Register a new domain in Lightsail - Amazon Lightsail
Register a new domain by using Lightsail

Register a new domain in Lightsail

You can register new domains using Amazon Lightsail. Lightsail domains are registered through Amazon Route 53, a highly available and scalable DNS web service. If you have domains that are registered with other providers, you can transfer DNS management of those domains to Lightsail. You can also point those domains to your Lightsail resources.

Choose one of the following procedures to register a new domain with Lightsail:

Before you start, note the following considerations for domain registration:

Domain registration pricing

For information about the cost to register domains, see Amazon Route 53 pricing guide.

Domain service quotas

There is a limit for how many domains you can register. For more information, see Service quotas in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide. Contact Route 53 if you want to increase the limit.

Supported domains

Lightsail supports the registration of all generic top-level domains (TLDs). For a list of supported TLDs, see Domains that you can register with Amazon Route 53 in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide.

You must use Route 53 to register geographic top-level domains. For more information, see Geographic top-level domains in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide.

Domain names can’t be changed after registration

If you accidentally register the wrong domain name, you won’t be able to change it. Instead, you must register another domain name and specify the correct name. There are no refunds for accidentally registered domain names.

Charges for DNS zones

When you register a domain with Lightsail, we automatically create a DNS zone for the domain. Lightsail does not charge a fee for the DNS zone.

Register a new domain by using Lightsail

Contents

Complete the prerequisites

Complete the following prerequisites if you haven’t already done so:

  1. Confirm that the necessary DNS record types for your domain are supported by the Lightsail DNS zone. The Lightsail DNS zone currently supports address (A), canonical name (CNAME), mail exchanger (MX), name server (NS), service locator (SRV), and text (TXT) record types. For NS records, you can use wildcard DNS record entries.

    If the DNS record types required for your domain are not supported by the Lightsail DNS zone, you might want to use Route 53 as your domain's DNS hosting provider. Route 53 supports more record types. For more information, see Supported DNS Record Types and Making Amazon Route 53 the DNS Service for an Existing Domain in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide.

Register a new domain

To register a new domain

  1. Sign in to the Lightsail console.

  2. Choose the Domains & DNS tab.

  3. Choose Register domain, and specify the domain that you want to register.

    1. Enter the domain name that you want to register, and choose Check availability to find out whether the domain name is available. If the domain is available, continue to Automatic domain renewal.

    2. If the domain name isn’t available, you see a list of other domains that you might want to register instead of your first choice or in addition to your first choice. Choose Select for the domain that you want to register.

  4. Choose whether to automatically renew your domain registration before the expiration date. When you register a domain name, you own it for a year by default. If you don't renew your domain name registration, it expires and someone else can register the domain name. To make sure that you keep your domain name, you can choose to renew it automatically every year, or select a longer term.

  5. In the Domain contact information section, enter contact information for the domain registrant, administrator, and technical contacts. For more information, see Values that you specify when you register or transfer a domain.

    Note the following considerations:

    First name and Last name

    For First name and Last name, we recommend that you specify the name on your official ID. For some changes to domain settings, some domain registries require that you provide proof of identity. The name on your ID must match the name of the registrant contact for the domain.

    Different contacts

    By default, we use the same information for all three contacts. If you want to enter different information for one or more contacts, uncheck the Same as registrant checkbox and enter the new contact information.

  6. In the Privacy protection section, choose whether you want to hide your contact information from WHOIS queries.

    For more information, see the following topics:

  7. Choose Register domain to continue. The DNS zones and Summary sections show information about the domain’s DNS zone, pricing, and renewal schedule.

  8. You must accept the Amazon Route 53 domain name registration agreement before you can register your domain.

Verify the domain contact information

After you register your domain, you must verify that the email address for the registrant contact is valid.

We automatically send a verification email from one of the following email addresses:

noreply@registrar.amazon.com

For domains with Amazon Registrar as the registrar

noreply@domainnameverification.net

For domains with our registrar associate, Gandi, as the registrar. To determine who the registrar is for your TLD, see Domains that you can register with Amazon Route 53 in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide.

Use the following procedure to complete the domain verification process.

To complete domain verification

  1. When you receive the verification email, choose the link in the email that verifies that the email address is valid. If you don't receive the email immediately, check your junk email folder.

  2. Return to the Lightsail console. If the status doesn't automatically update to Verified, choose Refresh status.

    Important

    The registrant contact must follow the instructions in the email to verify that the email was received, or we will suspend the domain as required by ICANN. When a domain is suspended, it's not accessible on the internet.

  3. When domain registration is complete, choose whether to use Lightsail as your DNS service, or use a different DNS service.

    • Lightsail

      In the DNS zone that Lightsail created when you registered the domain, create records to tell Lightsail how you want to route traffic for the domain and subdomains.

      For example, when someone enters your domain name in a browser and that query is forwarded to Lightsail, do you want Lightsail to respond to the query with the IP address of a web server or with the name of a load balancer? For more information, see Edit or delete a DNS zone.

    • Using another DNS service

      Configure your new domain to route DNS queries to a DNS service other than Lightsail. For more information, see Update the name servers for your domain when you want to use another DNS service.