Amazon Route 53 DNS setup
If your domain’s DNS is hosted in Amazon Route 53, connecting it to Redirect Supply means creating a few records in your hosted zone. Nothing else in AWS needs to change: no bucket, no distribution, no certificate. Route 53 applies changes within about a minute, so the whole setup takes about five minutes.
Before you start
You need two things ready before you open the AWS console.
Add the domain in Redirect Supply
Add your domain in Redirect Supply first. Its settings page shows the records you’ll need, including a TXT value that’s unique to your domain. Keep that page open in another tab. This guide covers a root domain like brand.com. If you’re connecting a subdomain like go.brand.com, the DNS setup guide explains the differences.
Make sure the hosted zone is the live one
Route 53 only answers for your domain when the nameservers at your registrar match the NS record in your hosted zone. If you’ve ever deleted and recreated the zone, the nameservers may have changed. Compare the four NS values in the zone with the ones your registrar shows before you start.
Open your hosted zone
All the changes in this guide happen in one hosted zone.
Find the hosted zone
Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open Route 53. Select Hosted zones, then select your domain. You’ll see every record in the zone and a Create record button.
Records you’ll see there
Every zone has NS and SOA records. Leave those alone. If the domain was used with AWS before, you’ll often find an alias A record on the root domain pointing to CloudFront, S3 or a load balancer, and a record for www. Those use the names Redirect Supply needs. Not sure what else counts? The conflict table on your domain’s page in Redirect Supply lists every record that blocks the setup.
Clear the way
Before creating anything, remove what’s already pointing your domain elsewhere.
Delete old root and www records
Select the A record on the root domain, including alias records, and any record on www, then choose Delete records. Remove any AAAA record on the root domain too, or visitors on IPv6 will keep reaching the old setup.
Leave NS, SOA and email records alone
NS and SOA records keep the zone working, and MX and email TXT records keep your email working. None of them affect redirects, so leave them exactly as they are.
Clean up later, not now
If you used S3 and CloudFront for redirects before, you can shut them down once Redirect Supply is Active. Keeping them running for a day costs little and gives you an easy way back.
Create the Redirect Supply records
You’ll create three record sets. Use Simple routing for all of them and keep the default TTL. Leave Record name empty for the root domain.
Name | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
www | CNAME | proxy.redirect.supply |
(leave empty) | A | 188.114.96.9 |
(leave empty) | A | 188.114.97.9 |
_cf-custom-hostname | TXT | Value from your domain’s settings page |
Note: Enter both IPs in one A record, and wrap the TXT value in double quotes.
Create one A record with two values
Select Create record, leave Record name empty, choose A as the type, and keep Alias turned off. In Value, enter 188.114.96.9 and 188.114.97.9 on separate lines. Route 53 keeps both IPs in one record, not two separate ones.
Create the www CNAME
Create a record with Record name www, type CNAME, and the value proxy.redirect.supply.
Create the TXT record
Create a record with Record name _cf-custom-hostname, type TXT, and paste the value from your domain’s settings page in Redirect Supply inside double quotes, like "value". On some less common domain endings, Redirect Supply also asks for an _acme-challenge TXT record. Add it the same way if you see it.
Check the zone
Route 53 confirms each change and syncs it within about a minute. Look over the zone to make sure there’s one A record with two values on the root domain, the www CNAME and the TXT record, and no alias record left behind.
Check the status in Redirect Supply
Once the records are created, you’re done in AWS.
Check the conflict table
You don’t have to wait to find out if something’s wrong. Your domain’s page in Redirect Supply shows a conflict table with the records currently on your domain. Anything that blocks the setup, like an old alias record or a leftover www record, is flagged there along with what to do about it. Fix those first, and the rest is just waiting.
How long it takes
Route 53 usually syncs changes within 60 seconds. If the old records had a long TTL, some visitors may see them a little longer.
When the domain goes Active
Redirect Supply checks your records automatically. When it finds them, the domain switches to Active and HTTPS is issued on its own, with no AWS certificates involved. See Domain statuses for what each status means along the way.
Route 53-specific issues
Most problems with Route 53 come from the zone or how values are entered.
Records have no effect
The registrar’s nameservers don’t match this hosted zone’s NS record. That usually means there’s a second zone for the same domain, or the zone was recreated. Point the registrar to the NS values of the zone you edited.
“Tried to create resource record set but it already exists”
There’s already a record with that name and type, often an old alias record. Delete it or edit it instead of creating a new one.
The TXT record isn’t found
The value is probably missing its double quotes or has extra spaces. Edit the record, wrap the value in double quotes, and save.
The domain is stuck on Pending
Open the conflict table on your domain’s page in Redirect Supply. It shows which record is blocking the setup, usually an old alias record or an old www record. Remove what it flags and wait a few minutes. Record conflicts covers the common cases.