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Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

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Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#51
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's right. But: a) this is a common problem for CDNs, as you can never guarantee the DNS server that's asking for your CNAME is close to the cache servers that you want to deliver your end-user content; I'd be surprised if the first CDN cache server a client fetches github content from didn't inspect the end-user IP address from the HTTP session and redirect to a closer / "more optimal" point of presence i…

this is a common problem for CDNs, as you can never guarantee the DNS server that's asking for your CNAME is close to the cache servers that you want to deliver your end-user content; This is the case, and it's a significant problem - especially for people who use Google's DNS server or OpenDNS There is an experimental, but reasonably widely deployed[1] solution available though. I'd be surprised if the first CDN cac…

That article says that Fastly is not doing Anycast.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#52
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DNSMadeEasy apparently supports ANAME records (according to their docs); ANAME's are essentially ALIAS records with a different qtype (though from what I remember, the RFC that proposed them is now deprecated.)

+1 for DNSMadeEasy. The interface is not the best but their pricing is really competitive and their product super stable.

Oh wow. I was doing a transfer of some sites and at the same time looking for a good + affordable DNS service and went with http://freedns.afraid.org/. Seeing that I can get even better service for under $2/month at DNSMadeEasy makes for a compelling proposition.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#53
I'm going to risk looking stupid here but what is the preferred DNS setup then, to make sure both example.com and www.example.com resolve to a GitHub Page at the custom URL www.example.com?

The way I read their documentation I set only a CNAME for www -> username.github.io. Does this mean I set no A record at all for the domain, to make sure I get the benefit of the CDN? If yes, how do I ensure requests for example.com resolve to www.example.com?

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#54

Please GitHub add https (with SPDY) support. Willing to pay for this.

Why? Given the restrictions of github pages, it doesn't seem like security could possibly be an issue, and it also seems like a not-particularly-compelling case for SPDY's muxing.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#55

I'm going to risk looking stupid here but what is the preferred DNS setup then, to make sure both example.com and www.example.com resolve to a GitHub Page at the custom URL www.example.com? The way I read their documentation I set only a CNAME for www -> username.github.io. Does this mean I set no A record at all for the domain, to make sure I get the benefit of the CDN? If yes, how do I ensure requests for example.c…

AIUI: If your provider supports ALIAS then you set an ALIAS for example.com in addition to the CNAME for www. If your provider doesn't then you'll have to set an A for example.com to point to their IP, and the CDN won't work for example.com.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#56

I'm going to risk looking stupid here but what is the preferred DNS setup then, to make sure both example.com and www.example.com resolve to a GitHub Page at the custom URL www.example.com? The way I read their documentation I set only a CNAME for www -> username.github.io. Does this mean I set no A record at all for the domain, to make sure I get the benefit of the CDN? If yes, how do I ensure requests for example.c…

The preferred way is to choose either www.example.com or example.com and let only one of them resolve, while the other should issue a 301 ("Moved permanently") back to the one that resolves.

The easier one to set up is to prefer the www version since it can be done with a simple CNAME and many DNS providers will offer a free automatic 301 forward for the non-www version. (But tastes differ on whether the non-www version looks better.)

Letting both versions resolve would give issues with Google indexing multiple versions of the same page, and reduces the ability to cache properly.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#57

I'm going to risk looking stupid here but what is the preferred DNS setup then, to make sure both example.com and www.example.com resolve to a GitHub Page at the custom URL www.example.com? The way I read their documentation I set only a CNAME for www -> username.github.io. Does this mean I set no A record at all for the domain, to make sure I get the benefit of the CDN? If yes, how do I ensure requests for example.c…

The preferred way is to choose either www.example.com or example.com and let only one of them resolve, while the other should issue a 301 ("Moved permanently") back to the one that resolves. The easier one to set up is to prefer the www version since it can be done with a simple CNAME and many DNS providers will offer a free automatic 301 forward for the non-www version. (But tastes differ on whether the non-www vers…

I'm looking to park a few low-traffic charity sites there and 'Set it and forget it' (like Ron Popeil). I think having both with and without the www working is a higher priority than SEO, so I'll have to compromise and set A records for example.com and CNAME for www.

If anyone figures out a better practice please leave a comment. My preference is no www (with www 301-ing) plus the CDN benefit, but this probably isn't possible.

Re: Faster, More Awesome GitHub Pages

#60
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's right. But: a) this is a common problem for CDNs, as you can never guarantee the DNS server that's asking for your CNAME is close to the cache servers that you want to deliver your end-user content; I'd be surprised if the first CDN cache server a client fetches github content from didn't inspect the end-user IP address from the HTTP session and redirect to a closer / "more optimal" point of presence i…

this is a common problem for CDNs, as you can never guarantee the DNS server that's asking for your CNAME is close to the cache servers that you want to deliver your end-user content; This is the case, and it's a significant problem - especially for people who use Google's DNS server or OpenDNS There is an experimental, but reasonably widely deployed[1] solution available though. I'd be surprised if the first CDN cac…

definitely not doing Anycast. As I wrote just a few days ago [1] github.map.fastly.net resolves to a different IP address based on the geographic location of the user. The exact server location might be approximated from the X-Served-By response header:

  X-Served-By: cache-fra1225-FRA
  X-Served-By: cache-d46-DAL
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6975830
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