How to Set Up DNS Load Balancing on VergeCloud for Efficient Website Traffic Management

DNS Load Balancing

Overview

The VergeCloud DNS Load Balancer provides an intelligent and scalable way to distribute incoming traffic across multiple origin servers linked to your domain or subdomains. By choosing the appropriate load balancing method, such as Round Robin, Weighted, or Geo Based routing, you ensure high availability, optimized performance, and better resilience for your applications.

DNS level load balancing serves as the first layer of redundancy. Instead of routing all users to a single origin, the DNS system returns multiple healthy servers, minimizing downtime and reducing bottlenecks. This approach is especially effective for large-scale platforms, globally distributed applications, and workloads where uptime and low latency are essential.

What is a DNS Load Balancer?

A DNS Load Balancer distributes DNS responses for a domain or subdomain among multiple IP addresses pointing to your origin servers. When a user queries your domain, the DNS server returns one or more IPs based on the selected routing method. This ensures that traffic flows across available servers in the most efficient manner.

Benefits of DNS Load Balancing

Improved Availability
If an origin server becomes unavailable, traffic seamlessly shifts to other healthy servers without impacting the user experience.

Better Performance
Users can be directed to geographically closer or less loaded servers, reducing latency and improving loading times.

Scalability
Traffic is shared among multiple origins, preventing overload on any single server during traffic spikes.

Low Maintenance
DNS-based load balancing requires minimal operational overhead and integrates smoothly with your existing infrastructure.

Steps to Enable DNS Load Balancer

Follow these steps to configure load balancing for your domain in the VergeCloud user panel:
  1. Navigate to the VergeCloud dashboard and select the domain where you want to enable load balancing.
  2. Open the DNS Records section and create a new A Record or AAAA Record depending on your server type.
  3. In the Name field, specify the hostname or subdomain for load balancing.
    Use @ for the root domain or enter a specific subdomain if required.
  4. In the Value field, add the IP addresses of your origin servers.
    To enable load balancing, click Add New Value and enter each IP that should receive traffic.
  5. Select the Response Type, which determines whether DNS responds with a single IP or multiple IP addresses. Returning multiple IPs increases redundancy.
    Choose the Load Balancing Method:
    Round Robin: Cycles through servers in sequence, distributing traffic evenly.
    Weighted Distribution: Sends traffic proportional to the weight assigned to each server. Weight ratios matter more than absolute values. For example, weights 1 and 2 work the same as 10 and 20.
  6. To optimize global performance, enable Geographic Load Balancing. Assign each IP to the appropriate country or region so users are routed to the nearest server.
  7. Click Save to apply the configuration.

Understanding Key Fields in Load Balancer Configuration

Name Field
Indicates the hostname or subdomain where load balancing applies. Use @ for the root domain or specify any subdomain name.

Value Field
Contains the IP addresses of your origin servers. Adding multiple IPs allows traffic to be distributed across multiple endpoints.

Response Type
Controls how many IPs the DNS server returns when queried. Selecting multiple responses increases redundancy and enhances failover capability.

Load Balancing Method
Determines how incoming traffic is distributed:

  1. Round Robin gives all servers equal opportunity to handle requests.
  2. Weighted Distribution lets you prioritize more powerful servers by assigning higher weights.

Weight Configuration
Defines how much traffic each server should receive. Only the ratio between weights matters, making it flexible for different setups.

Geographic Load Balancing
Routes users to servers closest to their physical location. This reduces latency, improves response time, and enhances overall user experience.

Testing DNS Load Balancer Configuration

After configuring your DNS Load Balancer, it is essential to test the setup and confirm that DNS queries return the expected results.

Use the dig command:
dig A example.com

Sample Output 
; <<>> DiG 9.16.1-Ubuntu <<>> A example.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 12345
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;example.com.                   IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.            120     IN      A       192.168.1.1
example.com.            120     IN      A       192.168.1.2
example.com.            120     IN      A       192.168.1.3

;; Query time: 27 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Thu Sep 26 15:10:12 UTC 2024
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 100
The multiple IP addresses shown in the ANSWER SECTION indicate that load balancing has been applied correctly.

Considerations for DNS Load Balancer

Weighted distribution for uneven capacity
If your servers have different resource capabilities, assign higher weights to more powerful origins. This ensures load is distributed in a balanced and efficient manner.

Use geographic load balancing for global audiences
Geo routing ensures users connect to the nearest server, providing faster content delivery and reducing latency.

DNS propagation time
DNS changes, including load balancer updates, may take up to 48 hours to fully propagate across the internet. This depends on TTL values and ISP caching behavior.

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