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DNS Setup

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cat-box edited this page Dec 8, 2020 · 11 revisions

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Changing Record Sets

If you are using Google or NameCheap, you will need to manually add records to your DNS before generating your API Key & Secret. These are the manual steps which I referenced earlier. If you are using GoDaddy, move on to Generating Your API Key & Secret

If Amazon (Route 53) is your domain registrar, please note the following and continue to the AWS Setup Instructions page.

If you find yourself recreating your server, Route 53 sometimes will not properly tear down your DNS records when you delete the stack. Here is how to manually delete the records. If you're creating the server for the first time, move on to the AWS Setup Instructions.

  1. Login to AWS.

  2. Navigate to the Route 53 dashboard by searching Route 53 in the Services dropdown.

  3. On the left-hand side click Hosted zones.

  4. You should see an entry with your domain name (e.g. example.com). Click the highlighted blue text of your domain name.

  5. Depending on whether or not you want a webserver, you will want to delete different records (rows).
    DO NOT delete the ones labeled where Type is NS or SOA

    If you have pre-existing content on your domain:

    1. Locate the Record Name column and only delete the row with your subdomain (e.g. foundry.example.com). This will be an A record under the Type column.

    If you used the template to create a website on your domain:

    1. Locate the Record Name column and look for a row with your domain (e.g. example.com). There should be more than one. Only delete the one where Type is A.
    2. Locate the Record Name column and look for a row with your subdomain (e.g. foundry.example.com). This will also be labelled as A under the Type column.

Google

  1. Login to Google if you haven't already
  2. Visit https://domains.google.com/registrar/ to edit your records
  3. Click "Manage" for your domain
    Manage Records
  4. Click "DNS"
    DNS
  5. Add a Synthetic Record. Choose Dynamic DNS in the drop down, and enter your subdomain in the field.
    This subdomain will become the URL used to access foundry. In this example, the final URL would be foundry.example.com
    Copy this value into a text file and label it "Subdomain" for easy reference later.
    subdomain record
  6. Add a Synthetic Record. Choose Dynamic DNS in the drop down, and enter @ in the field.
    If you are already hosting content on your domain, you can skip this step.
    @ record
  7. Add a custom resource record exactly like the image below. Change example.com to your own domain name.
    If you are already hosting content on your domain, you can skip this step.
    www record
  8. Keep this page open and move on to the API Key & Secret Instructions below.

NameCheap

  1. Login to NameCheap if you haven't already
  2. From the Account drop menu in the top right, click "Dashboard"
    Account
  3. Click the house icon for your domain and choose "Advanced DNS" DNS

Depending on your planned setup, you will need to set the records differently. Read both option A and B to determine which scenario you are in, and follow the steps below

A. You are creating a webserver (content domain and subdomain).
E.g. you would like for this server to make you a home page at example.com.

Follow these steps if you are starting from scratch and have just purchased your domain.

  1. In the Host Record Section, create a CNAME record where "host" is www (highlighted in green)
    You can leave the values at 0.0.0.0
    Final DNS Webserver
  2. Scroll down to the Dynamic DNS Section and add an A record for your subdomain (highlighted in blue)
  3. Copy this value into a text file and label it "Subdomain" for easy reference later
  4. Keep this page open and move to API Key & Secret Instructions below.

B. You are only creating a subdomain for foundry and not a webserver
E.g. you already have content on your domain hosted elsewhere.

  1. Scroll down to the Dynamic DNS Section, and add an A record for your subdomain only
    You can leave the values at 0.0.0.0
    Final DNS Subdomain
  2. Keep this page open and move to API Key & Secret Instructions below.

Generating Your API Key & Secret

If at any point you change your API Key and Secret after deploying the server. Your server will no longer work as intended. This API Key and Secret allows AWS to communicate with your domain registrar to update its DNS settings automatically. DO NOT TOUCH THESE AFTER DEPLOYMENT.

Amazon (Route53)

Route53 does not require an API Key or Secret. The template will take care of this, you can continue to the AWS Setup Instructions

GoDaddy

  1. Log in to GoDaddy if you haven't already.
  2. Visit https://developer.godaddy.com/keys to generate an API key and secret.
  3. Click "Create New API Key".
    Create New API Key
  4. Switch the toggle to Production.
    ote is intended for testing environments and API calls WILL NOT WORK if you choose this.
  5. (Optional) Give the key a descriptive name.
    Production
  6. Click Next.
  7. Copy the API key and secret somewhere safe, and do not share these keys with anyone.
    Note: you will not be able to retrieve the secret again from GoDaddy once you close the page.
  8. Continue to the AWS Setup Instructions.

Google

You must have manually created the records first before continuing with this section.

  1. Navigate to the DNS management console
  2. Expand the records to show the username and password for the Dynamic DNS records you created. Expanded DNS Records
  3. Copy the Username and Password somewhere safe, and do not share these keys with anyone.
  4. Continue to the AWS Setup Instructions.

NameCheap

  1. Navigate to the Dynamic DNS management console
  2. Scroll down to Dynamic DNS
  3. Copy the "Dynamic DNS Password" somewhere safe, and do not share the key with anyone.
    DDNS Password Namecheap
  4. Continue to the AWS Setup Instructions.

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