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What is the purpose of AWS Global Accelerator, and how does it work?

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AWS Global Accelerator is a service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that aims to improve the availability and performance of applications by using static IP addresses (Anyccast) and the global AWS network infrastructure. It is designed to route traffic over the AWS global network to optimize the path from your clients to your applications.

Purpose of AWS Global Accelerator:

  1. Global Anycast IP Addresses:
    • AWS Global Accelerator provides static Anycast IP addresses that are globally distributed across AWS locations.
    • Anycast ensures that client requests are directed to the nearest AWS endpoint with the lowest latency, improving the overall application performance.
  2. High Availability:
    • By distributing traffic across multiple AWS endpoints, Global Accelerator enhances the availability and fault tolerance of applications.
    • It can automatically reroute traffic to healthy endpoints if there is a failure or degradation in performance at any particular endpoint.
  3. Scalability:
    • Global Accelerator allows for easily adding or removing endpoints to scale the application horizontally.
    • This ensures that the application can handle increased traffic and demand.
  4. Intelligent Traffic Distribution:
    • Global Accelerator intelligently routes traffic based on health checks, geography, and routing policies.
    • Traffic is distributed to endpoints based on the routing algorithm configured, such as weighted routing, which allows you to control the percentage of traffic sent to each endpoint.
  5. Accelerated DNS Resolution:
    • Global Accelerator integrates with AWS Route 53 to provide DNS resolution for the Anycast IP addresses.
    • This enables fast and reliable DNS resolution for the application, reducing latency for clients.

How AWS Global Accelerator Works:

  1. Static Anycast IP Addresses:
    • Global Accelerator assigns a pair of static Anycast IP addresses to your application.
    • These IP addresses are announced globally over the AWS network and direct traffic to the optimal AWS endpoint based on proximity and health.
  2. Endpoints:
    • Endpoints are the resources (such as AWS Elastic Load Balancers, EC2 instances, or IP addresses) that you want to route traffic to.
    • Global Accelerator continuously monitors the health of these endpoints through health checks.
  3. Health Checks:
    • Health checks are configured to verify the status of each endpoint.
    • Unhealthy endpoints are automatically detected, and traffic is rerouted to healthy endpoints.
  4. Routing Algorithms:
    • Global Accelerator supports different routing algorithms, such as traffic based on proximity, weighted routing, or combinations of these.
    • These algorithms allow you to control how traffic is distributed among your endpoints.
  5. Accelerated DNS Resolution:
    • AWS Global Accelerator integrates with AWS Route 53 for DNS resolution.
    • Route 53 responds to DNS queries with the Anycast IP addresses, directing clients to the nearest healthy endpoint.
  6. Fault Isolation:
    • In the event of an issue with an AWS region or endpoint, Global Accelerator can automatically redirect traffic to healthy endpoints in other regions, improving fault tolerance.

AWS Global Accelerator optimizes the delivery of your application by leveraging static Anycast IP addresses, distributing traffic intelligently, and providing high availability and fault tolerance through automated health checks and endpoint management.