Your web application is deployed in two AWS Regions (Region A and Region B). You want Route 53 to automatically fail over DNS traffic from Region A to Region B when Region A is unhealthy.
The failover decision must be based on health checks that verify whether the application in Region A is reachable.
Which Route 53 routing configuration best meets these requirements?
Answer choices
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Latency-based routing with regional aliases to split traffic based on measured latency.
Latency-based routing selects answers based on request latency, not on health check status. If Region A becomes unhealthy, Route 53 does not automatically switch all traffic to Region B based solely on latency.
Geolocation routing using country-based routing policies.
Geolocation routing chooses records based on the geography of the client. It does not use health checks to determine which region to return during an outage.
Failover routing using a primary record with an associated health check for Region A and a secondary record for Region B.
Route 53 failover routing is designed for active/standby patterns. You configure the Region A record as primary with a health check. When that health check fails, Route 53 automatically returns the Region B (secondary) record, enabling health-check-driven regional failover.
Weighted routing with weights set to 100 for Region A and 0 for Region B.
Weighted routing splits traffic based on configured weights, but it does not automatically change weights in response to health checks. You would still need external automation to detect failure and update weights.
Common exam trap
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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FAQ
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
The correct answer is: Failover routing using a primary record with an associated health check for Region A and a secondary record for Region B. — Route 53 failover routing ties DNS responses directly to health check results. Configure the Region A record as the primary with a health check that validates reachability in Region A, and configure the Region B record as the secondary. When Region A fails the health check, Route 53 automatically returns the Region B record for failover. Why others are wrong: Latency and geolocation routing depend on request attributes (performance or client location), not the health state of the endpoints. Weighted routing distributes traffic by static weight unless you update it, so it does not inherently perform automatic failover based on health checks.
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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