Create a Subdomain in Route53 and Attach it to Elastic Beanstalk Environment

This tutorial guides you through the process of creating a subdomain using Amazon Route 53 and seamlessly integrating it with an Elastic Beanstalk environment. Learn how to establish a distinct subdomain, enabling you to organize and host various applications efficiently.

Step One: Create hosted zone for subdomain

1. Log in to AWS Console
2. Search for Route53 on AWS Services
3. Click on Hosted zones on the route53 dashboard
4. Click on Create hosted zone button
5. Fill the form
   • On Domain name field enter the full url to your subdomain
   • On Description field Write a description of your choice
   • On Type select Public hosted zone
   • Add tag if you want to
   • Then click on Create hosted zone button

You should see a successful page if everything was done correctly

Step Two: Add subdomain NS Values as record on Primary Domain

1. Scroll down a bit on your newly created subdomain and copy the NS values, all four of them
2. Click on Hosted zone from the left navigation pane
3. Look for your primary domain (if you have many domains on the list) and click on it
4. In the primary domain page click on Create record
5. Fill the form
   • On Record name type your subdomain name Don't include the primary domain name, it will be added by default
   • On Record type Select NS from the list
   • On Value Paste the NS Values you copied from the subdomain
   • On Routing policy Select Simple routing
   • Leave TTL as Default
   • Then Click on Create records button

A successful message should appear if it went well

Step Three: Create Certificate

1. Type Certificate manager on the search box and click on it from the search result
2. Click on the orange color Request a certificate button
3. Select Request a public certificate then click Next
4. Fill the form
   • On Fully qualified domain name Enter your subdomain name including the primary domain name
   • On Validation method Select DNS validation - recommended
   • On Key algorithm Select RSA 2048
   • You can add tag if you want.
   • Then scroll down and Click on the Request button
5. If successful, Status should display Pending validation Click on the Certificate ID or Name
6. Click on Create records in Route 53 button
7. Click on the Create records button
8. If DNS record creation successful
9. Wait for one to five minutes and refresh your page; the validation status should change from Pending validation to Issued

Step Four: Add Listener on Elastic Beanstalk

1. Search for Elastic beanstalk and click on it
2. Click on the name of your elastic beanstalk Environment name
3. Click on Configuration from the left pane and scroll down
4. If your Load balancer under Instance traffic and scaling category, under Capacity is not editable. Click edit on the Instance traffic and scaling category.
5. Still under Instance traffic and scaling under Capacity then Auto scaling group then Environment type Select Load balanced then scroll down
6. On Listeners Click Add listener button
7. Fill the Add listener form
   • On Listener port select 443
   • On Listener protocol select HTTPS
   • On SSL certificate choose the certificate you created
   • On SSL policy Choose anyone that has 2023 in it
   • On Default process leave it on default
   • Then click save
8. Scroll down to the bottom and click the Apply button

Note: You selected Single instance rather than Load balanced when creating your elastic beanstalk, which is why your load balancer details are not displayed.

Step Five: Create Alias for subdomain to use Elastic beanstalk

1. Search for Route53 on AWS Services
2. Click on Hosted zones on the Route 53 dashboard
3. Click on your subdomain name, then click on the Create record button
4. The initial create record should look like this
5. Fill the form
   • On Record name Leave it as is
   • On Record type select A - Routes traffic to an IPv4 address and some AWS resources
   • Check or Click on the Alias button
   • On the Route traffic to fields
     • On Choose endpoint select Alias to Elastic Beanstalk environment
     • On Choose region select your region
     • On Choose environment select your elastic beanstalk environment
   • On Routing policy select Simple routing
   • Evaluate target health can be Yes
   • Then click on Create records button
6. If everything was done correctly, a success message will appear.

Step Six: Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

1. Search for EC2 and click on the search result
2. Click on Load Balancers on the side menu
3. Click on the name of your load balancer
4. Then click on HTTP:80 at the bottom
5. Click on default
6. Click on Actions then click on Edit rule
7. Leave Listener details and Listener configuration as it is. Then fill out the Default actions category
   • On Routing actions tick Redirect to URL
   • On Redirect to URL select URI parts
   • On Protocol select HTTPS
   • On Port type 443
   • On Status code select 301 - Permanently moved
8. Click save changes

Successfully modified listener message should display if successful

Enter your newly created subdomain in a browser, it should have https.