Armstrong, Author at armstrongcms.org

Fundamental details about Anycast DNS

Armstrong
Nov 7, 2022

Every time people send a DNS request for loading a website, different processes take place within the DNS machinery for it to happen. One of these processes is routing their requests to be answered. Anycast DNS is a method to do this.

What is Anycast DNS?

The most fundamental detail about Anycast DNS is that it is a traffic routing and addressing method for networks that allows a group of servers to share the same IP address. It aims to have nameservers in different locations around the planet to be closer to the users. This way, when someone sends a request to visit a website, this will be routed to the closest server to his or her location. Having the same IP address, whichever server can answer, but the nearest to the user will be the one that answers.

How does Anycast DNS work?

Anycast DNS works closely with the Border Gateway Protocol or BGP. This last enables the routing of data through the Internet. BGP helps to communicate to routers the networks that can be reached through each of them and the topographical distance that it takes to reach such networks. The range of the IP address shared by the group of servers is advertised in the BGP messages of multiple routers. This way, routers know which of them can offer the shortest route to that IP address.

Then the request is addressed and routed to the closest server. Thanks to Anycast infrastructure and its workmate, the BGP, a user in Vietnam can access a domain with hosting in Brazil in no time.

Why should you use Anycast DNS?

You should use Anycast DNS because it means getting a reliable network to support your online business, and that brings big advantages.

It provides redundancy. A business having only a single DNS server can work, but it’s like putting all your eggs in one basket. If it fails or is under normal maintenance, your nameserver could face downtime, and that will mean fewer sales for you. Besides, you will have very limited room to handle high traffic. If your only nameserver gets stressed, risks of sluggishness or failures increase.

It increases your business resilience. DoS and DDoS attacks are happening daily, and potentially, you, like everybody else, can be targeted by cybercriminals. Having Anycast DNS, attackers could bring down a server or two, but not all the network backing up your business. It will keep you online!

It provides you with the dreamed uptime. With multiple nameservers globally located, downtime won’t be a worry. If a server is unavailable, the Anycast DNS system will automatically reroute requests to the closest and most available instance.

It speeds up response time. It ensures it always will address and route requests to the closest and available nameserver. Waiting time for your clients will always be the shortest possible.

Conclusion

Anycast DNS is a great solution for businesses with big expectations. Let it be in your team and experience the difference from day one!

What is the purpose of GeoDNS?

Armstrong
Oct 28, 2022

Do you have a global audience? Do you need to provide country-specific content for your visitors? If that is the case, and you are getting traffic from all around the world, the best way to manage it is with GeoDNS.

What is GeoDNS?

The GeoDNS service builds on top of the traditional DNS by adding the Geo aspect. A traditional DNS resolve domain names to IP addresses, and the GeoDNS does it but by analyzing the IP addresses of the visitors, and redirecting them to the IP address, that best suits them.

Imagine you have a site that is visited from all around the world, and you have GeoDNS servers in Mexico, the US, Germany, China, and South Africa.

If a visitor from Spain requests the IP address of your domain, his or her query will be answered from the German server and redirected to the IP address it offers.

The visitor from Mexico will get connected to the Mexican server and will be redirected very fast.

The Purposes of GeoDNS

Increase the DNS resolution speed

The main purpose of GeoDNS is to speed up your DNS resolution. There are 2 aspects of the increased speed of GeoDNS.

Having more servers strategically distributed around the world means you will be closer to your visitors. The proximity to get faster DNS resolving.

Not only that, but the GeoDNS servers can check the visitors’ IP addresses and redirect them to the closest web host. If you combine it with multiple web hosts and create CDN (Content Delivery Network), you can massively increase the speed!

Target your visitors

Use the IP address information, and target the visitors. Use the data about the origin of the DNS queries and redirect the traffic based on the continent, country, or region.

Provide country-specific content

The video platforms like Netflix use services like GeoDNS to offer exclusive country-specific content. For example, you can provide different video libraries in the US compared to Germany. The purpose of GeoDNS here is to limit access to content based on the IP address of the visitors.

Scale up or down

Depending on your provider, you could have plenty of resources at your disposal. You can start using multiple GeoDNS servers and get excellent results.

Don’t forget that with time, your business can change. You could lose a market and gain another. So it is really useful if you can add and remove new DNS servers fast and easily.

Balance the load

If you have multiple GeoDNS servers, each of them will get a part of the DNS traffic. That way, no single DNS server will get overwhelmed with work. Depending on your DNS provider, you can also have different load-balancing options.

Conclusion

The purpose of GeoDNS is to have intelligent DNS servers that understand where the traffic comes from and can redirect to the best IP address based on geolocation data. That makes the whole DNS system faster and offers better service for the visitors.