Smooth domain name imgration to Alibaba Cloud DNS - Alibaba Cloud DNS

If your Domain Name Sysytem (DNS) resolution is not registered with Alibaba Cloud, you can migrate your domain name to Alibaba Cloud DNS that provides more stable, secure, and quick resolution services. This topic describes how to smoothly migrate your domain name to Alibaba Cloud DNS, without interrupting your business service.

Billing rules and impact on business

The service is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. For more information, see Pricing.
During the migration, your domain name can be normally used. This helps ensure the normal operation of website and mailbox.

Overview

Follow the following steps to migrate your domain name to Alibaba Cloud DNS:

Add a domain name: Enter the domain name to be added on the Alibaba Cloud DNS console.
Add DNS records: Import DNS records to ensure that Alibaba Cloud DNS records are returned for a DNS request.
Change DNS servers: Switch service traffic by changing DNS servers.

Prerequisites

Disable DNSSEC: If Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is configured for your domain name, your domain name may be inaccessible to specific users. We recommend that you delete the DNSSEC configuration of the original DNS service provider on the website of the domain name registrar and disable the DNSSEC feature. After you migrate the domain name to Alibaba Cloud DNS, Configure DNS security extensions again. If you have not configured DNSSEC for your domain name, skip this step.

Warning

Before the migration, you must delete the DS records and disable the DNSSEC feature. Otherwise, the DNS resolution may be affected.

Procedure

Step 1: Add a domain name

Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS console. On the Authoritative Domain Names tab of the Domain Name Resolution page, click Add Domain Name, and enter the domain name you want to add. If your domain name is registered with Alibaba Cloud or the domain name has been added, skip this step.

Step 2: Add DNS records

Export original DNS records: You can export all DNS records of the domain name to be migrated from the Domain Name Resolution page of the original DNS service provider of your business domain name. If batch export is not supported, perform the following steps to add these records to the downloaded template.
Important
The DNS requests may be sent to the DNS server the original DNS service provider within 48 hours after you migrate the DNS records. Do not delete any DNS records from the DNS server of the original DNS service provider. Retain them for at least a week.
Complete import template: Fill in the DNS records based on DNS resolution template.xlsx. For more information about how to add different types of DNS records, see Add a DNS record.
Note
The server of your original DNS service provider may automatically generate SOA or NS type of DNS records for your domain name. You do not need to add these records to the DNS resolution template.
Import DNS records: Click the domain name you added to go to the DNS Settings page. On the DNS Settings page, click the Import/Export. Click the Import Records tab, select Import Mode: Incremental Update or Full Update, and then click the Upload File to import the selected DNS records to Alibaba Cloud DNS. Full Update is preferred for the first time you add a domain name. For information about incremental update and full update, see Rules.
Check whether the DNS records on the DNS Settings page are the same as those you configure on the server of your original DNS service provider.
Check whether DNS records take effect after modification
1. Log on to Alibaba Cloud DNS server: Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS console. On the Authoritative Domain Names tab of the Domain Name Resolution page, click the domain name you added to go to the DNS Settings page. Click the View DNS Server to obtain System-assigned DNS. These IP addresses are provided by Alibaba Cloud for you to access to the the public authoritative DNS servers of Alibaba Cloud DNS.
2. Check record: Enter the domain name on the Network Detect Tool page. On the Advanced Configuration tab, select the type of DNS record to be detected, specify a DNS server, and click OK. If the DNS resolution results returned by the authoritative DNS server are the same as the imported records, the added DNS records can be scheduled as expected, and the DNS settings take effect.

Step 3: Change DNS servers

You need to check whether the Update Prohibited parameter is enabled for the domain name before changing DNS servers. Disable the Update Prohibited parameter. For information about how to confirm whether the parameter is disabled, you can contact your domain name registrar..

Warning

To prevent DNS resolution exceptions, do not modify any DNS records within 48 hours after you change the DNS server. If you have to modify the DNS records within this period of time, modify them both on Alibaba Cloud DNS and the DNS server of the original DNS service provider, so the records remain consistent.

Change DNS servers: To switch traffic to Alibaba Cloud DNS service, you need to modify the IP address of DNS server at the server of the original DNS service provider to the IP address of Alibaba Cloud DNS server. Before that, you must make sure that the DNS records on DNS Settings page are the same as those you configured on the server of the original DNS service provider. For more information about how to change the DNS servers on the server of your domain name registrar, see Change the DNS server.

Note

The local DNS servers may continue to cache the original DNS server address. It may take 48 hours for the change of DNS servers to take effect on all local DNS servers on the Internet. The time required for local DNS servers to cache a new domain name varies accross different regions. You must wait until local DNS server updates the IP address of new DNS server for the domain name.

Check whether DNS servers take effect after modification

You can also use the DNS traffic analysis feature to observe from which regions the DNS requests are sent to the public authoritative DNS servers of Alibaba Cloud DNS. DNS Traffic Analysis feature collects statistics on DNS requests that are sent from the local DNS servers of Internet service providers (ISPs) to the public authoritative DNS servers of Alibaba Cloud DNS. The Analysis of DNS Request Sources on the DNS Traffic Analysis tab shows the numbers of DNS requests of various source regions. You can observe these numbers for at least ten minutes. The increasing number indicates successful migration. For more information, see Introduction to the DNS traffic analysis feature.

References

For more information about how to transfer a domain name to Alibaba Cloud, see Transfer a domain name to Alibaba Cloud without affecting DNS resolution.