Akamai coming to custom hostnames

HoyBoy · February 7, 2009

SmugMug Customer Service is the best!
I have to say this publicly:

I sent the help desk an email at 11:31 this morning (a Saturday) as directed above, with Atn: Doc CName Help in the subject line.

I received a response from Doc at 11:36. Yep, that's right -- 5 minutes later!

clap

On a Saturday!

And this was no "canned" response. He addressed my issue and solved it right there...done!

I can't say enough good stuff about the fantastic customer support from the SmugMug Heroes!

JustMeAndre · February 11, 2009

docwalker wrote:

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.

I understand Doc, and thanks. I am having other troubles now, as I log in, I get to the smugmug page instead of my own homepage, and if I choose "your photos" then my nickname.smugmug apears. Then, when I choose a category/gallery from my navbar, it changes over to my custom domain, and for some reason, that;s when I can't view the video in one of my wedding categories. Do you know why this is happening? I am thinking it might have something to do with the referal code I have in my bottom java.. I am going to play around with it, and if it doesnt solve the problem, I will call on you.

Thanks
André

Allen · February 11, 2009

JustMeAndre wrote:

I understand Doc, and thanks. I am having other troubles now, as I log in, I get to the smugmug page instead of my own homepage, and if I choose "your photos" then my nickname.smugmug apears. Then, when I choose a category/gallery from my navbar, it changes over to my custom domain, and for some reason, that;s when I can't view the video in one of my wedding categories. Do you know why this is happening? I am thinking it might have something to do with the referal code I have in my bottom java.. I am going to play around with it, and if it doesnt solve the problem, I will call on you.

Thanks
André

You need to clean up your nav html and switch to relative links.
Remove the leading http://www.photographmemory.com part.
examples
<li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
category
<li><a class="drop" href="/Weddings">Weddings
gallery
<li><a href="/gallery/7258172_m6nKU">Awards 2008</a></li>
sub-category
<li><a href="/OKHJ/708724">GO Feb-08 Schooling Show</a></li>

peestandingup · March 13, 2009

Is this close to being released soon?

docwalker · March 13, 2009

Getting close.

docwalker · March 19, 2009

Heads up. Email had been sent to the affected users.

DustinFinn · March 19, 2009

ok, I got the e-mail. Quick Question:

If I ping domains.smugmug.com and get an IP address.

Then ping my custom domain of proofs.DustinFinnPhotography.com and get the SAME IP address as above - does it mean I am already doing it the right way?

Ry-Cam · March 19, 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.

Doc, have you tried to get GoDaddy to allow the @ record to point to a domain name instead of an IP address?

Which RFC are you referring to? I'd like to read up.

PS - Got the email, although I did not have a CNAME record before, just A records pointing to your IP. I changed www to a CNAME, but my business cards just have mydomain.com written on them.

docwalker · March 19, 2009

Dustin,

I would not use Ping. Use NSLookup on the CNAME proofs.DustinFinnPhotography.com. 14400 IN CNAME domains.smugmug.com.
So you are setup correctly.

docwalker · March 19, 2009

Doc, have you tried to get GoDaddy to allow the @ record to point to a domain name instead of an IP address?

Yes, it does not work.

Which RFC are you referring to? I'd like to read up.

Its been a long while since I last looked at them. The RFC should be available through Google, that is how I found it.

PS - Got the email, although I did not have a CNAME record before, just A records pointing to your IP. I changed www to a CNAME, but my business cards just have mydomain.com written on them.

However you want to use it is fine with me. :-)

claudermilk · March 19, 2009

Just to make sure I don't kill anything. I've updated my CNAME record on my Godaddy account. I see it also has an A record pointing at 68.178.232.100. Is this the correct IP? Can I just kill it since it sounds like having that in there will foil any speed boost?

Andy · March 19, 2009

claudermilk wrote:

I see it also has an A record pointing at 68.178.232.100. Is this the correct IP?

:nah

.

Our current IP address is 208.79.45.23

http://www.smugmug.com/help/professional-accounts

TalkieT · March 19, 2009

URLs in customisation?
Hi there - I just tried making the DNS changes (for nzsnaps.com . talkiet.smugmug.com) and will wait and see if they work... BUT

What about URLs in customisation?

In my customisation, I have consistently used FQDN for page elements, banners etc, along the lines of http://talkiet.smugmug.com/etc/etc_2346.png

Should I now go through my customisation and change these all to http://neilnz.com/etc/etc_235879236589.png?

Or is there a better way for me to address URLs in my customisation?

Cheers - Neil G

Andy · March 19, 2009

TalkieT wrote:

Or is there a better way for me to address URLs in my customisation?

Cheers - Neil G

Yes.

Use relative urls, e.g.:

/photos/XXXXXXXX-L.png

that's all you need

TalkieT · March 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 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.

Are you saying that an A record for nzsnaps.com will work, but Akamai won't cache, but the CNAME for www.nzsnaps.com will work and be cached?

I really hope this isn't the case, as I promote my site as just 'nzsnaps.com' and I would hate to have my clients miss out on the speed boost - especially being on the other side of the world...

[edit - I just reread and it's clear, but disappointing :-( ]

Cheers - N

Andy · March 19, 2009

TalkieT wrote:

Are you saying that an A record for nzsnaps.com will work, but Akamai won't cache, but the CNAME for www.nzsnaps.com will work and be cached?

I really hope this isn't the case, as I promote my site as just 'nzsnaps.com' and I would hate to have my clients miss out on the speed boost - especially being on the other side of the world...

Cheers - N

Yes, I'm very sorry

Read baldy's post #1 of this thread, thanks.

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?).

Markjay · March 19, 2009

Unfortnately..........
Ok, I've contacted the company I host with and have made the changes to both my CNAME record and my ARECORD.

Unfortunately, I was told I can NOT remove the ARECORD because the way this works is that the ARECORD tells the host that my IP address is located on an off site host / website... domains.smugmug.com now. I thought the only reason I really setup that ARECORD originally, was so that someone could just type in my domain name without having to type www or http. So that was a surprise to me. Basically, I wanted to make sure no matter how my url was typed in the address bar, they'd arrive :-)

My only question now is this:

Since I still have BOTH a CNAME and an ARECORD....
you say the CNAME record will be speedy and the ARECORD will be slow.
In my instance, does that mean that if someone arrives at my site
typing in www.mydomain.com or http://mydomain.com their experience will be faster than if they type in just my domain.com (no www or http?)

Do I understand that correctly?

Or, just the fact that I have an ARECORD at all going to have an effect on the speed of my site to my viewers?

TIA,
Markjay

docwalker · March 19, 2009

Markjay,

Just having an A record is not going to affect the speed. They will see the same speed they do today. The CNAME version will just get faster.

--Doc

Markjay · March 19, 2009

Hey....
Speak in the same language, will you! lol

So
if they access my site using www or http (my cname) they'll see the performance boost.

if they access my site using just my domain name (no www or http) they will not see any performance boost.

Just reply correct or incorrect.

And thank you!
Markjay

docwalker wrote:

Markjay,

Just having an A record is not going to affect the speed. They will see the same speed they do today. The CNAME version will just get faster.

--Doc

docwalker · March 19, 2009

I cannot just reply correct or incorrect.

http is not involved in this so ignore it.

If you use a CNAME to setup the www then yes, faster.

If you use an A record to setup the non-www version of the domain. It will be the same as today.

Markjay · March 19, 2009

Thank you
Thank you for your kilted reply.

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

Markjay

docwalker wrote:

I cannot just reply correct or incorrect.

http is not involved in this so ignore it.

If you use a CNAME to setup the www then yes, faster.

If you use an A record to setup the non-www version of the domain. It will be the same as today.

docwalker · March 19, 2009

No Problem. That is what I am here for.

Blurmore · March 19, 2009

YO! That is STOOOOPID fast!!! Thanks...my wedding galleries were getting ponderous from my domain name. NOW...WOW.

wilsonjg · March 19, 2009

docwalker....

I've read a bunch of these site questions and have gotten sweatly palms now....

I'm admitting defeat and emailing you my information to my Joker.com site.

Thanks for the help. This is why I am with SMUGMUG - customer service is so much better than my "previous" web site provider!

-Joey

Andy · March 19, 2009

TalkieT wrote:

Are you saying that an A record for nzsnaps.com will work, but Akamai won't cache, but the CNAME for www.nzsnaps.com will work and be cached?

I really hope this isn't the case, as I promote my site as just 'nzsnaps.com' and I would hate to have my clients miss out on the speed boost - especially being on the other side of the world...

[edit - I just reread and it's clear, but disappointing :-( ]

Cheers - N

If you cname www.nzsnaps.com and enter that as your fully qualified hostname in your SmugMug control panel, and a-rec your nzsnaps, we should be able do do the right thing and make your nzsnaps be fast - try it!

TalkieT · March 19, 2009

Andy wrote:

If you cname www.nzsnaps.com and enter that as your fully qualified hostname in your SmugMug control panel, and a-rec your nzsnaps, we should be able do do the right thing and make your nzsnaps be fast - try it!

I think I have actually worked this out, but in reverse.....

I have nzsnaps.com 'cnamed', and www.nzsnaps.com 'A-recced' and have my hostname in Smugmug set as 'nzsnaps.com'

It looks faster to me now, but has definite slow points...

I'll update my customisation tonight with all relative URLs and see if that helps things further...

Looks like it's all going to work out well - I like the way that Smugmug changes the URL to what is stored as the hostname whether the client gets there via www.nzsnaps.com or just nzsnaps.com

Cheers - N

cabbey · March 20, 2009

TalkieT wrote:

I think I have actually worked this out, but in reverse.....

I have nzsnaps.com 'cnamed', and www.nzsnaps.com 'A-recced' and have my hostname in Smugmug set as 'nzsnaps.com'

If your domain registrar allows you to CNAME the top level domain, then you should CNAME *both*. This will leave you immune to any future IP address changes. Less maintenance work for you.

beansbaxter · March 20, 2009

I am not using a subdomain, just an full domain name.

I have the A record pointing to 208.79.45.23 and I have a CNAME record of "www" pointing to domains.smugmug.com so is that all I need to? Is this the fastest possible method for a domain name (not a subdomain)??

Also, is there a way to remove the www from the domain name? As it is now, it forces the www with the domain name, and I would prefer to have the domain name without the www in the URL.

cabbey · March 20, 2009

Selfservice validation that SmugMug sees the correct setup
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:

copy and paste this url into your browser's navigation bar: http://www.smugmug.com/homepage/dig.mg?hostname=
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
hit enter and wait for the page to load.
If you see a green "Pass", then you're good so far
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
hit enter and wait for the page to load, again.
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.

leanne-b · March 20, 2009

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

Akamai coming to custom hostnames

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