Mapping a custom user domain to site's vanity url

anjanesh

I plan on creating a django 5.2 based site someSite.com where users can register and each user (say johnsmith) gets a space at someSite.com/~johnsmith which will contain some sort of dynamic content like forms etc.

I want johnsmith to be able to map his own domain johnsmith.com to someSite.com/~johnsmith

What are the complexities here ?
Can this be launched on an OpalStack VPS even if there 100,000+ users ?

sean

anjanesh What are the complexities here ?

Your app can use our API to do the following:

Add the user domain
Either route the user domain to the existing Django site or add a new site to serve the Django app on the user domain.

Your Django app will be responsible for mapping the domain to the user's content. You might be able to use the Django sites framework for some of that.

anjanesh Can this be launched on an OpalStack VPS even if there 100,000+ users ?

Certainly, but you'll need to perform load testing on your app to see its RAM and CPU usage so that you can determine the appropriate VPS plan.

anjanesh

sean From the user's side:

will adding CNAME suffice ?
Or is adding A to IP a must ?

sean

anjanesh I recommend an A record.

Either record will suffice to get the request routed to the site, but there is an important distinction:

An A record simply says "route userdomain.com to 1.2.3.4" where "1.2.3.4" is sitedomain.com's IP.
A CNAME record says "userdomain.com is an alias for sitedomain.com". This means that userdomain.com IS sitedomain.com. As a result, userdomain.com no longer has its own DNS records other than the CNAME and instead gets its records from sitedomain.com.

That means, for example, that userdomain.com will now use the MX records for sitedomain.com which will likely break email for userdomain.com.

If you're using subdomains like mysite.userdomain.com then it's less of concern, but I recommend using an A record all the same.

anjanesh

But what if the OpalStack server changes due due some migration ? How do I inform all the users to update their A record ?

peter

anjanesh The IP addresses assigned to existing Opalstack servers do not change. However, there are situations that would require an account migration to a different Opalstack server and result in having a different IP address - for example, if an Opalstack user wants to move from one server to another for whatever reason (like changing the geographical location for instance) or switch from a shared server to a VPS and vice versa. You should plan for such possible scenarios and organize your own communication channel to inform your end customers about the IP address change so they can update the necessary A record(s) accordingly.