custom domain name & emails

nickhaigh · August 21, 2009

I purchased a domain name from 1&1 last yr, i've just renewed it and decided to use the email with the domain, but according to 1&1 they do not support the emails as I am using it for smugmug! is it possible to use emails with the domain? for e.g. my domain is www.nickhaigh.net and would like an email like info@nickhaigh.net

I'm a bit confused
here is 1&1's response

Here is the result below:

nickhaigh.net is an alias for domains.smugmug.com.

domains.smugmug.com is an alias for domains.smugmug.com.edgekey.net.
domains.smugmug.com.edgekey.net is an alias for e1021.c.akamaiedge.net.

You're using a CNAME for your domain which is: domains.smugmug.com

You need to contact the provider of your CNAME for technical assistance
since they are the one who is currently supporting your emails.

photokandy · August 21, 2009

nickhaigh wrote:

I purchased a domain name from 1&1 last yr, i've just renewed it and decided to use the email with the domain, but according to 1&1 they do not support the emails as I am using it for smugmug! is it possible to use emails with the domain? for e.g. my domain is www.nickhaigh.net and would like an email like info@nickhaigh.net
...

If you also have web space at 1&1, you could do what I did -- it's not as pretty, but it works, and you get to have your email address just like you want:

1. Create a subdomain that points to your smugmug site (i.e., mine is "sm.photokandy.com"); set your www domain to point to 1&1's servers.
2. Add an index page to your www site that redirects to the subdomain. All it has to have is this: (note: take out the space between the bracket and the word "meta")

[html]<HTML>
<HEAD>
< META http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://subdomain">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
If your browser doesn't redirect, <a href="http://subdomain">click here</a>.
</BODY>
</HTML>[/html] 3. Set up your email under your www account. Since the www domain is pointing at 1&1's servers, you get 1&1 support.

Downside - if you do this, you'll be down for as long as it takes for the domain to propagate through the internet. Usually 24-48 hours. One other potential downside is that the end user will see the "redirect" (i.e., they type "www.yourdomain.com", and the address bar changes to "sm.yourdomain.com").

Upside - you also get to build your own html pages that in no way conform to SM's templates. Of course, this is only an upside if you like HTML. (I do!)

Not sure that helps or not... I've not tried having my www domain be an alias to SM for the very reason you've encountered, so I can't give you a direct solution under your current setup.

nickhaigh · August 21, 2009

photokandy wrote:

If you also have web space at 1&1, you could do what I did -- it's not as pretty, but it works, and you get to have your email address just like you want:

1. Create a subdomain that points to your smugmug site (i.e., mine is "sm.photokandy.com"); set your www domain to point to 1&1's servers.
2. Add an index page to your www site that redirects to the subdomain. All it has to have is this: (note: take out the space between the bracket and the word "meta")

[html]<HTML>
<HEAD>
< META http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://subdomain">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
If your browser doesn't redirect, <a href="http://subdomain">click here</a>.
</BODY>
</HTML>[/html] 3. Set up your email under your www account. Since the www domain is pointing at 1&1's servers, you get 1&1 support.

Downside - if you do this, you'll be down for as long as it takes for the domain to propagate through the internet. Usually 24-48 hours. One other potential downside is that the end user will see the "redirect" (i.e., they type "www.yourdomain.com", and the address bar changes to "sm.yourdomain.com").

Upside - you also get to build your own html pages that in no way conform to SM's templates. Of course, this is only an upside if you like HTML. (I do!)

Not sure that helps or not... I've not tried having my www domain be an alias to SM for the very reason you've encountered, so I can't give you a direct solution under your current setup.

Thanks Kerri, but as far as I'm aware I have just purchased the domain, no webspace!! I purchased the add on email as this is what they told me i needed at first, now they say different!!
It's totally confusing to me! <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/headscratch.gif" border="0" alt="" >

you have a great website though, looks impressive

Andy · August 21, 2009

Nick, write our Support Heroes attn Nick in the subject line. He'll help you from the help desk.

nickhaigh · August 21, 2009

Andy wrote:

Nick, write our Support Heroes attn Nick in the subject line. He'll help you from the help desk.

Thanks very much Andy

photokandy · August 21, 2009

Andy wrote:

Nick, write our Support Heroes attn Nick in the subject line. He'll help you from the help desk.

Cool -- SM should be able to help out. My only other thought for your problem was to see if you could change your domain from a CNAME to DNS and specify the "A Record" directly (pointing to SM's IP address) while keeping the mail server pointing at 1&1. No idea if that would have worked though...

nickhaigh wrote:

you have a great website though, looks impressive

Thanks! It's been 6 months in the making, getting small tweaks done in my spare time. It was getting some tweaks yesterday, in fact, just before SM's scheduled maintenance. Nothing like skating on thin ice, right? ;-)

Oh, btw, I LOVE your photographs... Absolutely gorgeous! *favorited*

nickhaigh · August 21, 2009

photokandy wrote:

Cool -- SM should be able to help out. My only other thought for your problem was to see if you could change your domain from a CNAME to DNS and specify the "A Record" directly (pointing to SM's IP address) while keeping the mail server pointing at 1&1. No idea if that would have worked though...

Thanks! It's been 6 months in the making, getting small tweaks done in my spare time. It was getting some tweaks yesterday, in fact, just before SM's scheduled maintenance. Nothing like skating on thin ice, right? ;-)

Oh, btw, I LOVE your photographs... Absolutely gorgeous! *favorited*

Thanks, I just need the nice website to showcase them

so if you got any tips to improve things??

in regards to the CNAME, DNS thing, I've emailed a support hero, see if they can guide me in the right direction as i'm no good with all this...lol

James H · August 22, 2009

photokandy wrote:

If you also have web space at 1&1, you could do what I did -- it's not as pretty, but it works, and you get to have your email address just like you want: snip lots of useful stuff...

Upside - you also get to build your own html pages that in no way conform to SM's templates. Of course, this is only an upside if you like HTML. (I do!)

Not sure that helps or not... I've not tried having my www domain be an alias to SM for the very reason you've encountered, so I can't give you a direct solution under your current setup.

Thanks for outlining all of that, Kerri. I was trying to piece together my thoughts and questions about your site's structure tonight while writing you an email. I step in here to clear my head and lo-and-behold you've answered most of my questions before I even asked.

I'll hold off on my remaining questions until I see what exciting new features get rolled out tonight. If my hunch is right, I may not need to look for outside hosting or add sub-domains. :crosses fingers

custom domain name & emails

Comments