CNAME FAQ confused

[jlvpeng]

I'd like to setup photo.jlvpeng.com to jlvpeng.smugmug.com
I have a jlvpeng.com host. No other webpage yet.
CNAME FAQ states that I have to setup a CNAME to point phot.jlvpeng.com to www.smugmug.com. Is that right?
The FAQ also states that it's better to point to www.smugmug.com than real physical IP address.
However, in all the wiki tutorial of all these different host, every setup points to www.smugmug.com and its ip address.
So what's the deal here?

[docwalker]

The FAQ is correct. If you want a www.yourdomain.com address. But, for what you are doing you will want to create a CNAME of photo and point it at www.smugmug.com

Then go into your SmugMug control panel and enter photo.jlvpeng.com

I know what you are thinking... Why not point the domain directly to your site. Don't, it will not work right. It needs to point to www.smugmug.com The system does the thinking for you.

Keep in mind that the first part of the CNAME, the alias, is what is to the left of the domain. ie. the www or photo. That is all you want to enter there. Do not put in your entire domain. I have seen several people end up with

yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com

Obviously not what you want visitors to type in :-)

If you need help, let me know on the help desk. (http://www.smugmug.com/help/emailreal)

[jlvpeng]

So I don't have to point to the actual ip address, but rather point to www.smugmug.com
right?

[docwalker]

That is correct. For your situation you only need the CNAME record pointed at www.smugmug.com

For users that want www.theirdomain.com they enter a CNAME record. Most visitors have gotten used to not typing the www. So to make that work you need an @ or empty alias in the CNAME. Not all domain hosts allow that. They want the @ to be in the A record section. 'A' records require an IP address.

So to make the www and non-www versions of a domain work properly, you need both a CNAME and an A record. In your case you are only adding a subdomain to an exisiting domain. That requires only the CNAME record.

We suggest using the CNAME over A records because IP addresses change. When they do, you will need to edit the A records for the new IP.

[jlvpeng]

I have tried to CNAME photo.jlvpeng.com to www.smugmug.com
And set photo.jlvpeng.com in my control panel.
But when I type photo.jlvpeng.com on the internet address, it won't show up.
By the way, my account is jlvpeng.smugmug.com
Do you know why?

[Andy]

I have tried to CNAME photo.jlvpeng.com to www.smugmug.com
And set photo.jlvpeng.com in my control panel.
But when I type photo.jlvpeng.com on the internet address, it won't show up.
By the way, my account is jlvpeng.smugmug.com
Do you know why?
photo.jlvpeng.com is not CNAMEd properly, when I ping it I get unresolved host.

ping photo.jlvpeng.com
ping: cannot resolve photo.jlvpeng.com: Unknown host

Can you check your cname settings, it can also take 24-48 hours for your domain host to get it done... depending on the host.