DNS Routing Strategies with AWS Route 53

In today’s cloud world, users expect speed, reliability, and security. But traffic doesn't always behave the same. Some users live across the world. Some systems must stay up, even during failure. That’s why we need different DNS routing strategies.

With AWS Route 53, we can control where traffic goes. AWS Route 53 gives us 8 different strategies for DNS Routing:

Simple Routing
Weighted Routing
Latency-based Routing
Failover Routing
Geolocation Routing
Geoproximity Routing
Multi-Value Answer Routing
IP-based Routing

Each strategy has its own power. In this post, we’ll explore these one by one.

1. Simple Routing

Simple routing lets us map a domain name (like example.com) to a single resource, such as a web server or load balancer. Route 53 returns one IP address to the user.

To implement it in AWS, we begin by opening the Route 53 console and creating a hosted zone for our domain. Within the zone, we create a new A or CNAME record. We then choose “Simple” as the routing policy and enter the endpoint we want to direct traffic to.

Simple routing is the best choice when we have only one backend serving all requests. For instance, if we host a static site on Amazon S3 or run a small web application on a single EC2 instance, this strategy works well. It doesn’t offer load balancing or fault tolerance, but it excels at doing one thing—directing traffic to one place, quickly and clearly.

Because it is straightforward, simple routing is quick to set up and easy to manage. However, it offers no built-in failover or performance optimization. If the endpoint goes down, users won’t be redirected to another healthy one. That makes it unsuitable for high-availability scenarios or global applications.

2. Weighted Routing

Weighted routing splits traffic between multiple resources. We assign each one a weight. Route 53 sends traffic based on these weights.

To use this method, we create multiple DNS records with the same name and type. For each one, we choose “Weighted” routing and set a specific weight value—such as 80 for production and 20 for staging. Route 53 then distributes traffic according to these proportions. We can also attach health checks to each endpoint if needed.

This strategy shines when we want to direct some traffic to a new version of an application or test environment, without affecting all users. For example, we might route 90% of users to our stable production app and 10% to a new feature release. If everything works smoothly, we can adjust the weights to gradually shift more users to the new system.

Weighted routing gives us clear control over how much traffic goes to each version of our app. It allows for safer deployments and performance testing in real-world conditions. The trade-off is that the weight values are fixed and must be updated manually. This makes it less flexible in dynamic or unpredictable environments.

3. Latency-Based Routing

Route 53 sends traffic to the endpoint with the lowest network latency for the user. This improves speed by serving content closer to the user.

To implement it in AWS, first, we set up our resources in multiple AWS Regions—for example, one in North America and another in Asia. Then we create separate DNS records for each Region, selecting “Latency” as the routing policy. Each record must be associated with its respective AWS Region.

Latency-based routing is ideal for applications with a global user base. If a user in India accesses our website, Route 53 routes their request to an Asia-based server. If someone in Canada visits, the request goes to the North American server. This makes the application feel faster and more responsive, no matter where users are.

Using this strategy improves performance automatically without any manual tuning. However, it requires us to run infrastructure in multiple Regions, which increases cost and complexity. It chooses the fastest Region based on performance, not distance. The closest one isn’t always the quickest to respond. It also doesn’t balance load evenly; it only aims for speed based on proximity.

4. Failover Routing

Failover routing switches traffic to a backup if the main system fails. Route 53 checks the health of the primary endpoint and redirects only if it’s down.

To implement it in AWS, we create two DNS records for the same domain—one marked as the “Primary,” the other as the “Secondary.” The primary record must be associated with a health check. If the check fails, Route 53 automatically shifts traffic to the secondary endpoint.

This approach is perfect when uptime is critical. Imagine a business-critical app that must stay available 24/7. We can keep a backup environment ready and let Route 53 step in the moment the main one fails. This switch happens automatically, so we don’t need to intervene.

Failover routing improves reliability and helps meet high availability targets. However, we must maintain a fully functional standby system, which can be costly. And while the failover is fast, there may still be a brief delay before the change takes effect.

5. Geolocation Routing

Route 53 routes traffic based on the user’s location (continent, country, or state). This helps us serve custom content to different regions.

To implement it in AWS, we create multiple DNS records using the same name. Each one is assigned to a geographic location. We then specify the appropriate endpoint for that region. We can also define a default record to catch users from unassigned locations.

Geolocation routing is helpful when our application needs to behave differently based on a user's country. For example, we might show different languages, prices, or legal content depending on the visitor’s location. It also allows us to comply with regional data rules or direct users to local data centers.

This strategy offers great control and personalization, improving user experience and compliance. However, it relies on accurate location detection, which may not be perfect. It also becomes harder to manage as we add more regional rules.

6. Geoproximity Routing (with Traffic Flow)

This strategy also uses user location, but with finer control. We can shift more or less traffic to a Region by changing the “bias.” It needs Route 53 Traffic Flow.

To implement this strategy in AWS, we begin by creating a routing policy in Route 53 Traffic Flow. We choose “Geoproximity” and define the AWS Regions or external endpoints we want to use. We can assign a bias value to influence how much traffic each Region receives. Health checks can also be attached.

Geoproximity routing is well-suited for large-scale global applications with complex traffic distribution needs. For instance, we may want to send most European traffic to Frankfurt but still send some to Paris when needed. By adjusting the bias, we control the shape of traffic flow across Regions.

This strategy gives us precise, location-aware traffic control, ideal for fine-tuning performance and balancing infrastructure load. It does require Traffic Flow, which adds complexity and cost. The visual editor helps manage the setup, but it may be more than what smaller systems need.

7. Multi-Value Answer Routing

This strategy returns multiple healthy IP addresses. The client picks one. Route 53 can check the health of each resource.

To implement this strategy in AWS, we create several records with the same name and choose “Multi-Value Answer” as the routing type. Health checks can be enabled to ensure only healthy IPs are returned.

Multi-value answer routing gives us a simple way to increase availability. If we run the same application on several servers, Route 53 returns a list of all healthy IPs. The client browser or system then picks one to connect to. If one server fails, users can still reach the others.

While this isn't a true load balancer, it offers a basic level of redundancy. It’s easy to implement and works well for small apps that don’t need full-fledged load balancing. The main drawback is that we can't control which IP the client chooses.

8. IP-Based Routing

IP-based routing uses the user’s source IP address to determine where to send traffic. Instead of using country or continent, it maps specific IP ranges to chosen endpoints. This gives more precise control over who sees what.

To implement it in AWS, we must enable Route 53 Traffic Flow. Within a traffic policy, we choose "IP-based" as the rule type. Then we define CIDR blocks (IP ranges) and map each to an endpoint. A default rule can catch all IPs that don’t match. We can add health checks to make sure only healthy endpoints serve traffic.

IP-based routing is useful when we want to control access at a fine-grained network level. For example, we may want traffic from a known ISP or internal corporate network to reach a specific application version or secure gateway. It also helps in testing, where we direct developers (by IP) to a beta version, while others continue to see the main app.

This strategy offers precision that geolocation alone cannot provide. It is perfect when country-level targeting is too broad. However, managing IP blocks can become complex. IP addresses change, and users behind VPNs or mobile networks may not be reliably routed. It also requires Route 53 Traffic Flow, which adds complexity and cost.

Summary

Choosing the right strategy helps us build fast, safe, and smart systems. Each strategy fits a different use case. Below is a table to help us decide.

Strategy	Best For	Health Checks	Load Balancing	Complexity	Example Use Case
Simple	Single endpoint	❌	❌	Low	Static website
Weighted	Gradual rollout, A/B testing	✅ (optional)	✅	Medium	70/30 traffic split
Latency-Based	Global performance	✅	✅	Medium	US & EU servers
Failover	High availability	✅ (required)	❌	Medium	Disaster recovery
Geolocation	Region-specific content	✅ (optional)	❌	Medium	Localized websites
Geoproximity (Flow)	Advanced regional control	✅ (optional)	✅	High	Shift traffic within Europe
Multi-Value Answer	Basic redundancy/load sharing	✅	✅ (basic)	Low	Several EC2 backend servers
IP-Based (Flow)	Precise network-level control	✅ (optional)	✅	High	Route dev IPs to beta, others to prod