DNS - Amazon Web Services Debuts DNS Web Service Amazon Route 53

Offering developers and businesses a highly available and reliable way to route Internet traffic to Web applications, Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com (News - Alert) company introduced Amazon Route 53, a Domain Name System (DNS) web service.

Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) Web service. Route 53 is designed to be fast, easy to use, and cost-effective.

Facilitating businesses anywhere in the world to leverage the highly available AWS infrastructure to achieve the level of dependability required to keep their Web applications available, Amazon Route 53 uses a network of DNS servers located across the globe. By allowing integration with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon Route 53 also lets customers place strict controls over who can manage their DNS system.

“Our customers have asked for a DNS service with all the same qualities of the other AWS services that they use every day – flexible, scalable, no commitment, inexpensive, and pay-as-you go,” said Tal Saraf, general manager of Amazon CloudFront, in a press release. “That’s exactly what Amazon Route 53 provides. Now AWS customers who need a DNS service don’t have to work with a separate provider and instead can get this additional infrastructure service.”

By managing the mapping between names and numbers, the Internet’s DNS system works much like a phone book. Controlling which server an end user will connect to when they type a domain name into their Web browser, DNS servers translate requests for names into IP addresses. Offering low DNS query latency for end users, the Amazon Route 53 global network of DNS servers is designed to automatically respond from the optimal network location.

The company recently published a report where it stated that highly-available and scalable Web and application hosting can be a complex and expensive proposition: “Traditional scalable Web architectures have not only needed to implement complex approaches to ensure high levels of reliability, but have also required an accurate forecast of traffic to provide a high level of customer service, the company stated in the report.