Configuring Alias Domain Names for Disaster Recovery
This document describes how to achieve business disaster recovery by using EdgeOne alias domain names. If a domain name becomes unavailable due to, for example, DNS exceptions, the alias domain name can provide the service instead.
Note:
This feature is supported only by the Enterprise plan and is currently in beta test. If you need to use it, please contact the business personnel to enable the allowlist for use.
Purpose
Reading this document may take 10 minutes, which helps you learn:
1. How to use alias domain names to relieve the workload of maintaining multiple domain names for the same business.
2. How to verify that an alias domain name is working as expected.
3. How to improve business disaster recovery by using alias domain names.
4. How to apply for and maintain free certificates for alias domain names.
Background
When promoting your business with many top-level domain names or with many alternate domain names in expectation for keeping your business uninterrupted, normally you need to configure these domain names one by one while ensuring each of them is configured identically in EdgeOne. This can result in a huge maintenance workload when it comes to adding/modifying configuration and applying for/renewing HTTPS certificates.
EdgeOne synchronizes the security and acceleration capabilities of one domain name to others by pointing multiple alias domain names to a target domain name. The configuration of the target domain name will then be synced among these alias domain names. Free HTTPS certificates can also be applied for and auto-renewed.
2. You have connected a site to EdgeOne. For more information, see Adding Sites.
3. You have added the target domain name in EdgeOne.
Sample Scenario
In this scenario, you have connected target.example.com to EdgeOne and want these domain names to serve as alternatives:
1. alias1.site.com
2. www.shop.com
3. backup.website.com
To do so, add these domain names as alias domain names to target.example.com, and make sure that they have the same accessibility as target.example.com via browser:
Directions
Step 1. Create an alias domain name
1. Log in to the EdgeOne console. Navigate to Site List and select a site for management.
2. In the left sidebar, click Alias Domain Names. On the page that appears, click Create.
3. Enter alias1.site.com as your alias domain name, select target.example.com as your target domain name, and set Off for certificate configuration. Click OK.
Step 2. Add a CNAME record that points to the target domain name
You must add a CNAME record that points to the target domain name to the alias domain name. Only activated alias domain names support applications for free certificates.
1. When your alias domain name is added, the status is default to Not activated, as shown in the figure below:
2. Go to the DNS provider where the alias domain name is located and add a CNAME record pointing to the target domain name. For details about modifying CNAME, see Modifying CNAME Records.
3. When the CNAME record is added, EdgeOne automatically checks for updates and changes the status of the domain alias to Activated.
4. Perform the same steps to add and activate www.shop.com and backup.website.com, as shown below:
Step 3. Verify the configuration
Access the alias domain names alias1.site.com, www.shop.com and backup.website.com via your browser to verify whether the configuration has taken effect.
As shown above, the same response is obtained for the access requests to the alias domain names and target domain name. This indicates that the alias domain names have taken effect as expected.
If alias1.example.com becomes Not activated due to DNS resolution failures, alias1.site.com, www.shop.com and backup.website.comcan keep providing services.
Step 4. Apply for a free certificate (optional)
After you configure the CNAME record for your alias domain name by following Step 2, apply for a free HTTPS certificate as follows:
1. On the alias domain name list page, find alias1.site.com and click Configure in the HTTPS column. In the pop-up window, select Free certificate and click OK.
2. On the alias domain name list page, move the pointer over
