How to config Amazon Route53 working without www in sub-domain

Question

edit: Amazon now supports this. http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2012/12/root-domain-website-hosting-for-amazon-s3.html

I have my domain config in Route53 at Amazon AWS

exec ping command in my domain without www

$ ping mydomain.com.br
ping: cannot resolve domain.com.br: Unknown host

exec ping command in my domain with www

$ ping www.domain.com.br
PING s3-website-sa-east-1.amazonaws.com (177.72.245.6): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 177.72.245.6: icmp_seq=0 ttl=244 time=25.027 ms
64 bytes from 177.72.245.6: icmp_seq=1 ttl=244 time=25.238 ms
64 bytes from 177.72.245.6: icmp_seq=2 ttl=244 time=25.024 ms

Route 53 -> Create Record Set -> Name: [ ].domain.com.br Set CNAME value: www.domain.com.br

DISPLAY ERROR

"RRSet of type CNAME with DNS name mydomin.com is not permitted at apex in zone mydomin.com"

Solution 1

You can't use a CNAME for the root-level domain, it violates the RFCs and can cause a number of problems. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have a workaround for S3-hosted websites.

edit: Amazon now supports this. http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2012/12/root-domain-website-hosting-for-amazon-s3.html

There are services like WWWizer that you can use to redirect to the WWW, but they're not a perfect solution.

Solution 2

Create a resource record set (Type A - IPv4 address) that "has the same name as the hosted zone by leaving the Name field blank".

This is the warning Route 53 gives when trying to add the name "@", which I was custom too using for Bind nameservers. So don't use '@', use an empty name ''.

Solution 3

If you want to point your root domain mydomain.com.br to service from AWS:

• create a record of type A - IPv4 Address.
• then select Yes for Alias.
• Alias Target will list autocomplete for your AWS resources.

Comments

[Michael Hampton]

Hi, please note that answers should be provided in the Answers section below, NOT as edits to the question.

[James Park-Watt]

You CAN use CNAME's with root-level domains it does not violate RFC. The problem is that CNAME can not co-exist with other records e.g. MX. From RFC1034...... If a CNAME RR is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different. This rule also insures that a cached CNAME can be used without checking with an authoritative server for other RR types.

[ceejayoz]

@JamesPark-Watt blog.cloudflare.com/… "The problem is the DNS RFC (RFC1033) requires the "zone apex" (sometimes called the "root domain" or "naked domain") to be an "A Record," not a CNAME."

[romuloigor]

Perfect -> link Root Domain Website Hosting for Amazon S3

[Andrew B]

Apex CNAMEs are not legal. It's been explicitly spelled out in RFC2181 for awhile now.

[Rubens Mariuzzo]

And now using the @ works for A record to get a naked domain.