.smugmug.com/homepage/dig.mg?hostname=moonriverphotography.com
6. hit enter and wait for the page to load, again.
7. If you see a green "Pass", then you're good!

If either step shows a red Fail message, then the first thing you should do is to wait a few minutes and try again. This is especially important if you just made changes on your domain registrars website. If the red Fail message remains, review the directions at the begining of this thread, check the wiki, or send up a call for help as Doc explained in post #2 of this thread... we'll be glad to help.

FYI - I'm getting nothing but a default SmugMug header when I run the test, even on Andy's moon river site.

iSpark

Well crap. I have 1and1 for the domain host.

I will not be able to get the speed boost.

I use their email servers, so a CNAME record will not work for me.

Could some one please PM me or post the IP address that the A-NAME record should use? Or, is it the same IP that is in the CNAME Custom Domain Name Help page?

I'm not having a very good week. :

Andy

iSpark wrote:

Well crap. I have 1and1 for the domain host.

I will not be able to get the speed boost.

I use their email servers, so a CNAME record will not work for me.

Why not move it all to a good place, like godaddy? It's rather painless (I've moved to godaddy from another place).

Could some one please PM me or post the IP address that the A-NAME record should use? Or, is it the same IP that is in the CNAME Custom Domain Name Help page?

Yes.

Suzikane

Andy wrote:

Do you want your custom host name to lead to your SmugMug Site?

I don't know what you mean??? Custom host name...I only have one name...

www.suzikane.smugmug.com ???

Suzette

Andy

Suzikane wrote:

I don't know what you mean??? Custom host name...I only have one name...

www.suzikane.smugmug.com ???

Suzette

It's all good, don't worry Suzette...

wellman

Suzikane wrote:

I don't know what you mean??? Custom host name...I only have one name...

www.suzikane.smugmug.com ???

Suzette

If you only have suzikane.smugmug.com tied to your SmugMug account, then there's nothing for you to do. You're already getting the new speed boost. These posts are for folks who have purchased custom domains (like www.suzikane.com as a hypothetical), which may also be tied to their SmugMug accounts.

Strikeslip

If I hadn't recently received a free SmugMug camera strap, I'd be plenty pissed off at having to make these changes.

Andy

Strikeslip wrote:

If I hadn't recently received a free SmugMug camera strap, I'd be plenty pissed off at having to make these changes.

We're sorry about that, but it's so you can get really fast photos, so it's worth it.

The changes typically take only a minute or two to make. If you want us to do it for you, we're happy to! We have a specialist, his name is Doc, and he's at our help desk standing by for you. Just say the word!

iSpark

Ok, I went ahead and changed the CNAME record. I was only using 1and1 email servers for that domain name, to register with forums and such.

I'll just make some email changes in some forums and I'll be good to go.

Strikeslip

Andy wrote:

We're sorry about that, but it's so you can get really fast photos, so it's worth it.

The changes typically take only a minute or two to make. If you want us to do it for you, we're happy to! We have a specialist, his name is Doc, and he's at our help desk standing by for you. Just say the word!

Thanks Andy. I've already made the changes and they've taken effect. So, in lieu of having Doc make the changes for me, maybe he can come to my house and serve me beer while giving me a sensual massage?

RBrogen

If you are interested
This is a bit more involved but gives you flexibility and allows you to have people access your website from a variety of ways and still have them end up at your customdomain.com SM site which works with the SpeedBoost. I have configured my domain so that regardless of whether someone types www.brogen.com, brogen.com or photos.brogen.com that the result will be that the site visitor will go to photos.brogen.com.

The way this works is that in my DNS I have 3 records as shown. My initial website is not actually SmugMug but my own webserver (and this could be your ISP who is hosting your domain who most of the time offer you a small amount of space for a website to go with the domain service). Simply create a page on your site and add the code in Step B obviously replacing my domain with yours. This code causes the visitor to be redirected to your custom domain which is the domain that gives you the speedboost.

Just thought I'd share.

Sledhed

Ok I'm a sports photographer, and a DAMN good one, I'm not an internet website expert nor do I really want to be. You can't even begin to understand how confused I am.

I have the domain http://proctorphoto.com registered with 1and1, I'm now sorry about that too. When you type in proctorphoto.com it points to a splash screen on comcast with a link to enter cproctor.smugmug.com. That has always worked fine for me. If I point it to domains.smugmug.com instead of cproctor.smugmug.com how does it know which account to login too? I hope this makes sense because none of it makes any sense to me. Is there a way with 1and1 to just make it point to my Smuugy site and dump the splash screen for awhile?

OK now I have the forward to my splash screen all screwed up!

docwalker

Sledshed, The system knows because your custom domain is entered into your control panel in the custom domain field. What happens is technical but it just works. Just setup the custom domain at 1and1 first. Then wait a bit before adding it to the control panel.

I really dislike 1and1 as well :cry

Andy

Sledhed wrote:

OK now I have the forward to my splash screen all screwed up!

Splash image where?

Sledhed

Andy wrote:

Splash image where?

1and1 pointed to my personal webpage which was the splash screen for Proctorphoto.com. You then clicked a link which went to cproctor.smugmug.com. Now it doesn't work anymore, I screwed it all up this when I was trying to put in the domain.smugmug.com thingy. I'm just so confused!

kris10

I went to Joker.com and there is a tab for "DNS Configuration". Under that lower on the screen it shows this stuff....

A-Records
Host
herrmannphotography.com
Target
63.81.134.23

CNAME-Records
Host
www.herrmannphotography.com
Target
www.smugmug.com

Is this where I'm supposed to change something and if so, which one do I change to what?

Sledhed

docwalker wrote:

Sledshed, The system knows because your custom domain is entered into your control panel in the custom domain field. What happens is technical but it just works. Just setup the custom domain at 1and1 first. Then wait a bit before adding it to the control panel.

I really dislike 1and1 as well :cry

Doc, I really think I have my whole 1and1 thingy all screwed up now. I just got an e-mail from Lindy and I reset my password on 1and1 and asked her to look at it.

Thanks,

Chris

gluwater

kris10 wrote:

I went to Joker.com and there is a tab for "DNS Configuration". Under that lower on the screen it shows this stuff....

A-Records
Host
herrmannphotography.com
Target
63.81.134.23

CNAME-Records
Host
www.herrmannphotography.com
Target
www.smugmug.com

Is this where I'm supposed to change something and if so, which one do I change to what?

That is where you'll want to make your changes. You want to change the Target for the A record to 208.79.45.23 and the Target for your CNAME to domains.smugmug.com. If you would like us to make the changes for you please send your username for Joker.com and change the password to something generic like smugtemp123 and email that info to help@smugmug.com and we'll take care of the set up for you. DO NOT post that information here.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

whiterice

Sfariqueen wrote:

I was told by Sm to change my domaine address or something. I subsequently lost the info on it. Is there a separate board to do this on?
Im totally clueless how or what to do or where.


SF

This should answer your questions:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=117668&highlight=custom+domain

Andy

Sfariqueen wrote:

I was told by Sm to change my domaine address or something. I subsequently lost the info on it. Is there a separate board to do this on?
Im totally clueless how or what to do or where.


SF

Hi, do you mean you lost all those emails we traded last night?
write the help desk, we'll sort you out.

Sledhed

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Doc!clap

The speed is AMAZING!

Chris

Pamela

Youve got to be kidding me. Is this something we have to do, will exposedimages.net and exposed-images.smugmug.com still work if I dont do these changes?


The last time I even attempted to point my exposedimages.net to the site, I had it so messed up, that you graciously had to fix it for me.

And even at that it was 2 years ago, I can even remember where I started. ( Sorry, the age thing,lol)

Though I have to say, Thank you, Thank you for all the hard work, great web site and much much more for the last few years.


Thanks

Pamela

Andy

Pamela wrote:

Youve got to be kidding me. Is this something we have to do, will exposedimages.net and exposed-images.smugmug.com still work if I dont do these changes?

Your custom domain will stop working if you do not do these changes. We'll do 'em for you, you simply have to write us, help desk, ATTN: Doc in the subject line and we'll handle it all for you in no time. It's easy for us. So don't sweat it on your end!

And you'll have all the benefits of Akamai