Route 53
Let’s understand the basic
The AWS route 53 service is the Domain Name System (DNS) service of AWS with higher availability and scalability. In addition, route 53 also facilitates health-checking and domain name registration web services. The design of route 53 aims at providing a highly reliable and cost-effective approach for routing end-users to Internet applications.
The DNS service helps in the translation of domain names into numeric IP addresses that computers use for connecting to each other. In addition, Amazon route 53 features help in a combination of DNS with health-checking services for traffic routing to healthy endpoints. In addition, you can also route traffic for independent monitoring or alarm on endpoints.
Many people wonder why is it called route 53! The basic explanation for such doubts is the reference to TCP or UDP port 53. The ‘route’ element in the name route 53 is an inspiration from the iconic ‘Route 66” in the USA. You can also think of the ‘route’ part as an indication of the path for routing traffic to Amazon DNS. Now, you must have cleared your doubts about the name of the DNS service of AWS and why is it called route 53.
The other functionalities of Amazon route 53 include purchasing and managing domain names alongside the configuration of DNS settings for specific domains. In addition, route 53 also offers effective connectivity between user requests and infrastructure running on AWS. The infrastructure running on AWS includes Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon S3 buckets, or Elastic Load Balancing load balancers. The applications of route 53 also help in routing users to infrastructure external to AWS.
Different routing policy
Simple routing policy
As the name suggests, this is the most basic routing type. Simple routing involves a response to DNS queries only on the basis of values in the AWS route table. A simple routing policy is ideal in cases where you have a single resource performing a specific function for the concerned domain.
For example, if the application server has a public IP address like 192.168.2.3 and you want a human-readable address on amazon.com, then you can use a simple routing policy. Amazon route 53 can help in mapping amazon.com to the concerned IP. As a result, every browser request for amazon.com would then go to 192.168.2.3.
Geolocation routing
According to amazon route 53 documentation, the geolocation routing policy helps in the allocation of resource targets according to the geographic location of the user. For example, as you can see in the image below, all queries from Europe should go to the IP address 192.172.20.30. The routing of all queries in Europe to a server located in a similar physical region can help in the reduction of latency. Geolocation involves the mapping of IP addresses to locations irrespective of the region.
Latency-based routing policy
Applications hosted on EC2 instances in multiple regions could lead to higher latency. However, Amazon route 53 can help in reducing user latency by serving requests from regions with the lowest latency. The latency-based policy involves routing traffic requests to servers that can respond with the lowest possible delay (latency). For example, you can run an application in multiple AWS regions with route 53 for automatic routing of users to regions that can deliver quickly.
Weighted Routing policy
Weighted routing policy is an important addition to this Amazon route 53 tutorial. The weighted routing policy involves the assignment of different numeric weights to various servers providing a specific web service. As a result, you can route a higher or lower percentage of incoming traffic according to the weights. The benefit of a weighted routing policy is clearly evident in load balancing and testing the new versions of software packages.
Failover routing policy
A failover routing policy helps in sending traffic to a server that is set as the primary server. However, the routing works only as long as the server is healthy. If the health checks find out that the primary server is failing, then traffic goes to a designated backup resource.
Route Tables
Now, it is clearly evident that Amazon route 53 works by mapping end-user to a domain name or IP address. So, what is the record of these routes, or where are they stored? The answer is AWS route tables! AWS route table contains a collection of routes or rules for determining the destination for routing network traffic.
All subnets in a VPC should have an attachment with an AWS route table. The table then takes control over routing the concerned subnets. Subnets cannot associate with multiple route tables at a particular time. However, multiple subnets could connect with a single AWS route table. The AWS route table provides information about the destination IP address and the target resource, as shown in the image below.
Different offerings by Route 53
1. Resolver
The “Resolver” feature of route 53 helps in obtaining recursive DNS for Amazon VPC and on-premises networks. It also helps in the creation of conditional forwarding rules and DNS endpoints. The functionality of Resolver is evident in addressing custom names mastered in private hosted zones of route 53 or on-premise DNS servers.
2. Traffic flow
The ease of use and cost-effectiveness with route 53 for global traffic management is one of its commendable features. As discussed above, route 53 helps in routing end-users to the best endpoint for an application. The routing policies provide control for choosing the criteria for routing traffic to end-users.
3. Private DNS for Amazon VPC
Amazon route 53 documentation presents the private DNS for Amazon VPC as a highly crucial feature in route 53. This feature helps in the management of custom domain names for internal AWS resources. Most important of all, the process does not involve the exposure of DNS data to the public internet.
4. Health checks and monitoring
You can find insights regarding the performance of your application with the help of route 53. In addition, it can also help in monitoring the health and performance of your web servers and other resources.
5. Domain registration
The facility of domain registration services is the core of Amazon route 53. Users could search for available domain names and register a domain name according to their choice. Furthermore, users also have the option of transferring in existing domain names for management by route 53.
6. CloudFront Zone Apex Support
If you use CloudFront for delivering website content, then visitors to your website could access the site at the zone apex. The zone apex is the root domain. For instance, visitors could access the website as Cattube.com rather than www.Cattube.com.
7. S3 Zone Apex Support
If you use Amazon S3 for hosting your website, visitors can access the site at the zone apex.
Amazon ELB Integration
The integration of route 53 with Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) load balancing is a promising feature for routing traffic.
8. Management Console
The compatibility of Amazon route 53 with the AWS Management Console is a reliable indicator of its ease of use. The Management Console can help in the management of route 53 without having to write a single line of code. The Management Console is web-based and has a point-and-click, graphical user interface, thereby improving ease of use for route 53.
Different steps to configure Route-53
After an outline of features of route 53, the next important step in this tutorial would be the process for configuring route 53. Here is a step-by-step outline of the steps for the configuration of Amazon route 53.
Access the console for route 53 on AWS by using the link https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53.
Find the option of “Create Hosted Zone” on the top left side of the navigation bar and click on it.
You would find a form page after completing the previous step. In this step, you have to provide important details such as domain names and comments. After entering the required information, click on the “Create” button.
Now, you have a hosted zone for the domain. You can find four DNS endpoints known as delegation sets. You have to update the endpoints in the Nameserver settings of the domain name.
Choose the domain’s control panel and update the Amazon route 53 DNS endpoints through the domain hosting service. You have to delete the rest default values and the update process will take 2 or 3 minutes.
Now, you have to return back to the Route 53 console. Select the “Go to Record Sets” option. You will find a list of record sets. The default setting of record set types is NS and SOA type.
For the creation of recordset. Click on the “Create Record Set” option. Fill in all the important details such as Name, Routing Policy, Alias, Type, TTL seconds Value, and other information. Then, click on the “Save Record Set” button.
In the final step, create another record for another region. This helps in having two recordsets with the same domain name pointing to various IP addresses according to chosen routing policy.
The pricing model of route53
As with other AWS services, AWS Route 53 pricing also follows the pay-as-you-go model. AWS charges monthly rates that vary according to usage and the charges vary according to the route 53 service you use. Here is an outline of the different pricing for services of route 53.
- AWS charges $0.50 for every hosted DNS zone per month. This pricing is applicable for the first 25 hosted zones and each additional zone costs $0.10.
- The charge for policy records is $50 for every DNS name.
- The pricing for standard queries is $0.4 for a million queries for the first billion queries. For additional queries, the pricing is $0.2 for a million queries per month.
- For latency-based routing queries, the pricing is $0.6 for a million queries for the first billion queries. The charges are applicable on a monthly basis. For additional queries, AWS charges $0.35 per month for a million queries.
- The AWS Route 53 pricing of geo-based queries is $0.7 per million queries in the case of the first billion queries for every month. The additional charges are $0.35 for an additional million queries per month.
- The pricing for health checks of AWS endpoints is an important reason to start right now with Amazon route 53 free tier. How? You get the health checks for the first 50 AWS endpoints for free! The charges for additional endpoints are $0.5 for every endpoint per month.
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