| « PreviousNext » | |
   | Did this page help you? Yes | No | Tell us about it... |
Migrating a Subdomain to Route 53 without Migrating the Parent Domain
You can migrate a subdomain to use Route 53 as the DNS service without migrating the parent domain from another DNS service. The process has four basic steps:
Get resource record sets from the current DNS service for the parent domain.
Add resource record sets for the subdomain to your Route 53 hosted zone.
API only: Confirm that your changes have propagated to all Route 53 DNS servers.
Note
Currently, the only way to verify that changes have propagated is by using the GetChange API action. Changes generally propagate to all Route 53 name servers in a couple of minutes. In rare circumstances, propagation can take up to 30 minutes.
Creating a Hosted Zone for the Subdomain that You Are Migrating
If you want to use Route 53 as the DNS service for a subdomain that you are migrating from another DNS service without migrating the parent domain, you start by creating a hosted zone for the subdomain that you are migrating. Route 53 stores information about your subdomain in the hosted zone.
Note
When you create a hosted zone, Route 53 automatically creates four name server (NS) records and a start of authority (SOA) record for the zone. The NS records identify the name servers that you give to your registrar or your DNS service so that queries are routed to Route 53 name servers. For more information about NS and SOA records, see NS and SOA Records that Route 53 Creates for a Hosted Zone.
To create a hosted zone using the Route 53 console, perform the following procedure. To create a hosted zone using the Route 53 API,
use the CreateHostedZone action. For more information, see POST CreateHostedZone
in the Amazon Route 53 API Reference.
To create a hosted zone using the Route 53 console
Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Route 53 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/.
In the Route 53 console, above the left pane, click Create Hosted Zone.
In the right pane, enter a domain name and, optionally, a comment. For more information about a field, see the tool tip for the field.
Below the right pane, click Create Hosted Zone.
Getting Resource Record Sets for the Parent Domain
To simplify the process of migrating an existing subdomain to Route 53, get resource record sets from the DNS service provider that is currently servicing the parent domain. You can use this information as a basis for creating Route 53 resource record sets; you will continue to use most of the same records after you transfer your subdomain to Route 53.
How you get the existing resource record sets depends on which company you are currently using as your DNS service provider. Typically, your DNS service provider will give you a zone file, but they might also give you the information in another format. Try asking customer support for your records list or zone file information.
Creating Resource Record Sets
Using the resource record sets that you got from your current DNS service provider as a starting point, create corresponding resource record sets in the Route 53 hosted zone that you created for the subdomain. The resource record sets that you create in Route 53 will become the resource record sets that DNS uses after you delegate responsibility for the subdomain to Route 53, as explained in Delegating Responsibility for the Subdomain to Route 53, later in the process.
Caution
Do not create additional name serve (NS) or start of authority (SOA) records in the Route 53 hosted zone, or delete the existing records.
To create resource record sets using the Route 53 console, perform the following procedure.
To create resource record sets using the Route 53 API, use the ChangeResourceRecordSets action.
For more information, see POST ChangeResourceRecordSets in
the Amazon Route 53 API Reference.
To create resource record sets using the Route 53 console
Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Route 53 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/.
On the Hosted Zones page, do one of the following:
Click the row for the hosted zone in which you want to create record sets, and click Go to Record Sets.
Double-click the row for the hosted zone.
On the Record Sets page, above the left pane, click Create Record Set.
In the right pane, enter the applicable values. For information about a field, see the tool tip for the field.
Below the right pane, click Create Record Set.
Checking the Status of Your Changes (API Only)
Creating a new hosted zone and changing resource record sets take time to propagate to the Route 53 DNS servers.
If you used POST ChangeResourceRecordSets to create your
resource record sets, you can use the GetChange action to determine whether your changes have propagated.
(ChangeResourceRecordSets returns a value for ChangeId, which you can include in a subsequent
GetChange request. ChangeId is not available if you created the resource record sets by using the console.)
For more information, see GET GetChange in the Amazon Route 53 API Reference.
Note
Changes generally propagate to all Route 53 name servers in a couple of minutes. In rare circumstances, propagation can take up to 30 minutes.
Delegating Responsibility for the Subdomain to Route 53
After your changes to Route 53 resource record sets have propagated (see Checking the Status of Your Changes (API Only)), delegate responsibility for the subdomain to Route 53 by updating the zone file for the DNS service of the parent domain. Perform the following procedure.
To delegate responsibility for the subdomain to Route 53
Using the method provided by your DNS service, back up the zone file for the parent domain.
If the previous DNS service provider for the domain has a method to change the TTL settings for their name servers, we recommend that you change the settings to 900 seconds. This limits the time during which client requests will try to resolve domain names using obsolete name servers. If the current TTL is 172800 seconds (two days), which is a common default setting, you still need to wait two days for resolvers and clients to stop caching DNS records using the previous TTL. After the TTL settings expire, you can safely delete the records that are stored at the previous provider and make changes only to Route 53.
In the Route 53 console, get the name servers in the delegation set for your Route 53 hosted zone:
Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Route 53 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/.
On the Hosted Zones page, click the name of the hosted zone.
In the right pane, make note of the four servers listed for Delegation Set.
Alternatively, you can use the
GetHostedZoneaction. For more information, see GetHostedZone in the Amazon Route 53 API Reference.Using the method provided by the DNS service of the parent domain, add NS records for the subdomain to the zone file for the parent domain. In these NS records, specify the four Route 53 name servers that are associated with the hosted zone that you created in Step 1.
Caution
Do not add a start of authority (SOA) record to the zone file for the parent domain. Because the subdomain will use Route 53, the DNS service for the parent domain is not the authority for the subdomain.
If your DNS service automatically added an SOA record for the subdomain, delete the record for the subdomain. However, do not delete the SOA record for the parent domain.
Depending on the TTL settings for the name servers for the parent domain, the propagation of your changes to DNS resolvers can take 48 hours or more. During this period, DNS resolvers may still answer requests with the name servers for the DNS service of the parent domain. In addition, client computers may continue to have the previous name servers for the subdomain in their cache.
After the registrar's TTL settings for the domain expire (see Step 2), delete the following resource record sets from the zone file for the parent domain:
The resource record sets that you added to Route 53 as described in Creating Resource Record Sets.
Your DNS service's NS records. When you are finished deleting NS records, the only NS records in the zone file will be the ones that you created in Step 4.
To learn more about working with Route 53, see the following related topics.
