You may need to transfer a domain name from one Alibaba Cloud account to another for business reasons. The Domain Names service provides a method to transfer a domain name between accounts while ensuring a smooth transition of its DNS resolution.
Limits
The domain name transfer feature only supports transfers of Alibaba Cloud-registered domain names between Alibaba Cloud accounts.
You cannot directly transfer domain names between Alibaba Cloud China Website (www.aliyun.com) accounts and Alibaba Cloud International Website (www.alibabacloud.com) accounts. To transfer a domain name from the China website to the International website or vice versa, you must first transfer the domain name out of Alibaba Cloud from the source account. For more information, see Transfer a domain name out of Alibaba Cloud. After you obtain the transfer password, transfer the domain name into Alibaba Cloud using the destination account. For more information, see Transfer a domain name into Alibaba Cloud.
Impact of domain name transfer on DNS records
Scenario | Impact |
The domain name uses the Free Edition of Alibaba Cloud DNS | The DNS records are transferred with the domain name. DNS resolution is not affected. |
The domain name uses a paid edition of Alibaba Cloud DNS | The DNS records are not transferred with the domain name to the destination account. The DNS records in the original account are not affected. To transfer the DNS records as well, see Retrieve DNS records. |
The domain name is used as a suffix for a CNAME Access Domain Name in Global Traffic Manager 3.0 | Regardless of the DNS edition used, the DNS records are not transferred with the domain name. For more information, see Access domain name. |
The domain name is used as a suffix for a CNAME Access Domain Name in an earlier version of Global Traffic Manager | After the DNS records are transferred with the domain name, Global Traffic Manager uses the last policy that was in effect, and the failover capability is lost. Subsequent changes to the Global Traffic Manager scheduling policy do not take effect. |
Procedure
After you complete all checks, transfer the domain name to another Alibaba Cloud account. For more information, see Transfer a domain name to another Alibaba Cloud account.
After the domain name is transferred to the destination account, log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS console with the destination account.
On the Authoritative Domain Names page, click Add Domain Name to retrieve the DNS records for the new account. For more information, see Retrieve DNS records.
NoteThe procedure in this topic ensures that the transfer of a domain name between accounts does not affect its DNS resolution.