When you create a record, you choose a routing policy, which determines how Amazon Route 53 responds to queries:
Simple routing policy
Use for a single resource that performs a given function for your domain, for example, a web server that serves content for the example.com website.
You can use simple routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
Failover routing policy
Use when you want to configure active-passive failover.
You can use failover routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
Geolocation routing policy
Use when you want to route traffic based on the location of your users. You can use geolocation routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
Geoproximity routing policy
Use when you want to route traffic based on the location of your resources and, optionally, shift traffic from resources in one location to resources in another location. You can use geoproximity routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
Latency routing policy
Use when you have resources in multiple AWS Regions and you want to route traffic to the Region that provides the best latency. You can use latency routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
IP-based routing policy
Use when you want to route traffic based on the location of your users, and have the IP addresses that the traffic originates from.
Multivalue answer routing policy
Use when you want Route 53 to respond to DNS queries with up to eight healthy records selected at random. You can use multivalue answer routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
Weighted routing policy
Use to route traffic to multiple resources in proportions that you specify. You can use weighted routing to create records in a private hosted zone.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/routing-policy.html
| Routing Policy | Description | Use Case | Routing Criteria | Bias Setting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latency-based Routing | Routes traffic to the region with the lowest latency to the user. | Optimize for minimizing response times based on network performance. | Based on the lowest latency from the user to the region. | No bias; purely based on latency. |
| Geoproximity-based Routing | Routes traffic based on the geographical location of the user and resources, with an optional bias setting. | Optimize traffic flow based on geographic proximity, allowing bias toward or away from certain regions. | Based on geographic proximity between users and resources, with configurable bias. | Yes, can adjust the “bias” to attract or repel traffic to/from specific regions. |
| Weighted Routing | Distributes traffic to different resources based on weight values assigned. | Balance traffic across multiple resources (e.g., load balancing, A/B testing). | Based on weight values; traffic is routed proportionally. | No bias; traffic is distributed based on weights. |
| Failover Routing | Routes traffic to a primary resource, and fails over to a secondary resource if the primary is unhealthy. | Ensure high availability and disaster recovery (e.g., active/passive failover). | Based on health of the primary resource; secondary resource is used only if the primary is unhealthy. | No bias; purely health-based failover. |
| Simple Routing | Routes traffic to a single resource or set of resources with no special logic or conditions. | Use when only one resource is needed to handle all the traffic or when simple routing is sufficient. | Directs traffic to a single resource, or all traffic is directed to one resource based on DNS resolution. | No bias; straightforward routing. |
| Multi-Value Answer Routing | Routes traffic to multiple resources, returning up to 8 IP addresses for a given query. | Improve availability by returning multiple resources to the user. | Based on multiple healthy resources; can be used to return multiple IPs for load balancing and fault tolerance. | No bias; returns multiple values for a query. |
Routing Policies in Amazon Route 53: Summary
- Latency-based Routing: Chooses the region with the lowest latency to the user, ideal for performance optimization.
- Geoproximity-based Routing: Routes traffic based on proximity to resources, with optional bias to influence routing.
- Weighted Routing: Distributes traffic based on assigned weight values for load balancing or testing.
- Failover Routing: Routes traffic to a primary resource and fails over to a secondary resource in case of failure.
- Simple Routing: A straightforward routing to a single resource or all traffic to one.
- Multi-Value Answer Routing: Returns multiple resource IPs, offering increased availability and fault tolerance.