How to add an A record for your website domain name to make your website accessible - Alibaba Cloud DNS

This topic describes how to add an A record for a website domain name. You can add an A record for a domain name that is easy to remember to map the domain name to the IP address of your website server. This way, users can access your website by using the domain name

Prerequisites

Before DNS settings, the public IPv4 address of the server to which the domain name is mappped is available. For example: 192.0.2.0.
- If your website is hosted on an Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, log on to the ECS console to obtain the public IP address.
- If your website is hosted on a third-party service provider, contact them to obtain the public IP address.

Step 1: Add a domain name

Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS console. On the Authoritative DNS Resolution page, click the Authoritative Domain Names tab, and then click the Add Domain Name button.

Domain names registered with Alibaba Cloud: go to step 3.
Domain names not registered with Alibaba Cloud: Enter the primary domain name in the dialog box, and select an instance to which the domain name is bind. If no paid instance is available, click the Go to purchase an instance for plan button to go to the buy page. After you complete the payment, click Bind Instance drop-down list again, select the new instance, and click OK.

Note

For edition comparison, see Editions. Alibaba Cloud does not ensure the availability of the free trial edition and does not provide resolution nodes that reside outside China for the free trial edition. We recommend that you use the free trial edition only to experience service features but not for production.

Step 2: Check the DNS server address for the domain name

If you want to use Alibaba Cloud DNS to resolve your domain name, ensure that the DNS server address for your domain name is the address of the DNS server assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS.

On the Authoritative Domain Names tab of the Authoritative DNS Resolution page, you can find a notification regarding the status of the IP Address of the DNS Server.
If the status is "Normal", skip this step. For other statuses, refer to View DNS server status and resolve the status abnormality for appropriate solutions.

Step 3: Add DNS records

On the Authoritative DNS Resolution page, click DNS Settings in the Actions column of the domain name to go to the DNS Settings page.
Note
If the domain name is bound to a free Alibaba Cloud DNS instance and marked with , you can click the mark to quickly bind a paid Alibaba Cloud DNS instance.
If the domain name is bound to a free Alibaba Cloud DNS instance and not marked with , you can click Free Version. On the pop-up window, click Activate Official Edition to go to the buy page. After you purchase an Alibaba Cloud DNS, the paid Alibaba Cloud DNS instance is activated.

On the DNS Settings page, click Add DNS Record and configure the following parameters.

Example scenario: For the primary domain name example.com, if you want to access the website server 192.0.2.0 through both www.example.com and example.com, you need to add two DNS records.

Record Type: Select A.
Hostname: Enter the prefix of the subdomain name. Example: @.
- If you want to create an A record for the subdomain name www.example.com, enter www.
- If you want to create an A record for the domain name example.com, enter @.
DNS Request Source: specifies the source from which DNS queries are sent. In most cases, Default is selected.
Record Value: Enter the public IPv4 address of the website server to which the domain name is mapped. Example: 192.0.2.0.
- If your website is hosted on an Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, log on to the ECS console to obtain the public IP address.
- If your website is hosted on a third-party service provider, contact them to obtain the public IP address.
TTL: Time to Live (TTL) refers to the time that the local DNS servers of global ISPs cache the resolution results. We recommend that you set this parameter to 10 minutes.

Click OK, repeat the previous step. Add a DNS record for the www.example.com subdomain, changing only the host record to www while keeping all other parameter settings the same. After completion, you can view the two DNS records you just added in the list on the current page.

FAQ

What is a hostname, and how can I set a subdomain?

A hostname is the prefix of a domain name when creating a subdomain. For instance:

If you want to create a DNS record for the subdomain name www.example.com, enter www.
If you want to create a DNS record for the domain name example.com, enter @.

What is the IP address for DNS resolution and where can I obtain it?

The IP address of website refers to the public IP address of the server hosting your website.

If your website is hosted on an Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, log on to the ECS console to find the public IP address.
If your website is hosted on a third-party service provider, contact them to obtain the public IP address.

What should I do if a DNS record conflict arises when adding a DNS record for email or website?

The priorities of DNS records that are used during DNS resolution vary based on the types of DNS records. Some types of DNS records that have the same host record and resolution line cannot be used at the same time. If these types of DNS records are used at the same time, DNS configuration risks may occur and services may become unavailable. You can delete the involved DNS records or change the host name to resolve record conflicts. For more information, see DNS record conflict rules.

When do the updates take effect after I add, delete or modify a DNS record?

A DNS record takes effect immediately after it is added.
If you delete or modify an existing DNS record, the time when the updates take effect depends on the time to live (TTL) period. The default TTL period is 10 minutes. For example, if the TTL period is set to 10 minutes, 10 minutes is theoretically required for the updates to the DNS settings to take effect.

When do the updates take effect after I modify the DNS server address?

The cache timeout period varies with local DNS servers. It usually takes 24 hours for DNS records to take effect. A maximum of 48 hours is required for the updates to DNS records to take effect.

Why does domain name resolution not take effect?

This issue may be caused by one of the following causes:

Domain name is newly registered

Domain name has expired
Subdomain is not hosted by Alibaba Cloud DNS
DNS record was modified
DNS server for a domain name was modified
DNS server is not assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS
No default DNS line is specified for the domain name

For detailed descriptions and solutions, see Why does domain name resolution not take effect?

Why can't I access the website after the updates to DNS records take effect?

Configuring DNS settings is only one step in building a website. You must complete other steps before the website becomes available. Here are some suggestions:

Ensure that ports 80 and 443 (for HTTPS websites) are enabled in the security group where the server is deployed. For Alibaba Cloud ECS servers, see Check the security group rules of the ECS instance for configuring security group.
Check if the server is running and the server port is listened. For more information, see Check the status of the service and the listening status of the port of the service.
Check whether restrictions are configured on the firewall of the server and the necessary port is allowed by the firewall. For more information, see Check the firewall settings of the ECS instance.

If the issue persists after the above inspections, contact technical support of the server IP or website for troubleshooting.

For more information about DNS resolution, see related documentations in FAQ directory.