Migrate DNS to Alibaba Cloud - zero-downtime DNS migration guide - Alibaba Cloud DNS

Migrating your DNS service to Alibaba Cloud DNS requires careful planning to avoid disrupting services like your website and email. This guide provides a systematic migration process that covers risk assessment, record migration, service cutover, verification and monitoring, and emergency rollbacks. Following this process helps you complete the migration safely and efficiently, ensuring business continuity.

Prerequisites

Check and disable DNSSEC
Check if DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) is enabled for your domain. If so, you must first disable it at your domain registrar by deleting the DS record. You can re-enable DNSSEC on Alibaba Cloud after the migration is complete. If DNSSEC is not configured for your domain, skip this step.
```
# Use the dig command to check the DNSSEC status of your domain.
# If the response includes an RRSIG record, DNSSEC is enabled.
dig +dnssec yourdomain.com
```
Unlock your domain
Log in to your domain registrar's console and disable any update lock on your domain. These locks, often indicated by statuses such as serverUpdateProhibited or clientUpdateProhibited, prevent you from changing the name server addresses.
Export your existing DNS records
From your current DNS provider's console, export all DNS records for your domain. If your provider does not support batch export, you must manually create a record file that follows the DNS record template. For instructions on how to format different record types, see Add a DNS record.
Important
Do not delete the DNS records at your previous provider during the migration. DNS queries may still be sent to the old provider for up to 48 hours. We recommend waiting at least one week after the migration is complete before deleting the old records.

Procedure

Step 1: Purchase a Public Zone instance

Purchase a Public Zone instance to provide stable, high-quality public authoritative DNS resolution for your domain.

Go to Alibaba Cloud DNS - Instance Plans and select the Public Zone tab.
Click Buy Now.

You can also opt for the free version of the Public Zone service. However, it lacks an availability guarantee and resolution nodes outside the Chinese mainland. It is not recommended for production use and is suitable only for product evaluation.

Step 2: Add a zone

Go to Alibaba Cloud DNS - Public Zone.
On the Public Zone tab, click Add Zone.
Enter the domain name you want to add, and select the Public Zone instance you created. For more information about the parameters, see Purchase and bind a domain name.

Step 3: Import DNS records

Verify the record format: Confirm that the DNS record file you exported in the prerequisites is correctly formatted. Check for proper special character escaping, reasonable Time-to-Live (TTL) values, and ensure there are no duplicate or conflicting records.
Import DNS records: Click the target domain name to go to the Settings page. Click Import/Export and import your DNS record file. For the initial import, we recommend selecting Full Update.
Verify DNS resolution
Use the Network Detect Tool to verify your records. Enter your domain name, specify the record type to verify, and enter one of the name servers assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS in the DNS Server field. Click Detect Now. If the result matches the imported record value, the record has taken effect on Alibaba Cloud DNS.
Alternatively, you can run the following commands to check if the records have taken effect.
```
dig @ns1.alidns.com yourdomain A
dig @ns1.alidns.com youdomain MX
```

Step 4: Change name server addresses

Find the name server addresses assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS
1. On the Alibaba Cloud DNS - Public Zone page, find the target domain.
2. Hover over the DNS Server IP Address column to view the System Assigned NS Address. These are the authoritative name servers for your domain.
Update name servers at your domain registrar
Go to your domain registrar's console and update your domain's name servers to the ones assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS. For registrar-specific instructions, see the following documentation:
Important
Perform this change during off-peak hours and continuously monitor your resolution traffic. If any resolution errors occur, immediately revert to your previous name server addresses and preserve the environment for troubleshooting. Do not attempt the migration again until the issue is resolved.

Step 5: Analyze traffic

Use the traffic analysis feature in Alibaba Cloud DNS to confirm that DNS query traffic is shifting to your Public Zone instance. The Query Source feature in the analysis report shows which local DNS servers are starting to send queries to Alibaba Cloud's authoritative name servers. Monitor the data for at least 10 minutes. A gradual increase in query volume for the domain indicates that the migration is proceeding as expected. For details, see Domain resolution statistics.
Use the analytics tools from your previous DNS provider to monitor the shift in query traffic.
Monitor your applications and services for any anomalies.

Step 6: Wait for global propagation (up to 48 hours)

During the global propagation period, which can take up to 48 hours, some DNS queries will still go to your old DNS provider. Do not shut down your old DNS service during this time. Avoid adding or modifying DNS records. If a change is unavoidable, you must apply it to both your new and old DNS providers to maintain data consistency.

Step 7: Clean up old DNS records (Optional)

We recommend waiting at least one week after the migration is complete before you delete the DNS records from your previous DNS provider.