Sometimes you need to edit records for a registered domain in Route 53. I'd usually just look up whatever I needed to enter at the moment, but I realized I was using these fields without really understanding what each one is for or what I should be entering.
Route 53 is a DNS service provided by AWS.
Through Route 53, you can register domains and efficiently route traffic to AWS services or other web applications.
So I decided to put together a summary this time!
In AWS, if you click on a domain in Route 53 and hit the Create record button, you'll see something like the image below.
You can click the blue Info button to see the description in English.
Each record in a hosted zone defines how Route 53 responds to DNS queries. You can configure settings for multiple records and create them all at once.
Record name#
This represents the domain name, and its role is to distinguish which domain or subdomain each record belongs to.
If you want to use the domain root itself, you can leave this field blank or enter @.
Example: www.example.com is a subdomain of example.com.
Record type#
Depending on the option you select, the example input in the Value field changes. Some types may not be available depending on the selected routing policy.
A - Routes traffic to an IPv4 address
AAAA - Routes traffic to an IPv6 address
CNAME - Routes traffic to another domain name, like an alias
MX - Specifies the mail receiving server
TXT - Used for domain ownership verification, email sender authentication, and application settings
PTR - Maps an IP address to a domain name
SRV - Used to identify servers providing a specific service
SPF - Was used for email sender authentication, but is now deprecated in favor of TXT records
NAPTR - Used for specific communication protocols or DDDS applications
CAA - Restricts which certificate authorities can issue SSL/TLS certificates for a domain
NS - Specifies the authoritative name servers within a hosted zone
DS - Used to establish a chain of trust for DNSSEC
TLSA - Used to securely configure services that use TLS certificates for domain names
SSHFP - Used to store SSH server public key fingerprints in DNS
HTTPS - A record containing information related to HTTPS
SVCB - Contains service endpoint and connection configuration information. Helps optimize the connection between client and server
Alias#
This is a special option provided by AWS Route 53. It allows integration with specific AWS resources.
When you enable this, the Value and TTL fields disappear, and Route traffic to appears instead.
You need to select an endpoint and region.
Route traffic to#
This option appears when you select the Alias option, and it specifies where to send traffic.
You can connect to an S3 bucket, ELB, CloudFront distribution, or another Route 53 record.
Example: If you connect to a CloudFront distribution, users can route traffic to CloudFront through the domain, and there's no need to modify settings even when the IP changes.
Value#
This is the actual value of each record, where you specify the destination address for routing, such as an IP address, alias target domain name, or mail server address.
TTL#
Sets how long a record stays in cache. A shorter TTL means faster cache refreshes, but since updates happen more frequently, DNS request costs can increase.
Routing policy#
Depending on the selected policy, the UI changes and additional input fields appear.
Simple: Simple routing
The most basic routing method. It returns a single IP address for one domain name.
Example: When a user makes a request with a domain name, traffic is sent to the configured single endpoint (server).
Weighted: Weighted routing
Used when you want to distribute traffic across multiple endpoints.
You can assign weights to each endpoint to direct more traffic to specific endpoints, or split traffic proportionally.
Geolocation: Geographic location-based routing
Routes traffic based on the user's geographic location.
Example: When users connect from Korea and the US, each can be connected to the nearest server.
Latency: Latency-based routing
Sends traffic to the endpoint that provides the shortest latency for the user.
Useful when servers are distributed across multiple regions worldwide.
Failover: Failover routing
A routing method that automatically switches traffic to a backup endpoint when a failure occurs.
Traffic is routed to the primary endpoint by default, but switches to the backup endpoint when a failure is detected.
Multivalue answer - Multi-value response
Returns records with multiple values to distribute traffic across different endpoints.
Can improve availability by returning only available endpoints through health checks.
IP-based - IP-based routing
IP-based routing directs user requests to specific resources based on the source IP address.
You can route traffic based on specific IP address blocks, which is useful when you want to direct specific IP ranges to certain servers. It's commonly used when you need to provide customized content or resources to user groups within specific IP ranges.
Geoproximity - Geographic proximity-based routing
Works in conjunction with AWS Global Accelerator to route traffic to specific resources based on the user's physical distance and specified ratios.
The closer a user is to a resource, the more that resource can be preferred. You can fine-tune where traffic is prioritized by adjusting the Bias value in the AWS console.
Useful when distributing traffic between multiple AWS regions or optimizing resources by region.
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