Is it at all possible to use Google App Engine with a naked domain?

Question

I am working on a site for which I really want to be able to use a naked domain, e.g. example.com. Preferably, www.example.com should redirect to example.com, but that is not strictly necessary.

If I understand this blog post correctly, the reason why one can't use a naked domain is because then all subdomains will not work, which is normally unacceptable.

For now, I am okay with only the naked domain working, so is this possible? Would setting the CNAME record for example.com to the URL provided by Google work? Is there any other way at all to use naked domains?

Haifa

possible duplicate of GAE naked to www custom domain mapping does not work – Colston

Yes, I know similar questions have been asked, but I think that this one is different. I mean't to link to some of those questions, but I forgot. Anyway, I am not interested in forwarding the naked domain to the www domain, I just want to know if what I asked is possible. And as far as I can tell, this has not been discussed in any other question. – Haifa

App Engine explicitly doesn't support naked domains. However, you can configure Google Apps to redirect your naked domain to your app engine subdomain (Domain settings -> Domain names). – Avan

Hi Zifre, could you change the accepted answer? App Engine has added support for this feature since Nick wrote his answer. – Alsatia

Possible duplicate of How to use Google app engine with my own naked domain (not subdomain)? – Rosebud

Answer 1

As you observe, you can't have a CNAME record on the same name as other records. Even if you don't need any other records (subdomains, MX records, etc), there's a set of records that have to be included on a domain, such as SOA and NS records, which preclude adding a CNAME to a naked domain. The only way around this would be to persuade the appropriate TLD (eg, .com) to serve up the CNAME for your domain directly instead of serving redirects to your own nameservers - and that's not a service any of the TLD registries offer.

The reason you must use a CNAME to point your domain to your App Engine app is because the only alternative - A records - make it impossible for Google to load-balance traffic or to move the app between datacenters.

Thickwitted

Answer 2

Yes. Naked domain mapping works from the Google Developers Console.

https://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/issues/detail?id=777

We have added support for custom domains for App Engine from the Google Developers Console, meaning you can now associate a custom domain without first associating that domain with Google Apps.

To access the feature, visit https://console.developers.google.com/ and you will find the option to add a custom domain under App Engine > Settings.

NOTE: Currently we do not support SSL on custom domains created through this method (although we expect to rectify this in a future release). In the meantime, we continue to support SSL (via VIP or SNI) for custom domains that are created through Google Apps, and we continue to provide free HTTPS for all *.appspot.com domains.

Alsatia

Answer 3

As said you always have to redirect to www. one super easy way to redirect your naked domain to www. is http://www.wwwizer.com/

Hernardo

Does Google penalize these 301 redirects? – Argosy

It works fine for me and they also suggest using this service in a wiki about Google Sites – Hernardo

Answer 4

No.

Trioecious

Why? I'd like a better explanation than "due to recent changes". – Haifa