How to Use Cloud DNS to Expose Your Web Page to Internet?

Last Updated : 16 Apr, 2023

Cloud DNS is a service provided by Google Cloud Platform that allows you to map domain names to IP addresses. It is a popular technology that enables you to manage a domain name system (DNS) in the cloud. It is offered as a service by various cloud computing providers and allows you to manage their DNS settings and records through a web-based interface provided by their cloud provider.

Pre-requisites: GCP

Steps To Create Cloud DNS

Step 1: Go to your Google Cloud Platform(GCP) dashboard after you have logged in to your account. Your screen would look like the following.

Step 2: Create a Virtual Machine with Apache 2 Web Server

First, go to the navigation menu -> Compute Engine -> VM Instances. Click create.

Step 3: Create an instance

Here we will create a virtual machine with Apache 2 web server on the Google Cloud Platform. In the following fields fill the required details like your instance name, region, and machine configuration as per your want.

For the firewall, select Allow HTTP traffic.

Step 4: Startup Script

Next, install a startup script that will add Apache 2 and change the default web page. Here’s an example of a simple script to install Apache 2 and replace the content of the default index.html page:

apt-get update
apt-get install -y apache2
echo "Welcome to tomek.tk" > /var/www/html/index.html

Enter the above in the management -> Automation -> Startup script section.

Step 5: Completing VM Instance

Navigate to the networking section and in the network interfaces, change the default settings for the external IP address. Create a reserved IP address and give it a name, such as “tomektk-ip,” so it’s easy to recognize what it’s about. This will give you a static IP address that will not change between boots. This is important when you’re planning to use this IP in your DNS configuration. Otherwise, there is already set one by default.

To create the VM, click Create.

Step 6: Instance Created

After a short while the instance starts and is ready. It will be listed on the VM instances page with a green status icon. Also, copy your External IP address for future use.

Step 7: Setting up Cloud DNS

Now, let’s configure Cloud DNS. Navigate to the networking section and then to networking services and Cloud DNS.

Step 8: Configure DNS

Proceed with creating a new DNS zone and give it a unique name. Set the DNS name to your domain name. Click Create.

Step 9: Add Record Set

Add a record set of type “A” that will point the root of your domain to the IP address you reserved earlier. Add one more record set, this time of type “CNAME” that will point the prefix “www” to your root domain. Set the canonical domain name to your domain name with an extra dot at the end, such as “tomek.tk.”

Step 10: Configure Domain Name Servers

Finally, configure your domain name servers. If you are using Freenom, go to the “Manage Domain” section and edit the name servers. Copy the name servers provided by Cloud DNS, which will have a dot at the end as shown in the image.