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dnsmigrator

Amazon Route 53 BIND zone file

Export Amazon Route 53 to a zone file.

16 record types move as they are. 2 things work differently at Zone file, and the preview shows exactly which of your records they affect.

Free preview. Read-only. Nothing changes until you apply.

What works differently

Generated from the same provider capability data the migration engine uses.

Moves as-is

  • A
  • AAAA
  • CNAME
  • MX
  • TXT
  • NS
  • SRV
  • CAA
  • PTR
  • DS
  • HTTPS
  • SVCB
  • TLSA
  • SSHFP
  • NAPTR
  • SPF

Alias records are converted

Route 53 alias records become CNAMEs below the apex. At the apex they need static addresses, and the preview shows which ones.

Routing policies are flattened

Zone file has no routing policies. Weighted, geo and latency sets collapse into one set of answers, and failover keeps only the primary. Each one is flagged for review.

A typical Route 53 zone at Zone file

Example records for example.com. Open any flagged row to read why it changed.

Route 53 Zone file

  • UnsupportedA@

    Not migrated

    @ is an alias to d1a2b3.cloudfront.net at the zone apex. Zone file doesn't support apex aliases or CNAMEs.

  • ExactMX@

    10 mx1.mail.example.net. +1

  • ExactTXT@

    "v=spf1 include:_spf.example.net -all"

  • ExactCAA@

    0 issue "letsencrypt.org"

  • ExactTXT_dmarc

    "v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.com"

  • ExactSRV_sip._tls

    100 1 443 sip.example.net.

  • ReviewAapi

    192.0.2.10 +1

    Weighted routing isn't available at the destination. All 2 answers are served together as simple round-robin.

  • ExactSPFlegacy

    "v=spf1 -all"

  • ExactCNAMEwww

    example.com.

How the move works

  1. 1

    Connect Route 53

    Connect Route 53 with read-only access (Cross-account IAM role with an external ID).

  2. 2

    Connect Zone file

    Choose zone file as the destination. Nothing is written anywhere.

  3. 3

    Review the preview

    Check every record marked Review or Unsupported. Each one explains what changes and why.

  4. 4

    Download the zone file

    Download a normalized RFC 1035 zone file ready to import anywhere.

Good to know about Route 53

  • Alias records can only target AWS resources or records in the same hosted zone.
  • Weighted, latency, geolocation and failover routing are Route 53 features. Most other providers can't reproduce them.
  • Apex CNAMEs are not allowed. Use an alias record instead.

Access we need: route53:ListHostedZones, GetHostedZone, ListResourceRecordSets for the preview; ChangeResourceRecordSets and CreateHostedZone to apply.

Good to know about Zone file

  • Zone files can't express provider features like proxying, alias records or routing policies.

Access we need: No credentials. Everything stays in your browser until you choose to save it.

Questions

Will there be downtime moving from Route 53 to Zone file?

Not if both providers serve the same answers during the switch. The records are copied to Zone file and verified before you change nameservers, so resolvers get the same answer from either side while caches expire.

Do I have to delete anything at Route 53?

No. We never write to Route 53. Keep the old zone for a week after cutover so you can switch back instantly if anything looks wrong.

What about DNSSEC?

If DNSSEC is on, remove the DS record at your registrar and wait for it to expire before switching nameservers. Then enable DNSSEC at Zone file and publish its new DS record. The cutover plan walks you through each step.

Related migrations

Ready to see your own zone?

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