How to Set Up a Public Hosted Zone on Amazon Route 53 When Your Domain Is Registered with Another Registrar

If you’ve registered your domain with a third-party registrar, you can still manage its DNS records using Amazon Route 53. By doing so, you gain access to AWS’s globally distributed infrastructure, which ensures that DNS queries are resolved quickly and efficiently from the nearest available server, regardless of where your users are located.

This global reach significantly reduces latency and enhances the performance of your applications. Additionally, Route 53 offers high availability and fault tolerance, as its network of redundant DNS servers across multiple regions ensures that your domain remains accessible even in the event of localized outages or disruptions.

What Is Amazon Route 53?

Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service offered by AWS. It translates domain names (e.g.,_ example.com_) into IP addresses (e.g., 192.0.2.1) that computers use to communicate.

In addition to DNS, Route 53 can register domains, perform health checks, and route traffic based on factors like latency or geolocation.
A Public Hosted Zone in Route 53 is used for domains accessible on the internet. It contains DNS records that help route users to your website or application.

Let's Build... In Public.

Create a Public Hosted Zone

1. Go to Route53 on your AWS Management Console.
2. Select Get Started
3. Select Create hosted zones
4. Click Get started

Create hosted zone

1. Hosted zone configuration
2. Domain name: studentanalyst.co.za (enter your domain name)
3. Description - optional: This Hosted Zone is for Building in Public
4. Type: Public hosted zone
5. Click Create hosted zone
6. studentanalyst.co.za was successfully created. Now you can create records in the hosted zone to specify how you want Route 53 to route traffic for your domain.

Understanding the Default DNS Records

After creating your hosted zone, Route 53 automatically generates two important DNS records:

NS (Nameserver) Record: Lists the nameservers that Route 53 assigns to your domain. These nameservers will handle DNS queries for your domain.

SOA (Start of Authority) Record: Provides metadata about the hosted zone, such as the primary DNS server and the domain administrator’s email address.

The NS Record is crucial because it contains the nameservers you’ll use to point your domain to Route 53.

Update Your Domain’s Nameservers at Your Registrar

To direct traffic through Route 53, you need to update the nameservers at your domain registrar.

1. Log in to your domain registrar’s account (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, domains.co.za).
2. Navigate to the DNS or Nameserver settings for your domain.
3. Replace the existing nameservers with the four nameservers provided in your Route 53 hosted zone.
4. Save changes.
5. Note: DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally, but they often take effect sooner.

Verify Your Setup

After updating your DNS records and nameservers, verify that everything is working correctly, and that your Route53 nameservers are active.

1. Open your Command Line
2. Check your domain with nslookup
3. nslookup studentanalyst
4. Use your domain name
5. You can also use DNS Checker to see if your name servers are working.

Conclusion

By setting up a public hosted zone on Route53, you've gained centralized control over your domain, and can set up your DNS Records after your Name Servers become active.

Resources

Blog Post by AWS: Amazon Route53