476637 - Create new start page hostnames/DNS records for Firefox 3.1

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(mozilla.org Graveyard :: Server Operations, task)

Description

[Kev Needham [:kev]]

Per discussion in last week's Fx 3.1 status meeting, we need to increment the hostname used for the start page for Firefox 3.1. We'll be changing the start page for the ru locale, and need to keep existing users on versions older than 3.1 pointed at the older start pages (<locale>.start2.mozilla.com). 

It was recommended we increment the start page hostnames, as the browser.startup.homepage and browser.startup.homepage_reset preferences are global, and this was still the preferred config for Firefox. To make the change without affecting users of 2.0.0.x through 3.0.x, we'll need a hostname that only affects 3.1 (and greater) users.

Please create DNS A/CNAME records for <locale>.start3.mozilla.com (or similar) that copy the current <locale>.start2.mozilla.com records. We should also alert the owners of any hosts we point CNAME records at so they are aware of the change for 3.1.

If more info is required, please let me know.

Comment 1

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

We're not putting locales in hostnames anymore on mozilla.com (bug 398938).  Does that affect this also or are the start pages different?

Comment 2

[Kev Needham [:kev]]

Start pages should be different from the mozilla.com web pages, and are required for the browser configs (see http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla1.9.1/source/other-licenses/branding/firefox/locales/browserconfig.properties ). Most of the start page host records currently are cnames for Google boxen, and not routed through the netscalers.

Comment 3

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

I think I'd prefer if we somehow indicated the version of Firefox that the subdomain was for. i.e., start2 would've been for Firefox 2 users, start3 for Firefox 3 users, start31(maybe?) for Firefox 3.1 users... Not sure that's possible now, but it'd be good to do in the future.

Comment 4

[Phong Tran [:phong]]

start3 added and points to www.google.com

Comment 5

[Kev Needham [:kev]]

lookups appear to be working. Phong, just to confirm, it's one wildcard record for *.start3.mozilla.com, correct? 

kneedham@cuttlefish:~$ dig a en-us.start3.mozilla.com

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P1 <<>> a en-us.start3.mozilla.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 25937
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 6, AUTHORITY: 7, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;en-us.start3.mozilla.com.	IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
en-us.start3.mozilla.com. 493	IN	CNAME	www.google.com.
www.google.com.		388023	IN	CNAME	www.l.google.com.
www.l.google.com.	186	IN	A	72.14.205.147
www.l.google.com.	186	IN	A	72.14.205.99
www.l.google.com.	186	IN	A	72.14.205.103
www.l.google.com.	186	IN	A	72.14.205.104

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	e.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	f.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	a.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	c.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	d.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	b.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26387	IN	NS	g.l.google.com.

;; Query time: 29 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.0.4#53(192.168.0.4)
;; WHEN: Wed Feb  4 08:19:54 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 263

kneedham@cuttlefish:~$ dig a thisisprobablyawildcard.start3.mozilla.com

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P1 <<>> a thisisprobablyawildcard.start3.mozilla.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 50722
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 6, AUTHORITY: 7, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;thisisprobablyawildcard.start3.mozilla.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
thisisprobablyawildcard.start3.mozilla.com. 600	IN CNAME www.google.com.
www.google.com.		387996	IN	CNAME	www.l.google.com.
www.l.google.com.	159	IN	A	72.14.205.104
www.l.google.com.	159	IN	A	72.14.205.147
www.l.google.com.	159	IN	A	72.14.205.99
www.l.google.com.	159	IN	A	72.14.205.103

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	b.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	f.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	e.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	a.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	g.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	c.l.google.com.
l.google.com.		26360	IN	NS	d.l.google.com.

;; Query time: 131 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.0.4#53(192.168.0.4)
;; WHEN: Wed Feb  4 08:20:21 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 281

Comment 6

[Phong Tran [:phong]]

That is correct.  It is just one wildcard for *.start3.mozilla.com.