DNS Load Balancing: Round Robin, Global Server Load Balancing

Domain Name System(DNS) load balancing is a technique used to distribute network traffic throughout multiple servers or sources to improve overall performance, availability, and redundancy. It is regularly hired in excessive-site visitors’ websites, programs, and offerings to make sure that incoming requests are dispensed lightly amongst a group of servers, thereby preventing any single server from becoming beaten. DNS load balancing can make certain high availability by way of directing traffic to healthy servers.

How Does DNS Load Balancing Work?

DNS load balancing works by leveraging the DNS (Domain Name System) to distribute incoming consumer requests to a couple of servers or sources. Here’s a step-by-step evaluation of ways it really works:

• Multiple Server Setup: You have multiple servers or resources that can handle the same type of client requests. These servers are generally identical or have comparable configurations to ensure consistency.
• DNS Configuration: In your DNS configuration, you create a couple of DNS statistics (usually A or AAAA statistics) with the same area call however exceptional IP addresses. Each IP address corresponds to one of the servers in your server pool.
• TTL (Time to Live): Each DNS document has a Time to Live (TTL) value associated with it. The TTL specifies how lengthy a DNS resolver has to cache the DNS report. When a purchaser PC or tool wishes to resolve the area call, it queries a DNS resolver (generally provided by way of an Internet Service Provider).
• Client Request: When a customer desires to get admission to a carrier supplied by means of your servers, it initiates a DNS question for the area call associated with that provider. For example, when you have an internet provider, the client might request the DNS resolution of www.Example.Com.
• DNS Resolver Resolution: The purchaser’s DNS resolver gets the question and looks up the DNS document for the requested domain in its cache. If it reveals a cached document that hasn’t expired (primarily based on the TTL), it makes use of the IP cope from the cache and directs the purchaser to the corresponding server.
• Load Balancing: If there is no cached document or the cached document has expired, the DNS resolver queries the authoritative DNS servers for the area. These authoritative servers are chargeable for your area’s DNS configuration. In this case, they go back the set of IP addresses associated with your area.
• DNS Response: The DNS resolver gets the IP addresses from the authoritative servers and returns them to the client. Importantly, it returns all the IP addresses related to the area, not simply one.
• Client Connection: The purchaser gets the list of IP addresses and selects one to set up a connection. This selection may be carried out in diverse methods, such as round-robin (each IP is used in flip), or based totally on proximity or latency to the purchaser.
• Server Handling: The customer establishes a connection to the chosen server, and the server handles the patron’s request. Meanwhile, the alternative servers within the pool remain to be had for incoming requests.
• Monitoring and Health Checks: DNS load balancing structures often encompass monitoring and fitness tests to ensure that best wholesome servers are included in the DNS data. If a server becomes unavailable or reviews troubles, it may be temporarily removed from the DNS configuration till it recovers.

How to Implement DNS Load Balancing?

DNS load balancing may be implemented in various methods, inclusive of Round Robin and Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB). These are two common methods for dispensing traffic amongst multiple servers or facts facilities. Let’s explore both of them:

• Round Robin DNS Load Balancing
• Global Server Load Balancing

Round Robin DNS Load Balancing

Round Robin DNS (Domain Name System) load balancing is a simple method used to distribute incoming network visitors across a couple of servers or resources in a spherical-robin fashion. It does not contain complex algorithms or energetic tracking of server fitness and cargo. Instead, it works on a straightforward rotational foundation.

Here’s how Round Robin DNS load balancing works:

• Server Setup: You have a fixed of more than one servers or sources that offer the identical carrier, such as web servers website hosting the same internet site or software servers presenting the same utility.
• DNS Configuration: In your DNS configuration, you create more than one DNS information (generally A or AAAA data) for the same area name, each with a special IP deal with. Each IP cope with corresponds to one of the servers in your server pool. These IP addresses are indexed inside the DNS records in a particular order.
• Client Request: When a customer wants to access the carrier furnished with the aid of your servers, it initiates a DNS query for the domain call related to that carrier. For example, if you have a internet site, the patron may request the DNS resolution of www.Instance.Com.
• DNS Resolver Resolution: The purchaser’s DNS resolver (usually furnished by means of their Internet Service Provider) gets the query and appears up the DNS document for the requested area. If it doesn’t have already got the DNS file cached or if the TTL (Time to Live) for the cached record has expired, it queries the authoritative DNS servers for the domain.
• DNS Response: The authoritative DNS servers go back the list of IP addresses related to the area. Importantly, they go back these IP addresses in the order they’re listed inside the DNS information.
• Client Connection: The patron gets the list of IP addresses and selects the first one within the listing to set up a connection. Subsequent clients will select the next IP cope with within the list, following the order distinctive inside the DNS statistics.
• Rotation: As more customers make requests and new DNS resolutions occur, the customers will retain to pick IP addresses inside the order they’re listed in the DNS data. Once the quit of the list is reached, the rotation starts offevolved once more from the start.
• Load Distribution: Over time, purchaser requests are distributed evenly most of the servers in the pool because every consumer selects the next to be had IP address in the list. This simple mechanism provides a form of load distribution many of the servers.

Round Robin

Advantages of Round Robin DNS Load Balancing

• Simplicity: Round Robin DNS is straightforward to set up and configure. It would not require specialized load balancing hardware or software. Administrators can manipulate it immediately thru DNS facts.
• Low Cost: Since it doesn’t involve additional infrastructure or software licenses, it can be a fee-powerful manner to distribute visitors amongst servers or resources.
• Decentralized: Each consumer DNS resolver makes its own choice based on the DNS facts, so there may be no centralized load balancer tool or controller. This decentralization may be high-quality in some eventualities.
• Uniform Traffic Distribution: Round Robin DNS distributes visitors uniformly throughout the available servers. This can be useful while you want to ensure that each server gets an equal proportion of incoming requests, assuming that each one servers have similar abilties and capacities.
• Failover: In the occasion of a server failure, Round Robin DNS can offer a primary form of failover. When one server becomes unavailable, clients will mechanically path visitors to the final servers indexed inside the DNS statistics.

Disadvantages of Round Robin DNS Load Balancing

• Lack of intelligence: Round Robin DNS does not keep in mind server health, capacity, or overall performance. It distributes site visitors calmly irrespective of server load or fame, that can lead to suboptimal aid utilization.
• Lack of focus: It would not remember factors like geographic proximity, latency, or specific client wishes, that are important for optimizing overall performance and user experience.
• Limited failover abilities: While it gives basic failover, it doesn’t provide active monitoring or state-of-the-art failover techniques, that are vital for high availability.
• Inefficient for stateful offerings: For applications that require consultation patience or stateful connections, Round Robin DNS isn’t always a suitable desire.
• Inadequate for worldwide or multi-location deployments: It doesn’t offer the advanced routing and visitors guidance abilities wanted for global server load balancing.

Global Server Load Balancing

Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) is a complicated load balancing approach used to optimize the distribution of network traffic throughout a couple of servers or information centers positioned in distinct geographic regions. It is specifically valuable for enhancing the supply, overall performance, and reliability of globally allotted programs and offerings.

Here’s an overview of the way GSLB works:

• Multiple Data Centers or Locations: In a GSLB setup, you’ve got a couple of records facilities, server clusters, or provider instances disbursed throughout various regions or places. These information facilities will be in specific cities, international locations, or continents.
• DNS-Based Load Balancing: GSLB operates on the DNS layer, leveraging the DNS infrastructure to direct consumer site visitors to the most appropriate records center or server instance primarily based on quite a few standards. It uses DNS responses to make clever choices.
• Health Monitoring: GSLB constantly video display units the fitness and availability of the various records centers and servers. Health assessments can consist of verifying server responsiveness, checking for specific utility reputation, or different custom designed assessments. Unhealthy or unreachable sources are temporarily eliminated from the pool.
• Geographic Proximity: GSLB can don’t forget the geographic area of the client making the DNS request. This lets in it to direct customers to the nearest or maximum responsive statistics middle, minimizing latency and optimizing performance.
• Load Awareness: GSLB can consider the contemporary load or ability of every records middle or server. It routes site visitors to sources which have the to be had ability to handle incoming requests, making sure optimal aid utilization.
• Failover and Redundancy: In the event of a statistics middle or server failure, GSLB can mechanically redirect visitors to healthy assets, supplying failover skills and ensuring high availability.
• Traffic Steering: GSLB can also put in force numerous visitors steering rules based to your particular requirements. For example, you can configure it to distribute a percentage of site visitors to at least one facts middle and the remaining traffic to another.
• Content Delivery: GSLB can be used at the side of content material transport networks (CDNs) to similarly beautify content transport and ensure that customers are served from the closest CDN node.
• Customized Policies: Administrators can configure GSLB with guidelines tailor-made to their utility’s wishes. These rules may additionally encompass overall performance optimization, failover techniques, or routing based totally on particular enterprise regulations.

GSLB

Advantages of Global Server Load Balancing

• Geographic Redundancy: GSLB lets in agencies to distribute their resources across more than one information centers or locations, often in distinctive regions or continents. This geographic redundancy enhances fault tolerance and guarantees that offerings remain to be had even within the event of statistics center screw ups or regional disruptions.
• High Availability: GSLB actively video display units the health and availability of servers and information centers. It can mechanically reroute site visitors far from failing or underperforming assets to healthy ones, thereby minimizing provider downtime and enhancing availability.
• Optimized Performance: GSLB considers factors together with geographic proximity and community latency while routing visitors. It directs clients to the closest records middle or server, decreasing latency and enhancing reaction times. This optimization complements the user experience, particularly for latency-sensitive applications.
• Load Balancing: GSLB intelligently distributes visitors primarily based on server ability and cargo. It ensures that incoming requests are directed to assets with to be had potential, stopping overloading of person servers and optimizing resource utilization.
• Failover: In addition to load balancing, GSLB affords sophisticated failover abilties. If a data middle or server turns into unavailable, GSLB can seamlessly redirect site visitors to alternative assets, minimizing service disruption.

Disadvantages of GSLB

• Complexity: GSLB configurations can be complex to set up and manipulate, mainly in large-scale deployments with numerous facts facilities or places. The complexity increases as you contain extra superior GSLB features and regulations.
• Cost: Implementing GSLB regularly requires specialised hardware, software, or services. These answers may be expensive to collect and preserve. Additionally, GSLB might also contain ongoing operational fees, together with monitoring and preservation.
• Expertise: GSLB calls for a certain level of understanding in DNS management, networking, and load balancing technology. Organizations may additionally want to spend money on training or lease specialists to effectively implement and control GSLB answers.
• Resource Overhead: Running GSLB services, fitness tests, and proximity calculations can introduce additional useful resource overhead on the DNS servers and GSLB appliances. This can also effect their performance and scalability.
• DNS Caching Issues: Some DNS resolvers and caching mechanisms may not handle DNS TTLs (Time to Live) efficiently or may cache DNS data for longer than predicted. This can result in suboptimal site visitors routing or slower failover in GSLB setups.

Round Robin v/s GSLB

Round Robin DNS is appropriate for fundamental scenarios in which you have some servers with comparable skills and just need simple load distribution. It’s fee-effective and smooth to installation. Example: Small-scale web packages with a few servers.

GSLB is ideal for complex and critical deployments, specially if you have multiple facts facilities or a worldwide presence. It gives advanced routing, failover, and optimization functions, but it comes with higher complexity and prices. Example: Large e-commerce systems, worldwide services, or multi-region packages where overall performance and excessive availability are critical.

Ultimately, the choice between Round Robin DNS and GSLB relies upon on the precise desires of your utility, your budget, and your know-how. In many cases, organizations may additionally pick out to use GSLB for project-important services and Round Robin DNS for much less vital or smaller-scale deployments. It’s additionally well worth considering hybrid strategies that combine the strengths of both techniques whilst suitable.

Example 1: Imagine you’ve got a small web utility hosted on two same web servers, and you need to distribute incoming HTTP requests between them using Round Robin DNS.

Configuration:

Server Setup: You have two net servers with the following IP addresses:

Server 1: 192.168.1.10

Server 2: 192.168.1.11

DNS Configuration: In your DNS configuration, you create a DNS A file on your website, let’s assume www.Example.Com, and companion each server IP addresses with it:

www.Example.Com A 192.168.1.10

www.Example.Com A 192.168.11

Load Balancing in Action:

Now, when clients attempt to get entry to your internet site with the aid of entering www.Instance.Com in their web browsers, Round Robin DNS load balancing will distribute their requests alternately to the two net servers.

Example 2: A purchaser in Europe wants to get right of entry to the e-trade website by typing www.Example.Com into their web browser.

DNS Query: The patron’s DNS resolver initiates a DNS question for www.Instance.Com.

Geolocation Detection: The GSLB device receives the DNS query and detects the purchaser’s approximate location (Europe) based at the purchaser’s IP address.

Server Selection: The GSLB machine uses the detected place, server fitness fame, and cargo data to decide the excellent information center to serve the patron’s request. In this situation, it selects the London data middle because it is the nearest, healthful, and has to be had potential.

DNS Response: The GSLB machine responds to the DNS question with the IP cope with of the London information middle. The customer’s DNS resolver caches this response.

Client Connection: The consumer’s internet browser establishes a connection to the London facts center’s IP address, and the consumer interacts with the e-trade internet site.

Real-time Monitoring: The GSLB system maintains to reveal server fitness and load, updating its routing decisions as needed to make sure choicest overall performance.

Frequently asked Questions

Q.1: Does DNS need load balancer?

Answer:

Yes, load balancer is needed to handle traffic in websites and most internet applications and help them function smoothly.

Q.2: How to use DNS as load balancer?

Answer:

To use DNS as a load balancer, Configuring your DNS records should be kept in mind so that different end users are routed to different servers.

Q.3: What is round robin DNS load balancing?

Answer:

Round-Robin DNS is a load balancing technique that helps you manage traffic and prevent your servers from being overloaded. More than one IP address is assigned to a domain; Each time a domain name is verified, alternative IP addresses are selected on a rotating basis.