When connecting a GoDaddy-registered domain to an AWS Elastic Load Balancer (ELB), you're dealing with two critical DNS record types:

• A Records - For root domain resolution (e.g., example.com)
• CNAME Records - For subdomain aliasing (e.g., www.example.com)

Here's the precise configuration for your scenario:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account and navigate to DNS Management
2. Create a CNAME record for www:

Type: CNAME
Name: www
Value: your-elb-dns-name.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
TTL: 1 Hour

3. For the root domain (A record), use AWS-provided IP addresses:

Type: A
Name: @
Value: [ELB's IP addresses]
TTL: 1 Hour

Important Note: AWS ELBs don't have static IPs. Instead, use AWS's Route 53 alias records if possible, or consider these alternatives:

Option 1: Using Route 53 (Recommended)

# AWS CLI command to get ELB hosted zone ID
aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers --names your-elb-name --query 'LoadBalancers[0].CanonicalHostedZoneId'

Then create an alias record in Route 53 pointing to your ELB.

Option 2: Forwarding with URL Redirect

In GoDaddy's Domain Forwarding section:

Forward from: example.com
Forward to: http://www.example.com
Redirect type: 301 (Permanent)
Forward settings: Forward only

Use these commands to verify your setup:

# Check A record
dig example.com +short

# Check CNAME resolution
dig www.example.com +short

Remember DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally.

When exposing your EC2 instance through a load balancer:

# Example security group rules for HTTPS
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id your-sg-id \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 443 \
  --cidr 0.0.0.0/0

Always configure SSL certificates at the load balancer level for secure connections.

---

When connecting a GoDaddy domain to an AWS EC2 Load Balancer, you're dealing with three key elements:

• Your domain registrar (GoDaddy)
• AWS Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)
• DNS record types (A, CNAME, ALIAS)

Here's the proper way to set up your DNS records in GoDaddy:

1. Get Your ELB DNS Name

First, obtain the DNS name of your load balancer from the AWS EC2 console. It will look something like:

my-load-balancer-1234567890.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com

2. Configure CNAME for www Subdomain

In GoDaddy DNS management:

• Create a CNAME record for 'www'
• Point it to your ELB DNS name

Type: CNAME
Name: www
Value: my-load-balancer-1234567890.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com
TTL: 1 Hour

3. Handle the Root Domain (Apex)

For the root domain (example.com), you have two options:

Option A: Using GoDaddy Forwarding

This is what you described in your question, but it's not the most reliable method:

1. Set up domain forwarding from example.com to www.example.com
2. Create an A record pointing to AWS's IP addresses (not recommended as ELB IPs can change)

Option B: Using ALIAS/ANAME Records (Recommended)

If your DNS provider supports it (GoDaddy does):

Type: ALIAS
Name: @
Value: my-load-balancer-1234567890.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com
TTL: 1 Hour

After making changes, verify with these commands:

dig example.com
dig www.example.com

Or use online tools like digwebinterface.com or mxtoolbox.com

• SSL Certificate Problems: Ensure your ELB has a valid SSL certificate for both example.com and www.example.com
• Propagation Delays: DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally
• ELB Health Checks: Confirm your EC2 instances pass health checks

For more reliability, consider transferring DNS to AWS Route 53:

# Example Terraform configuration for Route 53
resource "aws_route53_zone" "primary" {
  name = "example.com"
}

resource "aws_route53_record" "www" {
  zone_id = aws_route53_zone.primary.zone_id
  name    = "www.example.com"
  type    = "CNAME"
  ttl     = "300"
  records = ["my-load-balancer-1234567890.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com"]
}

resource "aws_route53_record" "root" {
  zone_id = aws_route53_zone.primary.zone_id
  name    = "example.com"
  type    = "A"

  alias {
    name                   = "my-load-balancer-1234567890.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com"
    zone_id                = "Z35SXDOTRQ7X7K" # ELB zone ID for us-west-2
    evaluate_target_health = true
  }
}