Alibaba Cloud DNS provides public authoritative DNS services. Add your domain names and configure DNS records to make services accessible over the Internet.
Overview
Public Zone is a secure, high-performance, and highly available DNS hosting service built on Alibaba Cloud’s proprietary distributed DNS architecture. It translates domain names into machine-readable identifiers, such as IP addresses and service endpoints. Administrators can configure and manage DNS records using this service. When a user requests a domain name, the recursive resolver (local DNS) queries the authoritative servers (if not cached) to obtain the record, enabling the client to connect seamlessly to the target service.
Use cases
Use case | Description |
Website building | Use A records to point a domain name to a server IP address, enabling users to access the website. |
Use MX records as specified by your email provider to enable email delivery. | |
High-traffic services | Use weighted round-robin resolution to distribute traffic across multiple servers that support the same service. |
Cross-network or cross-region access | Use smart DNS resolution to return different results based on the user's location or carrier network. |
CDN acceleration | Use CNAME records to point to CDN provider aliases, improving website response and download speeds. |
Features
Feature | Description |
Host domain names registered with Alibaba Cloud or other registrars. Subdomain hosting is also supported. | |
Configure DNS records of common types, such as A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SRV, CAA, SVCB, HTTPS, and URL forwarding. | |
Route queries by carrier and region using a high-precision IP library with 1,700+ lines. Chinese mainland lines support province and carrier granularity. Overseas lines cover major countries; the US, India, and Canada support state-level granularity. | |
Configure weighted resolution for A, AAAA, and CNAME records to implement traffic load balancing policies at the DNS layer. | |
Protect domains with proprietary high-performance DNS software capable of withstanding attacks over 100M QPS per zone. | |
Coordinated refresh | Paid editions support coordinated cache refresh on Alibaba Cloud's public DNS servers (223.5.5.5 and 223.6.6.6), ensuring record changes take effect within seconds. |
Back up DNS records hourly to allow quick rollbacks in case of configuration errors. | |
Secure the authenticity and integrity of DNS responses with digital signatures to prevent redirection and hijacking. | |
Collect detailed logs for DNS responses and analyze traffic by query volume, source, line hit rate, abnormal responses, and resolution details. |
Benefits
Stable and reliable | DNS clusters deployed in multiple global data centers with dynamic BGP access provide mutual backup. Resolution availability is backed by a 100% SLA. AIOps automatically detects anomalies, contains issues, and reroutes traffic. |
Secure and controllable | Over 10 Tbit/s global bandwidth reserves and multiple scrubbing centers defend against DNS DDoS attacks exceeding 100 million QPS. Multiple proprietary DNS software sets create a heterogeneous environment for security and stability. |
Scalability | A hybrid cloud architecture combines public cloud with self-hosted data centers in a two-layer scalable system. The public cloud-based Public Zone service can scale automatically to support smooth operations. Deploy the private edition of Alibaba Cloud DNS in your own data centers (or other clouds) to expand Public Zone service, increasing node coverage and availability. |
Global nodes: US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley), Mexico, Indonesia (Jakarta), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Singapore, Japan (Tokyo), SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region), UAE (Dubai), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), France (Paris), Thailand (Bangkok), South Korea (Seoul), Philippines (Manila), China (Hong Kong), China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Hangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Qingdao), China (Dalian - Local Region), China (Xi'an - Local Region), China (Tianjin - Local Region), China (Taiyuan - Local Region), China (Zhengzhou - Local Region).
Cluster deployment is subject to change based on Alibaba Cloud's infrastructure development and is not covered by the SLA.
System architecture
Public Zone consists of a control layer and a resolution layer:
Control layer: Provides management through the console and OpenAPI for CRUD operations on DNS data, configuration, and logs. Located in China (Zhangjiakou) and China (Hangzhou) regions.
Resolution layer: Globally deployed server clusters that receive DNS record data from the control layer and respond to DNS queries. Nodes cover major continents and regions worldwide.
Edition comparison
Public Zone is available in a Free Edition and Paid Editions. To use the Free Edition, add DNS records. For a more stable and faster resolution service, purchase and attach a domain name.
Feature | Free Edition | Paid Editions | ||
Personal | Enterprise Ultimate | Premium | ||
Applicable scenarios | Business testing | For individual developers only. Note Enterprise-verified users cannot purchase new Personal Edition instances. Existing Personal Edition instances can still be used and renewed. | Ideal for enterprise customers and developers across all industries. This edition provides more granular O&M capabilities and expert consulting services. | |
Availability SLA | No availability guarantee | 100% monthly availability | 100% monthly availability | 100% monthly availability |
Daily query limit | 100,000 queries per domain (Dynamic rate limiting may apply when exceeded) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Dedicated support | None | DingTalk user support group | DingTalk user support group | 1-on-1 expert service 6 resolution change support requests per year 1 DNS architecture consultation per year |
DNS nodes | 4 in the Chinese mainland | 11 in the Chinese mainland, 16 outside the Chinese mainland | 11 in the Chinese mainland, 16 outside the Chinese mainland | 11 in the Chinese mainland, 16 outside the Chinese mainland |
Subdomain hosting level | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
DNS records per primary domain name | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | Unlimited* |
Subdomain levels | 10 | 20 | 20 | Unlimited* |
Minimum TTL | 600 seconds | 600 seconds | 1 second | 1 second |
Intelligent Resolution |
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URL forwarding rules (per domain name) | 2 | 5 | 10 | Unlimited* |
Weight configuration (A, CNAME, and AAAA records) | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Alias records (per domain name) | × | × | 10 | Unlimited* |
Load balancing (IP address capacity per line per domain name) | 10 | 100 | 100 | Unlimited* |
Request statistics (subdomain level) | × | Supported | Supported | Supported |
IPv6 DNS | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Secondary DNS | × | × | Supported | Supported |
DNS record backup | × | × | Supported | Supported |
DNSSEC | × | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Domain names per instance | Not applicable | 1 by default, up to 100,000 | 1 by default, up to 100,000 | 1 by default, up to 100,000 |
DNS resolution peak (QPS) | Up to 20,000 | Up to 200,000 | Up to 200,000 | Up to 200,000 |
DNS attack protection | × | Optional Basic Protection or Full Protection | Basic Protection included by default, optional Full Protection | Full Protection included by default |
Note Unlimited*: If the default system limit is exceeded, you can apply to increase it provided that stable and secure product operation is ensured. | ||||
Billing
Alibaba Cloud DNS offers a free edition of Public Zone that is suitable for project testing. This edition has a limit on peak queries and does not offer an SLA. For production environments, use a paid authoritative resolution instance. For more information, refer to Billing.