Upgrade, detach, rebind, or downgrade an instance

Upgrade an instance

Upgrade Public Zone instances if necessary:

• Upgrade from the Free Edition to a paid edition

  After you add a third-party domain name to Public Zone, Alibaba Cloud DNS assigns a Free Edition DNS server address to the domain name by default. Domain names registered with Alibaba Cloud are automatically added to Public Zone. The Public Zone Free Edition instance does not provide a Service-Level Agreement (SLA). Most users upgrade their DNS instances to ensure the availability of resolution service.

• Upgrade a paid DNS instance

  If your current paid instance does not meet your needs, you can upgrade it to an instance with higher specifications. For example, you may need a larger domain name quota or stronger security protection. For feature differences between editions, see Edition comparison.

This section describes how to upgrade a domain name's DNS server:

Detach a domain name

After detaching, the domain name's assigned DNS servers revert to the Free Edition instance by default. Detaching a domain name from a paid edition DNS instance may cause DNS records that are supported only by the paid edition to be suspended, which can lead to service interruptions. Before detaching a domain name, take the necessary precautions.

1. Check your DNS configuration.

   Check item	Details
   Check if an update lock is enabled for the domain name	If an update lock is enabled, disable it. For more information, see update lock.
   Check if DNSSEC is enabled for the domain name	If it is enabled, you must first delete the DS record at your domain name registrar and then disable DNSSEC in the Alibaba Cloud DNS console. For more information, see Disable DNSSEC.
   DNS record check	Change any DNS records specific to the paid edition to configurations supported by the Free Edition. This prevents some DNS records from being suspended after the domain name is detached from the paid edition instance. For a comparison of features, see Edition comparison. Host record check The Free Edition supports a maximum of 10 subdomain levels. If a host record has more than 10 levels, change it to 10 levels or fewer. Request source line check The Free Edition supports only the following request source lines: Default, Outside Chinese Mainland, China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Education and Research Network, Baidu, Bing, and Google. If you have configured lines other than these, you must change the request source to a line supported by the Free Edition. TTL check The Free Edition supports a minimum TTL of 10 minutes. Check if any DNS records in the list have a TTL value of less than 10 minutes. If so, change the value to 10 minutes or more. Weight configuration check If weight configuration is enabled, check whether the number of DNS records exceeds 10. The Free Edition instance supports a maximum of 10 addresses for load balancing. This means that for the same record type, same host record, and same request source line, you can add no more than 10 IP addresses. If the limit is exceeded, the excess records will be suspended and will not be displayed in the weight configuration. DNS record backup check If enabled, detaching the domain name disables this feature. However, backup files from the last three days will be temporarily retained. Files older than three days are deleted. URL forwarding configuration check A Free Edition instance supports a maximum of two URL forwarding rules. If you have more than two rules, reduce the number to two or fewer in advance. Otherwise, resolution will be suspended.

   Warning

   • If you have configured Secondary DNS, detaching the domain name invalidates this feature. Make sure that you no longer need this feature.

   • If none of the preceding issues apply or if you have addressed them one by one, you can proceed to detach the domain name from the instance.

2. Change the DNS servers for your domain name.

   Note

   • First, change the domain name's DNS server addresses. This step ensures stable DNS resolution and prevents service interruptions during the detachment. Free Edition DNS server addresses include dns(1-32).hichina.com and ns(1-8).alidns.com. You can choose any servers, such as dns1.hichina.com and ns1.alidns.com.

   • After changing the DNS servers, do not add or modify any DNS records for 48 hours. Due to NS record caching, some DNS requests may still be sent to the paid DNS instance that is being detached within this period. Changes to DNS records on the Free Edition DNS are not synchronized to the previous paid DNS instance.

3. Detach the instance.

   Important

   We recommend that you wait at least 48 hours after changing the DNS servers before detaching the instance. Otherwise, DNS requests may continue to resolve to the paid instance, which can affect your services.

   1. Go to Alibaba Cloud DNS - Instance Plans. Find the target instance and click Detach Domain in the Actions column.

   2. Click Detach Domain. In the dialog box that appears, enter the domain names, one per line.

      Note

      You can detach only domain names that are in your Alibaba Cloud account.

Rebind a domain name

If you have multiple paid edition DNS instances with different configurations, you can rebind a domain name from its current instance to another instance. All paid edition instances of Alibaba Cloud DNS share the same cluster, so you do not need to change the DNS servers for the domain name during the rebinding process. Therefore, the status of the update lock and DNSSEC features does not affect DNS resolution.

1. Check the DNS records.

   • If you rebind the domain name to a higher-tier DNS instance, DNS resolution is not affected.

   • If you rebind the domain name to a lower-tier DNS instance, follow the procedure in the Detach a domain name from an instance section to check whether your DNS record settings are affected. For a comparison of features between different paid edition DNS instances, see Edition comparison.

2. Rebind the instance.

   Scenario 1: Unpurchased instance

   1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS - Public Zone page. On the Instance page, on the Public Zone tab, click Buy Now.

   2. On the product purchase page, select the desired edition plan, enter the domain name that you want to rebind in the First Bind Zone field, and then click Buy Now and complete the payment.

   3. The system automatically detaches the domain name from the old DNS instance and binds it to the new one.

   Scenario 2: Purchased instance

   1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud DNS - Public Zone page.

   2. Find the target instance and click Bind Zone in the Actions column.

   3. In the panel that appears, click Bind Zone.

   4. Enter the domain name that you want to rebind and click OK. The domain name is automatically detached from the original instance and rebound to the target instance.

   Important

   DNS resolution is not affected if the assigned DNS servers change after you rebind the domain name to another instance. This is because all paid edition instances of Alibaba Cloud DNS share the same cluster, which is vip(1-8).alidns.com. You can also change the DNS servers to the new ones assigned by Alibaba Cloud DNS at your domain name registrar.

Downgrade an instance

Alibaba Cloud DNS does not support direct instance downgrades. However, you can effectively downgrade an instance by rebinding its domain name to a lower-tier one. For more information, see Rebind a domain name to another instance.

• If your domain name is currently bound to a higher-tier DNS instance and you want to move to a lower tier, you can rebind it to a lower-tier paid instance.

• You can also use this method if you want to reduce the security capabilities or the domain name quota of your current plan.