#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8

# # Setting up Custom Domains with App Engine
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# *January 29, 2016*
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# *A short guide based on my experience setting up w.s. undine with GAE and Namecheap.*
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# <hr>
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# When you deploy an app using the Google App Engine SDK, Google automatically assigns you a URL based on your project name. For this site, I was given www.ws-undine.appspot.com. This is fine for most projects, but I wanted my personal website to have its own domain because it looks better and is less to type.
# 
# Luckily, Google makes setting up custom domains relatively easy even for people (like me) who know little about how the internet is structured, what role domain registrars play, what a host record is...etc. However, getting it working did require a bit of trial and error.
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# First, log into the Google Developer's Console and access App Engine settings. There is a tab for “Custom domains” that lists the three steps you need to take.
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# ![https://i.imgur.com/1TsJgnP.png](https://i.imgur.com/1TsJgnP.png)
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# ## Step 1 -  Verify that you own the domain
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# This step is not too difficult; Google gives you a string to append to your domain’s host record. I logged into my Namecheap account, “list domains”, “manage”, and “advanced DNS”. From here I added a new “TXT Record” with “@” and value = [the Google verification string].
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# ![https://i.imgur.com/KDfCK9e.png](https://i.imgur.com/KDfCK9e.png)
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# A few minutes later, Google confirmed the domain was verified.
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# ## Step 2 - Set up the domain
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# This step is a bit more complicated. First off, head back to App Engine settings.
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# Google gives you two options:
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# ![https://i.imgur.com/G5hCPFe.png](https://i.imgur.com/G5hCPFe.png)
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# I didn't understand what the difference was at the time and went with the default option. Later on, I learned that this is for "naked domains". The difference is that “naked” domains have URLs without www. I googled for pros cons and found one site claiming that [naked domains are bad](http://www.yes-www.org/why-use-www/) and a Stack Overflow page implying the choice [doesn't really matter](http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/60442/best-practice-for-using-www-domain-vs-naked-domain).
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# ## Step 3 (for naked domains) - Add 8 host records to your domain
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# This process is basically the same as with the verification string.
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# Numerous times instructions warned me that changes could take minutes to hours to take effect. This was quite frustrating as I had no idea if the set-up was correct (and gestating) or faulty (and would never work). To pass the time I started reading the documentation more closely and realized that my host record had overlaps. I turned off the default Namecheap parking lot page and deleted the references to it in the host record. Then I went to bed.
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# ### The next day
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# The site was still inaccessible. I realized that by default Namecheap redirects URLs to www.[sitename].com and that this was probably not what I wanted (having set it up as a naked domain in App Engine). I deleted the redirect, waited 30 minutes and tried again. Note that the default redirect is listed on the first options page and not the "advanced DNS" page.
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# ![https://i.imgur.com/uAipS7W.png](https://i.imgur.com/uAipS7W.png)
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# No luck. However, I noticed that Chrome navigated to the www version extremely quickly even if I explicitly entered the naked domain address. I tried again, this time in Firefox, and my website appeared.
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# My first impression was that the site was noticeably slower compared to its .appspot.com counterpart. A [discussion on Stack Overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1823441/appengine-performance-problem-same-site-10x-faster-accessing-from-appspot-than) indicated it might be a caching problem that will disappear over time.
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# ### Another day passes
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# The slowness disappeared, so I guess it was a caching problem.
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# Chrome continues to automatically add “www” whenever I type my URL into the Omnibox. Hilariously, I have to do a Google search to access my own website despite knowing the URL. I tried cleaning Chrome’s user data, but the problem remains.
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# *Edit (Jan 30th, 2016):* I decided to change my configuration from naked domain to www. No real reason aside from a non-techy friend asking me "where is the www?"

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