KodeKloud Notes

Amazon Route 53 is AWS’s scalable and highly available Domain Name System (DNS) web service and domain registrar. With Route 53, you can register new domains, manage DNS records for routing internet traffic, and leverage a global network of DNS servers.

Key Features

Domain registration and management as your registrar
DNS record configuration for EC2, load balancers, S3 static websites, and more
Highly available, low-latency global DNS resolution

Domain Registration and DNS Management

When you register a domain (e.g., example.com) through Route 53, AWS serves as your domain registrar. You can then configure all DNS records directly in the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or through the API.

Note

If you register the domain with Route 53, name servers are automatically set. For external domains, update the NS records at your existing registrar to point to the Route 53 name servers.

Hosted Zones

A hosted zone in Route 53 is a container for DNS records related to a specific domain or subdomain. AWS allocates four authoritative name servers for each hosted zone.

Hosted Zone Type	Scope	Use Case
Public Hosted Zone	Global (Internet)	Serve public DNS queries
Private Hosted Zone	VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)	Internal DNS resolution within VPCs

The image illustrates the concept of hosted zones in Amazon Route 53, showing how DNS records are managed for different domains, each allocated four nameservers by AWS.

How It Works: Step by Step

Create a hosted zone for your domain (e.g., fastcars.com).
AWS assigns four name servers to the hosted zone.
Define DNS records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, etc.) in the hosted zone.
Verify that your domain’s NS records at the registrar match the assigned name servers.

After these steps, Route 53’s global network of name servers will respond to DNS queries for your domain.

Common DNS Record Types

Record Type	Description	Example
A	Maps a domain to an IPv4 address	`www -> 192.0.2.44`
AAAA	Maps a domain to an IPv6 address	`www -> 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334`
CNAME	Aliases one name to another	`blog -> blog.example.com`
MX	Mail exchange servers for email routing	`example.com MX 10 mail.example.com`
TXT	Text records for verification/DNSSEC	`example.com TXT "v=spf1 include:amazonses.com -all"`

Summary

Route 53 offers:

Fully managed DNS service for end-user request routing
Domain registration with AWS as the registrar
Global DNS infrastructure for low-latency queries
Hosted zones for organizing DNS records per domain

The image is a summary slide highlighting three points about AWS Route 53: it's a managed DNS service, a global service, and hosted zones are a collection of DNS.

Links and References

Watch Video

Watch video content