Cloudfront Add Alias Issues - Invalid or missing alias DNS TXT records

Question

I have a cloudfront distribution without any aliases. I can add a new alias in through the console just fine. However, when I try to add the same alias via awscli or boto3 (python), I continuously get the following error:

```
An error occurred (IllegalUpdate) when calling the AssociateAlias operation: Invalid or missing alias DNS TXT records.
```

To add to this, the domain does not exist in Route53 but it also doesn't need to when I do it via the Console. So my usual workflow is:

1. Create a distribution
2. Add an alias something like myname.domain.com and myname2.domain.com
3. Add route53 A record to point myname.domain.com and myname2.domain.com to the distribution ID/address

My goal is to achieve the same without having to use the Console but I'm not able to figure it out.

kentrad · Answer

According to the [associate-alias  documentation](https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/cloudfront/associate-alias.html):

```
With this operation you can move an alias that’s already in use on a CloudFront distribution to a different distribution in one step. This prevents the downtime that could occur if you first remove the alias from one distribution and then separately add the alias to another distribution.
```
You should use the [update-distribution](https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/cloudfront/update-distribution.html) command. Or set the alias(es) when you create the distribution.

Cloudfront Add Alias Issues - Invalid or missing alias DNS TXT records

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