In this blog post we will discuss on how to transfer a domain registrar into AWS domain services. After that we will use the DNS service provided by AWS to Manage DNS records. The fee for a hosted zone is $0.50 per month. the AWS domain service is called by the name Route 53 which is also used for managing the domains hosted DNS zones.

Before proceed with the domain transfer, take a look at the AWS register domain pricing details and supported AWS domain name TLDs list pages and make sure prices are convenient, our domain TLDs is provided by AWS Route53 respectively.

Details about Route53

As a definition we can say Route 53 is a highly available and scalable DNS service. Whether we want to register a domain through AWS, transfer the registrar for existing domains from other registrars to Route 53 or the other way round, we use Route 53 service provided by AWS. The other use of Route 53 are DNS routing, and health checking. So basically we keep and manage our domain DNS and registrar in AWS itself along with the other AWS service we already using. Another reason to choose route 53 is its seamless integration with other AWS services.

The AWS domain transfer is also not free. The minimum cost of domain transfer is $14 at this moment. Also after domain registrar transfer some TLD registries keep expiration date for your domain, some registries add a year to the expiration date etc. The details are available in the Amazon website itself.

The prerequisite on AWS?

  1. If we are transferring a live website, before starting the registrar transfer, transfer DNS records to Amazon Route 53 first and change name servers of domain into AWS route 53 provided. Wait for 48 hours at least to be sure that your DNS changes propagated all over the world. By doing this we can transfer the domain seamlessly and with no down time.
  2. Your domain age in the current registrar is at-least 60 days.
  3. The domain status in the current registrar could not be like clientTransferProhibited, serverTransferProhibited , pendingTransfer, etc. You can find more details about the domain status codes from ICANN website.
  4. Make sure the current email for the registrant contact for your domain is a valid one.
  5. Disable DNSSEC for the domain DNS records whether its enabled.
  6. Get EPP code or authorisation code for Domain transfer from the current registrar.
  7. Make sure the domain privacy is not enabled in the current registrar.

Initiate the Domain Transfer

Open the Route 53 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/.

In the navigation pane, choose Registered Domains.

Choose Transfer Domain.

Enter the name of the domain in which we want to transfer registration to Route 53, and choose Check.

If the domain registration is available for transfer, choose Add to cart and click continue.

Choose either of below three options for “Name server options”

In our case we can choose ” Import name servers from a Route 53 hosted zone that has the same name as the domain  ” because, we already changed the name servers of domain into AWS route 53 provided one for minimising the DOWN time and the hosted zone for domain already exists in the Route 53.

We can can also choose the option “Continue to use the name servers provided by the current registrar or DNS service”

  • Continue to use the name servers provided by the current registrar or DNS service
  • Import name servers from a Route 53 hosted zone that has the same name as the domain
  • Specify new name servers to replace the current registrar’s name servers (not recommend)

Gave the EPP code or authorisation code we took from the current registrar.

Gave the contact info. Try to use same contact details that is currently using at the registrar. After that click continue

Verify the details and click “Complete Order”

Okay, for some TLDs we need to make the payment manually for domain transfer. For that.

  1. Go to the Orders and Invoices page in the AWS Management Console.
  2. In the Payments Due section, find the applicable invoice.
  3. We will also receive email regarding the new open invoice.
  4. In the Actions column, choose Verify and Pay.

Initially the transfer status will be ” Domain transfer in progress “

After a while the status changed to below.

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Usually we will get below two emails.

Authorise the transfer: We always send email to the email address for the current registrant contact.
Authorise a change to your email address: If you changed the email address for the registrant contact, some TLD registries require us to get authorization:

So wait for email.

Some cases if there is no any change in the registrant mail id there will not be any email approval.

This is the definition “The manual approval procedure is when the IRTP triggers when there is any change in the registrant email address”

So all we need to do is  wait for up 5 days.

Once the authorisation happens, the change will happen with in 11 days. If anything happens wrong we will get an email related to that.

After one day, some time you may receive an email like below from current registrar.

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Finally, after few days, we will get an email like, “We have finished transferring your domain registration for the domain from your previous registrar to Amazon Route 53”. At this time, when we go the Route53, “Pending Request” section, our domain will no longer visible over there and it will be moved to the “registered domains” section. This normally concludes the “Domain Transfer” Process. Feel free to leave your thoughts at the comment box available below.

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