Added by Andy Williams, last edited by Doc Walker on Jul 06, 2010  (view change)

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The following are instructions, tips, and some warnings about setting up your custom domain.  Setting up a CNAME for your custom domain can be a fairly simple process depending on the domain host you use.  While we list a bunch of domain hosts here, we are not making a recommendation to use them.  If you do not have your domain yet, you can register it with our GoDaddy reseller account SmugMug Domains.   The good thing about that is that most of the setup of the domain is done automatically for you when you use our account.  We have details about setting that up on our main domain help page.

Power and Pro users may setup a custom domain.  Standard users will need to upgrade to either Power or Pro.


Notes that you should be aware of before you get started

domains.smugmug.com is not a wildcard
When we mention entering domains.smugmug.com it must be entered exactly that way.  Do not enter anything else as it will not work.  For example do NOT use your smugmugnickname.smugmug.com   I know that it seems like that is what you should use.  But trust me, domains.smugmug.com will work.
Multiple Domains
SmugMug currently only supports 1 domain per account.   Please keep this in mind when registering multiple domains.   You can have one primary domain setup using these instructions.  All of the others will have to "point" to the first.   Forwarding seems to work best for this.We have some instructions for setting that up here.
You cannot CNAME a domain to a specific gallery.  CNAMEs will not support that.  What you can do is setup the primary domain first and make sure it works correctly.  Then forward the other domains (without domain masking) to specific galleries.  Please note that the URL in the browser address bar will change to the primary domain.  The secondary domains cannot stay in the browser address bar as that would break your site.
Using Subdomains
Yes, you can use a subdomain!  The instructions below were mostly written for folks that did not have a domain before and are planning to use www.yourdomain.com as their domain.  You can easily switch the www for anything you like.  We see a lot of folks that use things like photos, albums, proofing, pictures, clientproofing, proofing, buyphotos etc.  So they end up with photos.yourdomain.com etc.  The choice is up to you and the posibilities are endless.  One word of caution.  Do not make it too complex, you want to make it easy for your customers to type.  Also, do not put www. to the left of the subdomain like www.photos.yourdomain.com as that is not needed and will cause problems. To set it up, you only need to set up the subdomain CNAME pointing to domains.smugmug.com
If your domain was previously pointed at another site
You may need to delete, or edit the existing CNAME record. You may see a warning that a www or @ record already exists if this is the case. Usually there is a function to edit the existing record.


Instructions for some of the more common Domain Hosts


dnspark.com

domainsdirect.com

enom.com

eurodns.com

everydns.net

gandi.net

godaddy.com

ixwebhosting.com

  1. Click Manage below the Hosting Account section.
  2. On the left side, click the domain you'd like to use with your SmugMug site.
  3. Next to DNS Configuration, click EDIT.
  4. Click Add DNS CNAME Record.
  5. Under Name, enter only the subdomain you want to use. For example, if you picked www.mydomain.com as your blog's address, just enter www as the entry under Name.
  6. Enter domains.smugmug.com under Data.
  7. Click Submit.
  8. Scroll down to Complete the setup below

joker.com

mydomain.com

noip.com

netfirms.com

networksolutions.com

register.com

smugmugdomains.com

wildwestdomains.com

yahoo.com

1and1.com

Other Hosting Services


The preceding instructions have been collected from Google, the various hosts help files, and other sites on the internet. While we try to make sure that they are accurate, there may be some that may become out of date as the hosts make changes to their sites. If you see problems with the instructions, please send us a note at the help desk

Complete the setup

  1. Go to your SmugMug control panel settings tab.
  2. Locate the domain field and click the change link.
  3. you may have to enter your login information again as a security step
  4. In the Custom Hostname field type the entire domain name you setup in the steps above. ie. www.yourdomain.com or the subdomain.yourdomain.com you have chosen
Gotchas
  • Enter the domain in all lower-case or it won't work.
  • Don't add http:// or any / marks. Just type www.yourdomain.com (or photos.yourdomain.com, for example, if you set it up that way).

5. Click Submit

If you get an error that your CNAME is not setup, it is either not setup correctly, or you may need to wait a bit for your changes to publish from the domain host.

General tips and ideas for Custom domains
  • Once you have set up your custom domain, you may have to go back and update your navbar links to work with both the SmugMug URL and the custom domain.  To do this, we have a Dgrin thread that will help. 
  • Your new custom domain is like a new telephone number.  When you first get it, the only people that can call you are people you have given the number to.   Your new number is not in the phonebook yet and neither is your new domain name.  To get your new domain listed, it has to be picked up by Google.   You can help this process along by using the tips found in our SEO Help page. 

Troubleshooting and checking to make sure that the domain is set correctly

At any point, if you have trouble setting your domain up, if you need help contact us on the help desk

We have folks that can setup most domain hosts in no time. You just need to provide us with the following:

  1. the name of your domain host
  2. the nickname or link to your SmugMug account
  3. the domain host login information (not your SmugMug account login)
  4. the domain we need to setup

We can login to your domain host and make the changes for you.  After we are done, you can change the password at the domain host to protect your account information.

My custom domain works but only when I put in the www
SmugMug supports the use of CNAME's due to the way we use Akamai to deliver your photos faster.  But, most domains do not allow for @, blank, or null CNAME records.   In order to use yourdomain.com without the www in front, you will need to setup an A record.   The IP address for the A record is 208.79.45.23    The Alias Value can be different depending on the domain host you use. Some use an @ sign, others use null, empty, or just leave it blank.  Check your domain host instructions to see which one will work for you.

Do I have to use an A record? You must use a CNAME for the primary domain. This is because A records require the server IP address. IP addresses do change over time. But, most domain hosts now require you to use an A record to get yourddomain.com without the www. So, yes if you want the no www version you must use the A record with our current IP address is 208.79.45.23

Please understand that IP addresses change and this will need to be updated in the future.

We frequently get users that report their custom domain name does not work.   These instructions are written for the standard setup where www.yourdomain.com is used. If you only use a subdomain like photos.yourdomain.com the check is done the same way and the results are similar. Just substitute the subdomain for the www.
Testing to figure out what is wrong is pretty easy. 
Go to:
zoneedit.com/lookup.html
In the first block enter your domain name with the www.
Change block 2 to 'Alias (CNAME)' Leave block 3 empty.
Click 'Look it up'

The correct setting for the CNAME is domains.smugmug.com. If anything
else appears there, your domain settings are incorrect.

The following would be incorrect values:
www.yournickname.smugmug.com , yournickname.smugmug.com , www.domains.smugmug.com , www.smugmug.com , yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com

Please keep in mind that domain changes can occur in as little as 5 minutes, but it can take up to 72 hours to propagate across the internet.

I have entered my domain information and a "This page is parked" warning keeps coming up.
That is occurring because either the CNAME settings did not update correctly or your domain host has your name servers parked.  First check to make sure the settings are correct,  then go back to the nameservers in the domain hosts settings and see if there is an option for hosted vs parked nameservers.  Set it to hosted.   That should do the trick.
I keep getting the SmugMug homepage instead of my site.
The first place to check this is in your SmugMug control panel.   Make sure you have the domain entered properly in the domain field on the settings tab.
I get to my site using my custom domain but the URL displays my mynickname.smugmug.com instead of the custom domain.
This typically means that you have the domain forwarded instead of CNAMEd.   Forwards will not work properly.   You must use a CNAME and an A record.   Turn off the forwarding and check the CNAME settings.
I need an email account with my domain. What settings should I use?
That is something between you and your domain host.   SmugMug does not host email or provide email service.  You can set up MX records in your DNS settings to point to your email provider.   You will need to contact your email provider to find out what settings to use.  If you used smugmugdomains.com or GoDaddy to purchase your domain, we have instructions for you to set up the email.   GoDaddy Email Setup

It would be nice if we actually received emails about changes like this. And nice if the instructions actually worked

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Aug 30, 2008 22:53

We will be sending out a change notice soon.  This change will have a 30 day deadline.   The instructions provided should work for most domain host.   There are so many domain hosts that I cannot possibly write instructions for them all.   If you are having trouble, please send me an email on the help desk.  I will be happy to help get you set up.

Comment: Posted by Doc Walker at Sep 05, 2008 07:50

I was doing a Trial run of livebooks and I decided to go with smug mug, I already directed the CNAME, but now I can't seem to change the "name server" from livebooks to smug mug. The site where I got my domains (mydomain.com) led me to this page but now I come here asking what 2 name servers do I need for it to direct to Smug Mug.

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Sep 17, 2008 13:36

The nameservers are whatever your domain provider tells you to use, they have to do with how your domain name is served out by that provider, not how SmugMug serves out your images.

Comment: Posted by Chris Abbey at Nov 07, 2008 23:52

I would just like to let any one who has host monster to know that apparently you have to send them an email via their help desk with the cname change  the arecord, they dont allow you to do it your self. i spent two hours trying to figure it out before i found out i couldnt, so ill try to spare the rest of you some grief

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Oct 17, 2008 11:25

The CNAME has been changed and www.domain.smugmug.com comes up when I enter my URL...

But the change box in control panel won't take the new URL.? It say it does not resolve to smugmug...

Am I missing something???

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Nov 24, 2008 02:29

The CNAME should point to domains.smugmug.com   not www.domains.smugmug.com 

Please enter that exactly as written.  It should and will work.   Also make certain that you are not using a forward.   Forwards will also cause the same problem you are seeing.

Comment: Posted by Doc Walker at Nov 24, 2008 06:29

Thanks, it goes to domains.smugmug....

Try it  www.mauisurfphotography.com/

Still won't take the change...

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Nov 24, 2008 11:05

Your domain does not appear to be setup with a CNAME or A records according to the NSLookup I just ran.

You might want to contact me on the help desk instead of posting here.  I do not watch this space all the time.   You will get a response from the help desk much faster.

For anyone else having trouble with their domain contact me at help@smugmug.com  instead of posting here. 

Comment: Posted by Doc Walker at Nov 24, 2008 15:42

On a different note, I'm having trouble creating a domain at smugmugdomains.com. Really I'm stuck at not being able to login. I'm already a godaddy customer and I cannot login. The site is not specific as to what login info you are supposed to use, it would be good to make that clear. I'm pretty sure it's my godaddy login info I'm supposed to use, but it's not accepting it.

 Thoughts? Suggestions?

 I would just purchase through godaddy.com, but the .org domains are half as much at smugmugdomains.com

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Jan 31, 2009 01:48

http://www.smugmugdomains.com/ and http://www.godaddy.com have separate logins. You'll need to create a new account at 'smugmugdomains.com' to continue in purchasing a domain name and registering it with GoDaddy.

Comment: Posted by Rich Wilson at Feb 01, 2009 09:02

Please contact us at the help@smugmug.com for help.  I do not see your posts here right away.   I want you to get help as quickly as possible.

Comment: Posted by Doc Walker at Feb 03, 2009 15:54

Sorry Doc
Don't remember who my host is. Don't remember pass words etc. Just plain dumb.
I hope you have made adjustments for situations like mine. And will still support my slower but still working method of access. Or are you holding a gun to my head. Saying switch or else.

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Apr 03, 2009 07:33

I have set up a CNAME from photos.twobackpackers.com to twobackpackers.com when I go to twobackpackers.com/photos I am taken to twobackpackers.smugmug.com and in the address line it says twobackpackers.smugmug.com how do I make the address line read twobackpackers.com/photos?? Is this possible?

Comment: Posted by Anonymous at Jun 19, 2009 12:17

Testing....

RobinM

Comment: Posted by Robin MacAskill at Aug 05, 2010 08:48