Connecting domain to google app engine without google apps

Question

Actualy, It's a couple of questions:

1. Is it possible to somehow avoid registering google apps if I just want to connect google app engine applications to non-naked domain (www.example.com for example:)
2. If described above is impossible, than do I have a right to register Google Apps Education Edition. And how can I proof that I'm non-profit if I'm not US resident?
3. If I need to connect a couple of domains to a couple of google app instances must I use a couple of google appss as well?

Answer 1

Here is a couple of answers:

1. No, Google App Engine uses Google Apps to manage domains. See the Deploying your Application on your Google Apps URL article.
2. Yes, if you are a School or University as explained here. If you aren't, why don't you just go for the Standard Edition?
3. Yes, for a couple of domains and a couple of GAE instances, you'll need a couple of Google Apps AFAIK. But this shouldn't be an issue as the Google Apps Standard Edition is free. No. As pointed out by Nick, you can add multiple domains to an Apps account as aliases, then map them to different App Engine apps.

Edit: The 3rd answer has been updated with the input provided by Nick Johnson in a comment.

Answer 2

With the the (new?) developer console it is possible add domains to apps for free without using Google Apps. But you will not be able to use HTTPS without registering the domain with Google Apps.

So the answer to the first question is "Yes" (presuming TLS is not required). The second question is not relevant. And as for the third question, multiple domains can be linked with the same application (without using Google Apps).

1. Select your project in the developer console (https://console.developers.google.com/project)
2. Navigate the side menu to access App Engine domain settings (App Engine -> Settings)
3. After verifying your domain (which may take some time) you can add the domain to the app.

I can't currently find Google-blessed documentation to support this. But I am currently serving an App Engine application on a domain that is not registered with Google Apps.

Answer 3

Another option commonly used is to use a reverse proxy to map customer domains to your AppEngine app. I'm using this because I can't add them as Google Apps domain aliases on my primary domain, since some customers run Google Apps by their own.

Details here: http://devblog.ronoaldo.net/2013/09/mapping-multiple-domains-to-google.html