DNS round robin can spread new connection attempts across two or more application servers, but plain round robin is not a health check and cannot remove a failed server by itself. For high availability, publish multiple A or AAAA records under one hostname, then use health-aware DNS failover or a load balancer that withdraws unhealthy endpoints. Set a TTL that matches your recovery objective, test resolver caching and failback, and document what happens when every primary endpoint is unhealthy.
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What DNS round robin does—and what it does not do
With DNS round robin, one service name has several address records. A client resolving play.example.net might receive an IPv4 address for server A, server B, or server C. Another resolver query can receive the same set in a different order. The client normally tries one address and establishes its connection there.
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Unproxied round robin also does not perform application health checks. If one address points to a stopped or broken server, resolvers can continue returning it until you remove the record and cached answers expire. Existing TCP connections do not move when DNS changes. A player, API client, or launcher may continue using a dead connection until it reconnects.
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Use plain round robin only when every endpoint is expected to be interchangeable and a brief period of stale answers is acceptable. For a real availability objective, use health-checked DNS or an application/load-balancing layer that can suppress failed endpoints.
Choose an architecture before editing DNS
Independent endpoints and failure domains
Start with at least two application endpoints in independent failure domains. Separate availability zones, data centers, or network providers are more useful than two virtual machines on the same host. Give each endpoint a stable address and make sure your monitoring can reach it from outside the endpoint’s local network.
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203.0.113.10(IPv4 example) - Endpoint 2:
203.0.113.20 - Endpoint 3:
2001:db8:10::10(IPv6 example, if supported)
These are documentation addresses, not production values. Replace them with the addresses assigned to your service. Every endpoint must serve the same hostname, certificate names, URL paths, game/API protocol behavior, and required configuration.
Decide whether DNS is the right layer
DNS chooses an address at resolution time. It does not rebalance a long-lived WebSocket, game session, TCP stream, or HTTP keep-alive connection. It also cannot see per-request load after the answer is cached. Use a layer-4 or layer-7 load balancer when you need connection draining, queue-aware routing, sticky sessions, weighted capacity, or immediate per-connection health decisions.
DNS is appropriate when clients can reconnect, endpoints are interchangeable, and a failover measured in the TTL-plus-detection window is acceptable. If a single hostname must preserve a session while a backend changes, put the session-aware component behind that hostname instead of relying on DNS order.
Configure the records step by step
1. Prepare a common service hostname
Choose the name clients will use, such as api.example.net, match.example.net, or www.example.net. Keep the hostname identical on every endpoint. Obtain a certificate whose Subject Alternative Name covers that name and install it everywhere. Verify that redirects, virtual-host rules, CORS policies, and absolute URLs do not change between servers.
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2. Create one record per endpoint
In your authoritative DNS provider, create one A record for each IPv4 endpoint. Create one AAAA record for each IPv6 endpoint only after IPv6 connectivity has been tested from representative networks. Do not publish an IPv6 address that accepts the TCP handshake but cannot reach the application dependencies; IPv6-capable clients may prefer it and appear to have an outage.
api.example.net. 300 IN A 203.0.113.10
api.example.net. 300 IN A 203.0.113.20
api.example.net. 300 IN AAAA 2001:db8:10::10The order shown in a zone file is not a guarantee of client selection. Recursive resolvers may cache, reorder, rotate, or otherwise process the RRset. Treat the records as a set, not as a strict server-by-server schedule.
3. Confirm identical application behavior
Before enabling traffic, query each endpoint directly while sending the production hostname in the request. For HTTPS, use the hostname in the URL and, where necessary, map the hostname to a specific address during testing:
curl --resolve api.example.net:443:203.0.113.10 https://api.example.net/health
curl --resolve api.example.net:443:203.0.113.20 https://api.example.net/health
Check status code, response body, certificate chain, protocol version, authentication, latency, and dependency access. A health response that says only “the process is running” can pass while the database, cache, matchmaking service, or storage system required for real traffic is unavailable.
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4. Choose simple or health-aware routing
Simple round robin leaves all addresses in DNS until an operator edits the zone. For high availability, configure health checks at the DNS provider or place a health-aware load balancer in front of the servers. Route 53 can check resource health and answer with only healthy resources. Cloudflare Load Balancing uses monitors, pools, health checks, and fallback pools. Azure Traffic Manager provides DNS routing with health probes.
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5. Define the health check precisely
Use a dedicated path such as /health or /ready. Configure the protocol, port, timeout, interval, expected status, and failure threshold using the provider’s controls. Cloudflare monitors can validate responsiveness, timeout, expected HTTP status, and response content. Keep the endpoint lightweight, but include the dependencies that must work for the service to handle real requests.
- Liveness: the process and listener are running.
- Readiness: required database, cache, authentication, and downstream services are reachable.
- Protection: do not expose credentials, stack traces, or sensitive configuration in the response.
- Consistency: return the same status semantics on every endpoint.
6. Add a fallback destination
If your provider supports pools, define a secondary or fallback pool. A fallback is the last-resort destination when every primary endpoint is unhealthy; it might serve a maintenance page, a read-only API, or a static status response. Document the behavior explicitly. Do not assume that an empty primary pool automatically produces a useful response.
7. Set an initial TTL
TTL controls how long recursive resolvers may reuse an answer. It is a constraint on failover speed, not a promise that every client will refresh at the exact second shown. Microsoft’s high-availability example uses a 300-second TTL, while its Traffic Manager guidance recommends less than 60 seconds as an optimization for faster updates. Those are provider recommendations, not universal guarantees.
A shorter TTL can reduce the time new lookups continue to receive a withdrawn address, but it causes more DNS queries and does not clear an answer already held by a resolver or client before its expiry. Select a value that your authoritative service can support and that matches the recovery objective. Record the decision in the runbook rather than changing it ad hoc during an incident.
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| Capability | Route 53 | Cloudflare Load Balancing | Azure Traffic Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic DNS distribution | Supports simple and more complex health-checked configurations. | Basic round robin is separate from pool-based load balancing. | DNS routing service with selectable routing methods. |
| Health scope | Resource health checks can restrict answers to healthy resources. | Monitors can test endpoint responses, status, timeout, and content. | Health probes determine whether an endpoint is available. |
| Routing policies | Simple plus policies such as weighted, latency, or failover, depending on configuration. | Pool and steering controls, with policy choices depending on the plan. | Routing methods include priority, weighted, performance, and geographic choices where supported. |
| Fallback behavior | Configure failover or an alternate record strategy. | Supports a documented fallback pool as the last-resort destination. | Configure endpoint priority and monitor behavior for the desired failover path. |
| TTL and caching | Set the record TTL; recursive and client caches still apply. | Record and load-balancing settings interact with proxy mode and caching. | TTL is part of the DNS profile and affects resolver refresh frequency. |
| Important caveat | Health checks must represent the resource’s real serving ability. | Proxied and unproxied records behave differently; mixing modes can produce unexpected behavior. | DNS failover remains subject to resolver caching and existing connections. |
Plans, geographic coverage, probe locations, session-affinity options, observability, and pricing change over time. Verify current limits and controls in the provider documentation before committing to a design.
How failover actually unfolds
There are several clocks in a DNS failover:
- Detection: the provider waits for probe intervals, timeouts, and the configured number of failures.
- Authoritative change: the provider stops returning the unhealthy address or changes the answer according to its policy.
- Recursive-cache expiry: resolvers holding the previous answer continue serving it until its TTL expires.
- Client behavior: the application may cache DNS longer than expected, keep an existing connection, or retry a different address.
Therefore, “TTL 60” does not mean every player fails over in 60 seconds. It means a resolver that received the answer with a 60-second TTL should be allowed to refresh after that period, subject to provider behavior and client implementation. Measure the complete interval in your own tests and publish the observed range internally.
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Immediate incident procedure
- Confirm the endpoint is actually failing from more than one network location. Check the service port, health path, certificate, and key dependencies.
- Disable or quarantine the server if it could return corrupt, duplicated, or unsafe state. Stopping the process alone does not invalidate cached DNS answers.
- Delete the failed A and/or AAAA record from the authoritative zone, or mark the endpoint unhealthy in the provider’s pool.
- Query the authoritative nameservers to confirm the new RRset, then query multiple recursive resolvers.
- Watch reconnects, error rates, saturation, and session behavior on the remaining endpoints.
- Keep the failed endpoint out of rotation until it passes the same readiness tests used for production admission.
Do not repeatedly edit records in response to individual client reports. A report may reflect an old recursive cache, a client-side cache, or an existing connection. Use timestamps and resolver identity when correlating reports with the authoritative change.
Restoring and failing back
After repair, validate the endpoint directly, then re-enable it in the health-aware pool or restore its record. Observe probe status and real traffic before declaring success. A controlled failback test is safer than allowing an automatically recovered server to receive full traffic without proving that its data, configuration, and dependencies are current.
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Record-set and TLS checks
dig +short A api.example.net
dig +short AAAA api.example.net
dig @<authoritative-nameserver> api.example.net A
Run these queries from more than one recursive resolver and verify that the answer set and TTL are plausible. Test HTTPS with the production hostname so certificate and virtual-host errors are visible.
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Failure and recovery exercise
- Capture baseline health status, DNS answers, connection errors, and request latency.
- Stop or isolate one endpoint without touching the others.
- Wait for the configured probe interval and failure threshold; record the exact time the provider marks it unhealthy.
- Query the authoritative nameserver and at least two recursive resolvers. Note when each stops returning the failed address.
- Generate new connections and confirm that healthy endpoints serve them. Test an already-open connection separately.
- Restore the endpoint, verify readiness, and measure how long failback takes.
- Repeat with a dependency failure, a slow response that exceeds the timeout, a wrong status code, and a complete primary-pool outage.
Keep the results with the runbook. Include endpoint, region, resolver, timestamps, TTL, probe settings, and observed propagation delay. Never promise instant failover when the system depends on DNS caches.
Common pitfalls and fixes
Publishing an unhealthy address
Symptom: intermittent connection failures continue after one server is down. Cause: plain round robin has no health awareness, or the monitor checks only a process port. Fix: use health-checked routing and make the readiness path test the dependencies required for real traffic.
Assuming record order controls distribution
Symptom: one endpoint receives more connections than expected. Cause: resolver caching, client selection, unequal client populations, and long-lived connections. Fix: treat DNS round robin as approximate distribution. Use weighted or capacity-aware routing, or a load balancer, when proportional traffic matters.
Using an aggressive TTL without capacity
Symptom: DNS query volume rises while failover is still not instantaneous. Cause: shorter TTLs trigger more refreshes but cannot override answers cached before the change. Fix: choose a measured TTL, monitor authoritative query load, and test the real resolver population.
Mixing proxied and unproxied records
Symptom: returned addresses or health behavior differ from the zone configuration. Cause: providers treat proxied and DNS-only records differently; mixing modes can create unexpected behavior. Fix: use a deliberate, documented mode for the hostname and verify the externally visible answer.
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Breaking sessions during endpoint changes
Symptom: users are logged out or a game match drops after reconnecting to another server. Cause: in-memory session state, non-replicated matchmaking state, or endpoint-specific files. Fix: replicate required state, use shared storage or an external session store, provide reconnect semantics, or place a session-aware load balancer in front of the service.
Publishing IPv6 before it is ready
Symptom: IPv6 clients fail while IPv4 clients work. Cause: an AAAA record points to an address with incomplete routing, firewall, or application binding. Fix: test IPv6 from outside your network and remove the AAAA record until the complete path is ready.
Operational checklist
- At least two endpoints are in separate failure domains.
- Every endpoint serves the same hostname, certificate, protocol, and application contract.
- A readiness health path checks critical dependencies without exposing secrets.
- Probe interval, timeout, failure threshold, and recovery threshold are documented.
- TTL is selected against a stated recovery objective and query-load budget.
- Fallback behavior is defined for a fully unhealthy primary pool.
- Monitoring covers DNS answers, probe state, connection failures, latency, and saturation.
- The runbook explains how to remove, quarantine, repair, and re-admit an endpoint.
- Failure, dependency, timeout, resolver-cache, and failback tests have been recorded.
- Provider plan limits and current routing features have been verified.
When to move beyond DNS round robin
Adopt a health-aware DNS service when you need endpoint suppression but can tolerate resolver-cache delay. Choose an application or network load balancer when you need per-connection health, connection draining, sticky sessions, TLS termination, weighted capacity, or rapid reaction to load. Keep DNS as the stable entry point, but let the layer that understands your traffic make the fine-grained decision.
The practical design is therefore two-tiered: DNS provides a resilient set of entry points, while health checks and the serving layer decide which endpoints should receive new work. That separation prevents a simple RRset from being mistaken for a complete high-availability system.
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