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Version: 1.0

Route 53

  • A highly available, scalable, fully managed and authoritative DNS
  • It is also Domain Registrar
  • It's global service
  • It allows to register domain names, create hosted zones, and manage and create DNS records
  • Hosted Zone: is a container for records that define how to route traffic to a domain and its subdomains

DNS Record Types

Record TypePurposeExample Usage
AMaps domain name to an IPv4 addressexample.com → 192.0.2.1
AAAAMaps domain name to an IPv6 addressexample.com → 2001:db8::1
CNAMEMaps one domain name to anotherblog.example.net → example.com
AliasPoints root domain or subdomain to another DNS name or AWS resourceexample.com → myapp.cloudfront.net
NSSpecifies authoritative name servers for the domainexample.com → ns-123.awsdns-45.org
MXDirects email to mail serversexample.com → mail.example.com (priority 10)
TXTStores text data (commonly used for verification and SPF/DKIM records)example.com → "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com"
SRVSpecifies services available at a domain (used for VoIP, etc.)_sip._tcp.example.com → 10 60 5060 sip.example.com
PTRMaps IP address to domain name (reverse DNS)192.0.2.1 → example.com
SOAContains administrative info about the zone (primary NS, contact, etc.)example.com → ns-123.awsdns-45.org, hostmaster@example.com
  • Supports IPv4 and IPv6
  • 7 Routing policies are available
  • TTL (time-to-live) is the length of time that a DNS record get cached on the resolving server or the users own local machine

Route 53 Routing Policies

Routing PolicyDescription
SimpleOne record with multiple IPs; returns all values in random order
WeightedSplits traffic based on assigned weights
FailoverCreates an active/passive setup
GeolocationRoutes traffic based on user's geographic location
Geo-proximityRoutes based on location of users and resources
LatencyRoutes traffic to the resource with the lowest latency
MultiValueReturns multiple IPs; similar to Simple routing with health checks

Traffic Flow

  • A visual editor lets you create sophisticated routing configuration for your resources using existing routing types
  • Supports versionning so can roll out or roll back updates