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@osterman osterman commented Jan 9, 2026

what

  • Added a new design decision document for choosing where to register domains
  • Presents two options: AWS Route 53 Registrar (recommended) and existing registrars (GoDaddy, Squarespace, Cloudflare, MarkMonitor)
  • Includes detailed considerations: Cloudflare limitations, enterprise registrar options, Terraform support constraints, and legal implications
  • Cross-linked with related design decisions (Vanity Domains and Service Discovery Domain)

why

  • Consolidates domain registration guidance that was previously scattered across multiple documents
  • Provides clear decision framework for reference architecture users choosing where to register domains
  • Documents important limitations (e.g., Cloudflare apex NS delegation) and Terraform constraints (ClickOps required for registration)
  • Enables practical domain strategy aligned with AWS-native DNS architecture

references

  • Related to conversations about AWS Route 53 capabilities vs third-party registrars
  • Clarifies Terraform provider limitations for domain registration (GitHub Issue #37670)

Create a new design decision document for choosing where to register domains. This consolidates guidance previously scattered across the Service Discovery Domain decision and DNS setup tutorial. The decision presents two main options: AWS Route 53 Registrar (recommended) and existing registrars, with detailed considerations including Cloudflare limitations, enterprise registrar options, and Terraform support constraints.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <[email protected]>
Add context explaining the distinction between domain ownership and NS delegation, including patterns for vanity domains (TLD per stage delegated to each account) and service discovery domains (zones delegated to member accounts).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <[email protected]>
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This information makes sense. Is it fair to say that when electing to use AWS waiting on the core-dns account to be provisioned is a requirement?

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osterman commented Jan 9, 2026

This information makes sense. Is it fair to say that when electing to use AWS waiting on the core-dns account to be provisioned is a requirement?

Yes, exactly - provisioning core-dns is a requirement before proceeding. Additionally, using the AWS Route53 registrar requires a credit card added to the registrar, which is separate from your regular AWS billing. Will update the doc to note that as a consideration.

Note that dns account must be provisioned first and a credit card is required (separate from regular AWS billing).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <[email protected]>
@osterman osterman merged commit 58dd87d into master Jan 10, 2026
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@osterman osterman deleted the osterman/dns-registrar-decision branch January 10, 2026 00:16
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3 participants