AWS Networking Services: Route 53 and CloudFront - JPM2002/JPM2002 GitHub Wiki
🌐 AWS Networking Services: Route 53 and CloudFront
Networking services in AWS help you connect your apps to users securely, quickly, and reliably — across the globe. Two powerful services in this space are Amazon Route 53 (DNS) and Amazon CloudFront (CDN).
🌍 Amazon Route 53
Amazon Route 53 is AWS’s scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service. It routes traffic globally with low latency and high reliability.
Key Features
- Register and manage domain names
- Route traffic using latency, geolocation, or failover policies
- Health checks to detect unreachable resources
- Integrates with other AWS services (EC2, S3, ELB, etc.)
Use Cases
- Register and manage domains for your website
- Load balancing across different regions
- Redirect users to the closest healthy server
💡 Route 53 supports complex routing rules for global applications.
🚀 Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that securely delivers content (HTML, CSS, images, video, etc.) with low latency and high speed via edge locations.
Key Features
- Distributes content across 300+ edge locations
- Reduces load on origin servers (like S3 or EC2)
- Supports HTTPS, signed URLs, access control
- Integrates with S3, Lambda@Edge, Route 53
Use Cases
- Deliver static websites or media files faster
- Securely distribute private content
- Accelerate APIs or dynamic applications
💡 Free Tier: 50 GB of outbound data and 2 million HTTP/HTTPS requests/month
🔍 Route 53 vs. CloudFront
| Feature | Route 53 | CloudFront |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | DNS and domain routing | Content delivery (CDN) |
| Focus | Resolving domains to IPs | Speed + edge caching |
| Main Benefit | Flexible routing policies | Low latency, fast content delivery |
| Use Case | Domain registration & failover | Website, media, or API acceleration |
🧠 Tips
- Use Route 53 for intelligent routing (geolocation, failover, latency)
- Use CloudFront to cache your site globally for fast performance
- Combine both: Route 53 for domain + CloudFront for performance