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The web is behind an elastic load balancer in Amazon. I registered the domain with 1and1 which offers 10 free email accounts for the domain so I don't have to care about email servers for the moment.

The current problem is 1and1 can't redirect these free accounts if I use the load balancer DNS name as CNAME in the DNS configuration of the 1and1 control panel. 1and1 can only redirect emails when using IPs in DNS configuration.

Some people talk about solutions that recommend use of route53 or other domain/DNS providers but I would like to know if i can solve the problem using specifically 1and1. Maybe it's a 1and1 limitation, not sure if other domain providers allow to redirect the domain to CNAMEs while keeping the management of the free accounts they offer.

If you have faced the same problem, I'd like to hear about it.

Mike Molus
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    In general, you get what you pay for. Bargain basement providers like this often offer crippled free services in order to intice you into paying for one of their other products. – EEAA Mar 26 '15 at 12:37

2 Answers2

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I solved it, so I'll explain the solution to help others facing the same problem:

  • Create a hosted zone in Amazon's Route 53 pointing to your domain (in my case, mydomain.com, the zone apex)
  • Every hosted zone comes with 2 default record set types: 1) NS and 2) SOA
  • Use the 4 name servers of the NS record set ('value' column, a list with the name servers used by Route 53) in your domain register DNS configuration panel, 1and1 in my case.
  • Add a record set of type MX pointing to the 1and1 mx servers (mx00.1and1.es and mx01.1and1.es in my case)
  • I'm also using a record set of type A (IPv4) to point mydomain.com to my web balancer ('Alias'=YES and 'Alias target'=yourbalanceDNSname)
Mike Molus
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If you're using the naked domain (e.g. example.com) for your website, then it's not a 1-and-1 limitation but a DNS limitation. This is why you should never use naked domains for websites -- always use www.example.com (or some other subdomain) instead.

Mike Scott
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