Amazon Web Services have made it very easy for us to register a new domain from the AWS Management console. The first time we navigate to the Route 53 management console, we will see a short introduction to the Route 53 service:

1. We can select the feature we would like to get started with; in this demo, we will select Get started now under Domain registration:

2. Once we are in the domain registration console, we have the option to register a new domain or transfer an existing domain registered at a different provider. We will take a look at the process of registering a domain by clicking on the Register Domain button:

3. In the Choose a domain name dialog, we can simply write the domain name that we wish to register and then click on Check, which will enable us to search for the existence of the domain.

4. If the domain already exists, AWS will also give us suggestions on other domain names similar to ours that might be available. Once you are ready to select your domain, just click on Add to cart and then click on Continue:

5. In the next step, we simply fill out the registration contact information and then proceed to Verify & Purchase to verify the details and complete the purchase:

6. Once we have our domain, or when we would like to move the DNS functionality to AWS, we can create a hosted zone. In the Route 53 management console, just select Hosted zones from the menu and then click on Create Hosted Zone:

7. In the zone creation dialog, enter the domain name of the zone you would like to create and select whether it is a public-hosted zone or a private zone available from your VPC only.
8. With private zones, you also have the ability to host internal domains that can be used within your application. Once you have entered the name, simply click on Create:

9. After creating the hosted zone, you can start editing it. As you will see, the SOA is automatically created and the NS names will appear in the SOA also.
10. You would use these NS names with your registrar if you have not registered your domain with AWS. To create a record set in the zone, click on Create Record Set:

11. In the record set dialog, you can select your record name and type, and then assign a value to the record. In our example, we are creating a record with the name test, the type is A, and the value is 1.2.3.4; as you can see, we have previously created a record with this name and it is also visible in the records next to the SOA and NS. You can also select a TTL for the record if you need a TTL that is different from the default, and a routing policy:

We have now registered a new domain and created a DNS zone for this domain. We can now add any number of records into this domain and AWS will serve them through the servers listed in the NS records.