Use Amazon Web Services to purchase a custom domain name and assign it to your personal website.

Assign a Custom Domain Name to Your Website

The new `CNAME` file in your repo informs GitHub that you're assigning a new custom domain name to your GitHub Pages site. 

Next, we have to let the rest of the Internet know that we want to associate the custom domain name with your GitHub Pages site.

We can do this by creating DNS records, which are globally accessible records that map domain names to servers. 

The DNS records are created inside of a Hosted Zone in Route 53. A Hosted Zone is essentially a group of DNS records for a single domain.

Access Your Hosted Zone

You've now created two DNS records: an `A` record for `yourcustomdomain.com` and a `CNAME` record for `www.yourcustomdomain.com`. Let's make sure they both work.

Testing your CNAME record

Congratulations! You now have a static site with a custom domain name published on the Internet. 

Let's review the process we followed in this lesson:

1. Created an AWS account and accessed Route 53
2. Purchased a domain name
3. Accessed the Hosted Zone for that domain name
4. Confirmed the `NS` (name server) records
5. Created `A` and `CNAME` records

Review

Now that your domain name is associated with the correct name servers, it's time to create some additional DNS records within the Hosted Zone. 

The records that we'll create will be used by the name servers to help locate your site when a computer wants to load it. Specifically, the name servers will be responsible for providing that computer with important information stored in the records.

There are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DNS_record_types" target="_blank">several different types</a> of DNS records. 

We're going to start by creating an `A` record, which stands for `Address` record. 

An `A` record directs a domain name to an IP address. This record will associate our new custom domain name with Github's servers.

Create an A record

Let's review your DNS setup so far.

In Route 53, your domain name's Hosted Zone contains the following:

1. The `NS` (`Name Server`) record for your domain name. When a domain name is typed into a browser, the DNS looks to these name servers to help direct the request.

2. The `A` (or `Alias`) record. This record is used to direct requests of your domain name to GitHub's servers using their IP addresses.

3. The `CNAME` (or `Canonical name`) record. This record specifies what custom domain will point to your true (canonical) domain.

DNS Overview

When setting up a website, it's also conventional to also set up a `www` subdomain. `www` stands for `world wide web`.

Subdomains are part of a main (or root) domain. For example, `www.yourcustomdomain.com` is a subdomain of the `yourcustomdomain.com` root domain.

We can set up a subdomain using a `CNAME` record, which stands for `Canonical Name`. 

A `CNAME` record specifies that a domain name will be used as an alias, or substitute, for the true (canonical) domain name.

Create a CNAME record

AWS offers many services used for web development like  servers, databases, and networking configuration. If you're new to using AWS it's easy to feel overwhelmed at first by all that it can offer, but we'll walk through the exact steps needed to create a custom domain name.

After logging into your account, you'll land on the AWS console. The console displays the many different services we mentioned earlier. 

In this lesson we're going to focus on a service called "Route 53," under the "Networking" category. Route 53 can be used to purchase domain names and create DNS records.

Custom Domain II

In the last unit, you deployed your site and GitHub Pages assigned your site a default URL, or domain name. 

In this unit, you'll purchase your own custom domain name and assign it to your GitHub Pages website. At the end of the unit, you'll be able to access your site using both your new domain name and your default GitHub Pages domain name.

Before you choose a custom domain name, it's important to first understand what domain names actually are.

Domain names are human-friendly names that identify servers on the Internet. A global system known as the Domain Name System (DNS) is used for storing which domain names correspond to which servers. 

For example, Codecademy's domain name is `www.codecademy.com`. When you type the domain name into your browser, your computer asks the DNS to identify which servers should receive the request in order to load our website. 

**Note:** This unit is optional. We'll walk you through the steps required to purchase a custom domain name and assign it to your GitHub Pages site. If you do not want to purchase a domain name, you won't have to. However, feel free to follow along to see what steps are required to do so (for future reference).

What is a domain name?

Often, the most time consuming part of buying a domain name is actually deciding what you'd like it to be. Be aware that not all domain names are available; many have already been claimed by others.

We're going to use <a href="https://aws.amazon.com"
target="_blank">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> to purchase your custom domain.

AWS is an industry standard suite of web infrastructure services used frequently by developers. The specific service we're going to use to purchase your domain name is called Route 53.

Custom Domain I

Now it's time to select a domain name and make sure it's available.

Route 53 allows you to search the availability of a domain name you have in mind. It also offers many suffixes, like `.com`, `.io`, `.me`, and `.pizza`. If the domain name you want is unavailable as a `.com` for example, you can try using a different suffix.

The suffixes of domain names are known as top-level domains (TLDs). Different TLDs cost different annual prices.

**Note:** `.com` domains are the most popular and are therefore generally unavailable (or expensive).

Custom Domain III

Congrats &mdash; you're the proud owner of a custom domain name! 

You might notice, however, that your new domain name doesn't work yet &mdash; you can't visit it in your web browser. We have to connect it to your GitHub Pages website first. 

There are two steps required:

1. Inform GitHub of the new domain name we'll be using (the one you purchased)
2. Set up DNS records in Route 53 that direct to GitHub

Let's start with the first step.

Setting Up Your Custom Domain

Domain names are associated with the correct DNS records by setting the domain name's *name servers*. 

After a domain name is typed into a browser, the computer first retrieves the name servers that correspond to that domain name. The name servers are important because they're responsible with providing the computer with other important information (in the form of DNS records) associated with the domain name. 

Setting your domain's name servers is important. The DNS is a global system, which means that anyone can create DNS records. We must verify that the DNS records we create were actually created by the owner of the domain name (in this case, you).

By doing this, the owner of a domain name ensures that only they have exclusive control over their domain's DNS records.