What is our primary use case?
We've purchased most of our domains through AWS and manage our certificates there as well.
Route 53 handles most of our domain-related configurations and DNS records. We don't rely on any other external DNS providers like GoDaddy.
What is most valuable?
Since we're already in the AWS cloud, it makes sense to use their DNS provider rather than a third-party solution.
The documentation is clear and should be easy to understand. For basic concepts, Route 53 has good guides and white papers for layman's concepts. So it is easy to get started with.
You can manage it manually or use third-party tools like Terraform or CloudFormation templates.
What needs improvement?
Since we're already in the AWS cloud, it makes sense to use their DNS provider rather than a third-party solution. Route 53 is not available for Kubernetes like Google Cloud DNS, but we can import records.
Hopefully, Amazon will add that functionality in the future. The convenience of having our domain management integrated within AWS is the main advantage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Route 53 for the past five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven't faced any outages or issues directly related to Route 53. It has been 100% stable for me.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Most of our clients use Route 53. More than ten clients actively work with it.
How are customer service and support?
We have contacted support, though it might not have been specifically for Route 53.
We have a premium AWS account, and their support is awesome. Compared to other cloud providers, I'd rate AWS support as good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use several services like EC2, VPC, AWS Lambda, AWS API Gateway, Route 53, CloudFront, and others.
Since we're already in the AWS cloud, it makes sense to use their DNS service rather than a third party. It simplifies management and billing to keep everything within AWS.
For example, for certificate renewal, we can set up alerts. If someone forgets to renew the certificate, automation helps remove the chance of outage.
How was the initial setup?
For initial setup, we generally use provisioning tools for these kinds of DNS records. The choice often depends on the cloud provider and the Infrastructure as Code (IAC) tools the client prefers. We adapt our approach accordingly rather than focusing on a single method within Route 53.
The documentation is very user-friendly. Even someone with no prior experience can easily understand it. It provides step-by-step instructions and explains things in a clear and concise way. You can find everything you need to know about Route 53 and its features in the documentation, including white papers.
In addition to manual configuration, you can also use third-party tools like Terraform, Pulumi, or AWS CloudFormation templates to manage your Route 53 configurations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It can be expensive compared to some other providers. You can estimate the costs using the AWS pricing calculator.
What other advice do I have?
From my experience, Route 53 meets most of our needs. I'm satisfied with its performance.
If you need to start using it in AWS, first, you have to purchase a domain. Then, if you want to set up SSL/TLS, you can purchase a certificate from AWS Certificate Manager and integrate it with your service, whether it's on Elastic Beanstalk, EC2, EKS, or anything else.
Route 53 documentation is available, or the AWS support team can help you set things up.
Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: