Cname question

[jswhigham]

Do I point my domain www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com/) to www.smugmug.com (http://www.smugmug.com/) as mentioned in the instructions, or do I point it to my smugmug page
fun-people-photos.smugmug.com?
TIA
Scott

[Andy]

Do I point my domain www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com/) to www.smugmug.com (http://www.smugmug.com/) as mentioned in the instructions, or do I point it to my smugmug page
fun-people-photos.smugmug.com?
TIA
Scott

:wave Hi Scott, welcome to Dgrin!

Please follow the instructions exactly.
Oh and don't forget to put your custom domain name http://www.funpeoplephotos.com into the domain section of your SmugMug control panel, too.

Holler for me if I can be of any help at all.

PS: While I have you, here are some great pro resources for you:

The customization forum:
http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Our customization FAQ:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043

Some Really Well Done SmugMug Sites:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=27713

Customizing For Dummies
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25441

We also have a forum dedicated for our pros:
http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

Please review the Pro FAQ on SmugMug Help:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/pro-faq.mg

Check out the "Pro Tips Thread"
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=20236

And, dont' forget our SmugBlogs: http://blogs.smugmug.com

Pro Corner: http://blogs.smugmug.com/pros/

[jswhigham]

I've followed the steps but get the following error:
Warning: That hostname doesn't resolve to SmugMug. This may cause problems with your custom hostname setting.

Do I get this because the DNS change has not propogated yet, or is there another cause?

Here are my DNS entries:
MX Records:
funpeoplephotos.com. IN MX 0 securemail.namesecurehosting.com.
A Records:
funpeoplephotos.com. IN A 64.62.166.70
CNAME Records:
webmail.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
mail.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
smtp.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
pop.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
imap.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
www.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME www.smugmug.com.
TXT Records:

[Andy]

I've followed the steps but get the following error:
Warning: That hostname doesn't resolve to SmugMug. This may cause problems with your custom hostname setting.

Do I get this because the DNS change has not propogated yet, or is there another cause?

Here are my DNS entries:
MX Records:
funpeoplephotos.com. IN MX 0 securemail.namesecurehosting.com.
A Records:
funpeoplephotos.com. IN A 64.62.166.70
CNAME Records:
webmail.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
mail.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
smtp.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
pop.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
imap.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME webmail.namesecurehosting.com.
www.funpeoplephotos.com. IN CNAME www.smugmug.com.
TXT Records:

Yeah give it some time.. 24-48 Hours.

[jswhigham]

If someone types in funpeoplephotos.com without the www will it still direct them to smugmug, or do I have to add another Cname record with the @ symbol to make that happen?

[Andy]

If someone types in funpeoplephotos.com without the www will it still direct them to smugmug, or do I have to add another Cname record with the @ symbol to make that happen?

No, you'll need to add an A-record for that. A-records work, but b/c we can change our IP address without notice, you'll need to stay on top of them :)

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


I don't want my visitors to have to type www...

If you just want your web address to be http://yourdomain.com instead of something like http://www.yourdomain.com, you can use the @ symbol instead of inserting the subdomain when setting it up. (A subdomain is the part the proceeds yourdomain.com — www is a common subdomain.) Registrars use the @ symbol to indicate the lack of a domain (rather than just leaving it blank).

Some registrars don't allow CNAMEs with @ symbols. They force you to use an A record instead. The basic principle is the same, but instead of pointing to www.smugmug.com it points to our IP address.

Gotcha: Our IP address might change in the future, causing an A record to break. For this reason we suggest trying a CNAME record first.

Our current IP address is 63.81.134.23

I hope this helps :D

[cambler]

No, you'll need to add an A-record for that. A-records work, but b/c we can change our IP address without notice, you'll need to stay on top of them :)


Why not CNAME them both? That's legal.

[Andy]

Why not CNAME them both? That's legal.

Because some registrars don't allow that.

[devbobo]

Why not CNAME them both? That's legal.

a CNAME is an alias, you can't alias your domain name. You need an A record as Andy stated.

[rich56k]

a CNAME is an alias, you can't alias your domain name. You need an A record as Andy stated.
Interesting incident reminded by this thread...
I registered thru register.com and after 6 months of service i got an inquiry from a potential customer asking when will my site by running(!!??!!) since my b/cards said "Hooliganunderground.com"(w/o www)
I assumed every body knew to add www. . when i tried my site w/o www. i was redirected to a generic register .com page saying ' this domain was recently aquired blah,blah blah...' Until i took Andys/devbobo's advice(and set up AName) i dont know how many others i missed - register .com was pretty casual about it like it was on me to deal with....(as well should have been -heck, i didn't have a clue how this whole thing worked-- i didnt know until that email -- hope others don't go 6 months to discover this! )
Or maybe i'm just a blithering idiot, without a clue!?!

Dont know if this is industry standard or what? Just my experience...
rich
http://rich56k.smugmug.com
Thanks for this forum i was guided to a solution!

[cambler]

a CNAME is an alias, you can't alias your domain name. You need an A record as Andy stated.
No, that's not true.

For example, for any given domain, the primary delegation at the registry will have NS records. At each name server, there's no reason I cannot have, in addition to a valid SOA, a slew of CNAME entries and nothing else. There is no reason I need a single A record.

The same is true of MX records as well. I have a number of domains with no resolution, either A or CNAME, but that does have a valid SOA and MX array.

The only prohibition is that the primary delegation must have at least one NS record or the delegation is lame (and even in that case, some registries don't even enforce that).

[cambler]

Interesting incident reminded by this thread...
I registered thru register.com ... when i tried my site w/o www. i was redirected to a generic register .com page saying ' this domain was recently aquired blah,blah blah...'

Dont know if this is industry standard or what? Just my experience...


It both is and is not industry standard. It is, in that many registrars will send your primary as well as a "www" host to a parking page when you register the name. But most make it very clear that you need to change BOTH when you choose where your name is going to go.

Some registrars don't make this easy to find out, it is true. And some go so far as to redirect ALL hosts that you do not explicitly create to their parking pages (that is, if you have a primary as well as a "www" defined, and someone types in "fredflintstone" as a host, they'll get the registrar's parking page.

I live my industry :rofl

[rich56k]

It both is and is not industry standard. It is, in that many registrars will send your primary as well as a "www" host to a parking page when you register the name. But most make it very clear that you need to change BOTH when you choose where your name is going to go.

Some registrars don't make this easy to find out, it is true. And some go so far as to redirect ALL hosts that you do not explicitly create to their parking pages (that is, if you have a primary as well as a "www" defined, and someone types in "fredflintstone" as a host, they'll get the registrar's parking page.

I live my industry :rofl

Thanks for the clarification Cambler,
rich
(thats the great about this forum i learn something new everytime i drop in)

[devbobo]

No, that's not true.
Cambler,

Last time I checked, smugmug had nothing to do with email and MX records.

My response was in the context of the setting up http://domain.com and http://cname.domain.com as originally posted.

please show me how it is possible to get http://domain.com (http://domain.com/) without the use of an A record.

Thanks,

David

[Mike Lane]

Cambler,

please show me how it is possible to get http://domain.com without the use of an A record.

Thanks,

David

http://www.photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://www.mikelanephotography.com/
http://mikelanephotography.com/

All go to the same place no A records were used. Dreamhost makes it very easy to do this.

[devbobo]

http://www.photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://www.mikelanephotography.com/
http://mikelanephotography.com/

All go to the same place no A records were used. Dreamhost makes it very easy to do this.

umm yeah, but in most of these cases, the url in the address bar changes

[Mike Lane]

umm yeah, but in most of these cases, the url in the address bar changes

Only because I tell it to. That has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't need an A record.

[devbobo]

Only because I tell it to. That has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't need an A record.

well, since you told it to do that. Perhaps you will give me a demonstration of
http://www.photos.mikelanestudios.com/
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/

both pointing to your smugmug account without url forwarding and an A record.

[Mike Lane]

Your wish is my command.

[devbobo]

Your wish is my command.

But that wouldn't work with smugmug since they only allow one fully qualified name to be entered.

BTW, I chose the domain name, please show me http://mikelanephotography.com/

without an A record.

[Mike Lane]

But that wouldn't work with smugmug since they only allow one fully qualified name to be entered.

BTW, I chose the domain name, please show me http://mikelanephotography.com/

without an A record.
Ahh but it does work, you saw it with your own eyes. Mikelanephotography.com is forwarded to photos.mikelanestudios.com and (as with www.photos.mikelanestudios.com (http://www.photos.mikelanestudios.com)) dreamweaver allows me the option of making it work with or without www AND the option of leaving the www or dropping it for every visitor. Yes, mikelanephotography.com doesn't apply since it's a forward not an a record or cname (the domain isn't even hosted by dreamhost).

Anyhow, they all work with no a records and really the only urls that matter here are the mikelanestudios.com ones.

[jswhigham]

Yeah give it some time.. 24-48 Hours.
Is it common for Cname resolution to smugmug to be intermittant even from the same workstation and internet connection when it is propagating to DNS? Sometimes my domain name ( www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com) ) resolves to smugmug, sometimes it doesn't. Its been around 2 days since I made the change.
TIA
Scott

[Andy]

Is it common for Cname resolution to smugmug to be intermittant even from the same workstation and internet connection when it is propagating to DNS? Sometimes my domain name ( www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com) ) resolves to smugmug, sometimes it doesn't. Its been around 2 days since I made the change.
TIA
Scott

Hi Scott,

Contact your domain host, your domain is hitting this IP 64.62.166.70 which is not us. You've set up a CNAME Alias, yes? If you need any more help, holler here.

All the best,

Andy

[jswhigham]

I created a CNAME alias.
Contacting my host, Namesecure, has been an excersize in futility. I only get canned responses given after several days and none of my direct questions have been answered. (sorry for the rant.)


I just tried the site again and it works. I'll post again if it fails again.
I just did an nslookup. Here is the response:
Server: dns-cac-lb-01.tampabay.rr.com
Address: 65.32.5.74

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: hera.smugmug.com
Address: 63.81.134.23
Aliases: www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com), www.smugmug.com (http://www.smugmug.com)


Hi Scott,

Contact your domain host, your domain is hitting this IP 64.62.166.70 which is not us. You've set up a CNAME Alias, yes? If you need any more help, holler here.

All the best,

Andy

[jswhigham]

I created a CNAME alias.
Contacting my host, Namesecure, has been an excersize in futility. I only get canned responses given after several days and none of my direct questions have been answered. (sorry for the rant.)


I just tried the site again and it works. I'll post again if it fails again.
I just did an nslookup. Here is the response:
Server: dns-cac-lb-01.tampabay.rr.com
Address: 65.32.5.74

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: hera.smugmug.com
Address: 63.81.134.23
Aliases: www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com), www.smugmug.com (http://www.smugmug.com)

Its not resolving again. :scratch
Now I get this from an nslookup:

Server: dns-cac-lb-01.tampabay.rr.com
Address: 65.32.5.74

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.funpeoplephotos.com (http://www.funpeoplephotos.com)
Address: 64.62.166.70

Is this common?

[Andy]

Is this common?

Not to my knowledge - sounds like you're not getting great service from your domain host - bang on them or switch - sorry for the trouble!

[mallison]

Hope this isn't off too far from the topic. My redirection is working fine to get me to smugmug, but when I cut and paste an address from one of my galleries, then replace smugmug.com in the address with mydomain.com and try to reconnect - it replaces mydomain.com with smugmug.com. I've noticed this works fine for other members sites.:scratch

[Andy]

Hope this isn't off too far from the topic. My redirection is working fine to get me to smugmug, but when I cut and paste an address from one of my galleries, then replace smugmug.com in the address with mydomain.com and try to reconnect - it replaces mydomain.com with smugmug.com. I've noticed this works fine for other members sites.:scratch

A link would be very, very helpful, so I can help you :wink

:wave welcome to Dgrin!

[mallison]

A link would be very, very helpful, so I can help you :wink

:wave welcome to Dgrin!

Apologies, www.AllisonsImages.com (http://www.AllisonsImages.com)

-Mark

[dogwood]

This is a bit confusing for me-- so I apologize if this is so easy I should be able to figure it out on my own.

I'm registered through godaddy.com (I know, I know Mike, with dreamhost you don't have to worry about this) and set up for the cname stuff. All that works just fine. But... it's configured so the www has to be typed in.

If I want it so no www needs to be typed in, is it possible to set up an A record for that part (recognizing I may need to change that later if smugmug inplements IP changes)? Can I have my cake and eat it too?

[Andy]

Can I have my cake and eat it too?

:nod

http://www.smugmug.com/help/professional-accounts
I don't want my visitors to have to type www...

If you just want your web address to be http://yourdomain.com instead of something like http://www.yourdomain.com, you can use the @ symbol instead of inserting the subdomain when setting it up. (A subdomain is the part the proceeds yourdomain.com — www is a common subdomain.) Registrars use the @ symbol to indicate the lack of a domain (rather than just leaving it blank).

Some registrars don't allow CNAMEs with @ symbols. They force you to use an A record instead. The basic principle is the same, but instead of pointing to www.smugmug.com it points to our IP address.

Gotcha: Our IP address might change in the future, causing an A record to break. For this reason we suggest trying a CNAME record first.

Our current IP address is 63.81.134.23

[Andy]

Apologies, www.AllisonsImages.com (http://www.AllisonsImages.com)

-Mark

Mark, you have "hide owner" turned on in your gallery. Turn that to "no" and you'll be all set. Hide owner does just what the name says :deal

[dogwood]

Thanks, Andy.

I had the A Record in there, just didn't have the proper IP address, so I changed it. I'll give it a couple days to update and see if it works. In the meantime, the CNAME stuff still works as long as the "www" is typed, so that's cool.

I'm starting to see why Mike likes dreamhost... godaddy doesn't exactly make this process axiomatic (and as far as I can tell only lets you have one CNAME entry).

Any other godaddy folks have a different method other than pointing the A Record to the smugmug IP address for when people type yourdomain.com in the address bar, and the CNAME to for when they type www.yourdomain.com? Or am I still confused (which has been known to happen often in my customizing!)?

[mallison]

Mark, you have "hide owner" turned on in your gallery. Turn that to "no" and you'll be all set. Hide owner does just what the name says :deal

Andy-

A delayed but sincere thanks. I'll change this immediately.

P.S. - As a recent upgrader to Pro and a new visitor to DGrin, my readings included the thread re: exposuremanager.com. I've felt enough warm fuzzies about everything SMug that I'm not looking elsewhere for now.

-MA