I have a classic load balancer for a web server in AWS China. I want to set up a DNS record so that mydomain.cn gets redirected to the public address of the load balancer. There is no Route 53 service in China, so I was thinking that I could use Route 53 from North Virginia. It suggests creating a CNAME record and add the load balancer DNS name as an alias. I get back the following error when trying to create the record:
The record set could not be saved because:
– Alias Target contains an invalid value.
Am I doing something wrong, or is it even possible? Can I use a third party DNS from within China or elsewhere?
Best Answer
AWS China is very different from AWS.
1) It is not possible to setup an A-ALIAS record in Route53 for AWS services in China from outside China. The China AWS should be considered a different vendor and not the same AWS Cloud.
2) China is very restricted inside China on what users can do. For a lot of users they will not ever get to Route53 to resolve your load balancer.
3) Have you figured out how you will work with the local registrar in China to point (or delegate) DNS to Route53 for all or part of your domain name? Not going to happen.
In summary, if you want to use AWS China, then you need to think of China as an isolated island with Internet walls. Do everything in China for your compute / network / etc. Do not think of integrating anything with the outside world.
[EDIT May 25, 2018]
After taking training on the legal processes in China for Internet content and going thru the processes of hosting content in China, I would like to add more information to my answer.
The short answer is that if you want your Internet content visible to users in China you will need a government license. There a several levels of licenses. If you only want to provide Internet content and not collect revenue directly from your website, then the process is very easy. If you also want to add merchant abilities (collect credit cards) then the process is more complicated and includes joint partnerships in China.
The easiest method to display your website in China is to apply for the first level license and host your content on a static site with a CDN in front. The key is that the CDN must support China (and be supported / controlled in China). Think CloudFront / S3 or Alibaba CDN / OSS type of services. China will unblock your content based upon your domain name. The license (called ICP) number must be displayed at the bottom of each web page. The process is quick. I applied on a Thursday and was approved the following Tuesday. I had to prove my identity for which I used my US passport.
The next step up is to actually host your website on a server in China. For this step I purchased a new similar domain name from a registrar in China (Alibaba). You then need to purchase (you cannot use pay-per-hour instance types) your compute resources in advance for at least one year. The application requires your website domain (must be running in advance). After your receive the ICP license, you add this ICP license number to the bottom of each page.
I have not gone to the third level which means collecting revenue from a website in China. This process is complicated and much more involved to get approved.
In summary, I found the processes fairly easy and similar to applying for a business license in the US. I don't feel that censorship is the issue here, I feel that fraud prevention is the goal of the ICP process. Hopefully this information will help others who wish to host content in China.