In the previous part I explained how to create a s3 bucket and make it behave like a web server, then we put some files on it and were able to publicly browse using the HTTP endpoint provided by s3. However, this is not the most appealing url to associate with our website, we most likely want to own a domain name.
Buying a domain name
If we want a domain, there are a lot of places where you can buy one, they are usually cheap, unless we go crazy with the name. Here is the list of ICANN-Accredited Registrars where you can choose your favourite. There is one particular domain registrar that might be convenient, if you search amazon in that list, it will come up, yes, Amazon also sell domain names. In this example I purchased mine through them, just to keep everything in the same place, you are free to choose your domain registrar, it doesn't make a big difference when setting everything up.
Route 53 is the service that manages DNS on AWS. To register a domain, once in Route 53 console, go to Domains / Registered domains. Then Choose a domain name with your favourite TLD and follow the process, it's that simple.
When you register a new domain, it can take some times a couple of days to complete the process, this is indicated in the console by listing the new domain under Pending requests, once the process is complete it will appear under Registered domain. Your console should look like this by then. More information about registering a domain with Route 53, see here.
Creating a Public Hosted Zone
Once you have domain name of yours, whether registered with Route 53 or with another registrar, it's the time to create a public hosted zone, which is basically a container for all DNS records associated with your domain and subdomains. To do that, go to Route 53 console, choose Hosted Zones, hit the Create Hosted Zone button, then provide the domain name, and optionally a comment, also make sure Public Hosted Zone is selected. When it's done, it should look like this.
If you chose to buy your domain with a different registrar, then you'll have to update your name servers with the new ones created by the Hosted Zone. See AWS docs on how to do that, here.
Creating a Record Set
In AWS world, a Record Set is similar to standard DNS record, but with some extensions. In this particular case, we'll use Alias. To create a record, select the Hosted Zone and click Create Record Set button. Specify the following values:
- Name: www
- Type: A
- Alias: Yes
- Alias Target: You should see the bucket name in the list
It's important to note that the name of the bucket where we are hosting our files must match the record name. So in this case, my record is www.abelperez.info, that's exactly the name of the bucket, otherwise Route 53 won't be able to make the association between those two.
Click on Create button, and that's it. We've just linked the domain name to a serverless web server for static files.
Let's test it
To test all this, it's very simple, let's browse to http://www.abelperez.info (your domain of course) and see what happens
Your browser content should display this
For more information about Route 53 Alias records values, see here.
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