What it is
Amazon Route 53 is AWS's Domain Name System service. It hosts DNS zones, registers domain names and runs health checks. The name comes from port 53, the port DNS uses. Records can be managed in the console, from the AWS CLI or through the API, which makes DNS something a script or an application can change safely.
Route 53 adds alias records that point a domain straight at AWS resources such as CloudFront distributions, including at the bare domain where a normal CNAME is not allowed. It also supports routing policies based on latency, location, weight or health, and AWS backs it with a 100% availability service level agreement.
How I use it
- DNS for the company domains I look after, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC on every domain and DMARC and TLS reports flowing back.
- CAA records name the only authorities allowed to issue certificates. For mervinc.com and mervinc.ca, only Amazon.
- Lend Pilot's API writes each lender's DNS records in Route 53 as part of putting them on their own domain.
- Rail & Sail Montessori House runs its DNS in Route 53 in the school's own AWS account.
Route 53 is the right place for DNS when the rest of the system is on AWS: aliases to CloudFront just work, and the API lets software change records without a ticket. I keep company domains there so the records that decide where mail and traffic go are in one place, and scripted.
Questions
Why does DNS matter for business email?
SPF, DKIM and DMARC live in DNS. Without them, mail lands in spam more often, and anyone can send invoices that look like they came from your domain.
Can DNS changes be automated safely?
Yes. Lend Pilot writes each lender's records through the Route 53 API, then only switches the domain on once CloudFront is serving it.