New domains screen on beta

robmueller · 19 Dec 2006, 11:49 AM

I've setup the new domains screen on the beta server, and enabled the other domain features where required to make it all work.

The main advantages of the new screen are:
1. Users can explicitly control sub-domain handling for their virtual domain (e.g. Yes, No, or Drop)
2. Users can set a domain to be "external". This allows them to use sub-domain addressesing by default, but explicitly exclude certain sub-domains. For instance, say they have mydomain.com, and want xyz.mydomain.com and blah.mydomain.com to work as regular sub-domains, but don't want lists.mydomain.com to be captured by our servers, they would set:

domain.tld, subdomains=yes
lists.mydomain.tld, active=external

3. Users can set a domain to be "web only". This means we ignore DNS checks for the domain, don't resolve the domain internally for email, but allow them to add the domain on the Websites screen. Of course they still have to point the DNS for the domain to us, but we don't actually need to check that.
4. Users no longer need to contact us to activate their domain. There's two procedures they can use:
a) Regular
i) Add the domain on the virtual domains screen
ii) Change the DNS to point to us

Normally the race condition where the domain isn't activated but some systems see the DNS pointing to us is solved because we now return a 451 response to any delivery attempt until the domain is activated, so other systems should just keep retrying until the domain is active.

b) Paranoid
i) Add the domain on the virtual domains screen
ii) Change the DNS so the MX records for only active.domain.tld point to us
iii) Wait for the notification email that the domain is active
iv) Change the DNS so the MX or NS records for domain.tld point to us

This fixes the race condition, but allows users to do it themselves without intervention from us. This in most cases means that a domain can be activated within about 2 hours

I've also split the documentation for aliases and virtual domains, and cleaned it up to be more explicit. I've currently put the new docs here:

http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts2/Aliases.htm
http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...ualDomains.htm

If people want to check it out or test it out, it's currently available on the beta server, and should be working all correctly.

Rob

sflorack · 19 Dec 2006, 12:17 PM

Did you really mean "permute"? Maybe I'm just a stupid American, but that word isn't commonly used here.

robmueller · 19 Dec 2006, 01:02 PM

I did mean that word:

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=define%3Apermute

Which is what it's doing, changing the order of what's after the @ to be before the @. eg.

[email protected] -> [email protected]

I'm happy to change it if people can think of a better word?

Richard has given me some thoughts on the Active column, which I'll change shortly.

Rob

robmueller · 19 Dec 2006, 02:03 PM

I've made an update and changed the Active state names now to:

a) Waiting for DNS
b) Email & Web
c) Web Only
d) None

And updated the documentation to try and make them clearer.

Rob

19 Dec 2006, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by robmueller
The main advantages of the new screen are:
1. Users can explicitly control sub-domain handling for their virtual domain (e.g. Yes, No, or Drop)
2. Users can set a domain to be "external". [...]
3. Users can set a domain to be "web only". [...]

If I set the subdomain "sub.domain.tld" to "external" or "Web only", then all mail to it will be rejected by FM at SMTP level, right? This could be useful...

robmueller · 19 Dec 2006, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Daniel S
If I set the subdomain "sub.domain.tld" to "external" or "Web only", then all mail to it will be rejected by FM at SMTP level, right? This could be useful...

Yes.

http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...ernalSubdomain

Rob

robmueller · 19 Dec 2006, 02:30 PM

I've made another update, changing the stuff on subdomains to hopefully be clearer. Yes it looks noisy, but I think it's clearer what the options do rather than just "permute" or "drop".

Subdomains? [email protected] as:

a) No, reject
b) Yes, swap: [email protected]
c) Yes, drop: [email protected]

What do people think?

Rob

19 Dec 2006, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by robmueller
Yes.

Thanks. I did read this previously (not carefully enough...)

Quote:

Originally posted by robmueller
Subdomains? [email protected] as:

a) No, reject
b) Yes, swap: [email protected]
c) Yes, drop: [email protected]

I don't think the proper place for the documentation of a feature is the drop-down menu

(a better place is for example a text paragraph above the table).

Edward Velo · 20 Dec 2006, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sflorack
Did you really mean "permute"? Maybe I'm just a stupid American, but that word isn't commonly used here.

I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm sure it's used a lot in algebra.

Rob: I really like these new features, especially the "web only" is useful for some of my domains!

Some things I've noticed though:

- when I add a new virtual domain as "Web Only", the green header on the next screen still says "New domain added. Domain will become active when DNS correctly points to us. See Help for details" (but it will not wait for the DNS)

- when I change an existing virtual domain from "Email and Web" to "Web Only", the virtual aliasses higher on that screen are not deleted (maybe this is on purpose, but it doesn't make much sense)

- the virtual aliasses dropdown list also contains domains that are setup as "Web Only"

- there is no "Email Only" option, which I think can be useful for people who use Fastmail for email, and an other company for web hosting (since webhosting is relatively limited at Fastmail)

- When"Web Only" is selected for a virtual domain, the options on the right ("Subdomain?") should be removed.

JamesHenderson · 21 Dec 2006, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Edward Velo
I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm sure it's used a lot in algebra.

...and statistics:
"Permutations and Combinations" spring to mind.

J.

sflorack · 21 Dec 2006, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JamesHenderson
...and statistics:
"Permutations and Combinations" spring to mind.

J.

Indeed. I saw "permute" and my mind immediately went to "permit", and never thought of the noun variation.

Ah well, it's not being used now, so the ignorant people among us (self included) can breath a collective sign of relief.

robmueller · 21 Dec 2006, 12:45 PM

Edward Velo: I've fixed most of these issues now.

The only one I haven't is the "Email only" option because that's really just "Email & Web" anyway. I had thought of changing it to "Email & Web or Email Only", but it's a bit long. Alternatively having an "Email Only" option that internally did the same as "Email & Web" might be nice, but a bit of a pain to add at this point. Basically if you don't point the DNS A record for your domain to us, then it's not going to do anything anyway. I'll make this clearer in the documentation but leave it as "Email & Web" I think.

Rob

robmueller · 29 Dec 2006, 07:36 AM

I think this is all looking good, so I'll probably roll this out this weekend. Any last comments?

Rob

robmueller · 2 Jan 2007, 08:29 AM

I'm about to roll this all out now...

Rob

19 Dec 2006, 11:49 AM	#1
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	New domains screen on beta I've setup the new domains screen on the beta server, and enabled the other domain features where required to make it all work. The main advantages of the new screen are: 1. Users can explicitly control sub-domain handling for their virtual domain (e.g. Yes, No, or Drop) 2. Users can set a domain to be "external". This allows them to use sub-domain addressesing by default, but explicitly exclude certain sub-domains. For instance, say they have mydomain.com, and want xyz.mydomain.com and blah.mydomain.com to work as regular sub-domains, but don't want lists.mydomain.com to be captured by our servers, they would set: domain.tld, subdomains=yes lists.mydomain.tld, active=external 3. Users can set a domain to be "web only". This means we ignore DNS checks for the domain, don't resolve the domain internally for email, but allow them to add the domain on the Websites screen. Of course they still have to point the DNS for the domain to us, but we don't actually need to check that. 4. Users no longer need to contact us to activate their domain. There's two procedures they can use: a) Regular i) Add the domain on the virtual domains screen ii) Change the DNS to point to us Normally the race condition where the domain isn't activated but some systems see the DNS pointing to us is solved because we now return a 451 response to any delivery attempt until the domain is activated, so other systems should just keep retrying until the domain is active. b) Paranoid i) Add the domain on the virtual domains screen ii) Change the DNS so the MX records for only active.domain.tld point to us iii) Wait for the notification email that the domain is active iv) Change the DNS so the MX or NS records for domain.tld point to us This fixes the race condition, but allows users to do it themselves without intervention from us. This in most cases means that a domain can be activated within about 2 hours I've also split the documentation for aliases and virtual domains, and cleaned it up to be more explicit. I've currently put the new docs here: http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts2/Aliases.htm http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...ualDomains.htm If people want to check it out or test it out, it's currently available on the beta server, and should be working all correctly. Rob

19 Dec 2006, 12:17 PM	#2
sflorack The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 2,908	Did you really mean "permute"? Maybe I'm just a stupid American, but that word isn't commonly used here.

19 Dec 2006, 01:02 PM	#3
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	I did mean that word: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=define%3Apermute Which is what it's doing, changing the order of what's after the @ to be before the @. eg. [email protected] -> [email protected] I'm happy to change it if people can think of a better word? Richard has given me some thoughts on the Active column, which I'll change shortly. Rob

19 Dec 2006, 02:03 PM	#4
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	I've made an update and changed the Active state names now to: a) Waiting for DNS b) Email & Web c) Web Only d) None And updated the documentation to try and make them clearer. Rob

19 Dec 2006, 02:30 PM	#7
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	I've made another update, changing the stuff on subdomains to hopefully be clearer. Yes it looks noisy, but I think it's clearer what the options do rather than just "permute" or "drop". Subdomains? [email protected] as: a) No, reject b) Yes, swap: [email protected] c) Yes, drop: [email protected] What do people think? Rob

21 Dec 2006, 12:45 PM	#12
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	Edward Velo: I've fixed most of these issues now. The only one I haven't is the "Email only" option because that's really just "Email & Web" anyway. I had thought of changing it to "Email & Web or Email Only", but it's a bit long. Alternatively having an "Email Only" option that internally did the same as "Email & Web" might be nice, but a bit of a pain to add at this point. Basically if you don't point the DNS A record for your domain to us, then it's not going to do anything anyway. I'll make this clearer in the documentation but leave it as "Email & Web" I think. Rob

29 Dec 2006, 07:36 AM	#13
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	I think this is all looking good, so I'll probably roll this out this weekend. Any last comments? Rob

2 Jan 2007, 08:29 AM	#14
robmueller Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 6,102 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	I'm about to roll this all out now... Rob