Anycast Routing
Anycast routing is a network addressing and routing methodology where multiple servers share the same IP address, and traffic is automatically directed to the nearest or best-performing server based on routing metrics. It is commonly used in content delivery networks (CDNs) and DNS services to improve performance, reliability, and load distribution by reducing latency and providing redundancy. This approach enhances user experience by ensuring requests are handled by the most geographically or topologically optimal endpoint.
Developers should learn and use anycast routing when building or managing distributed systems that require high availability, low latency, and scalability, such as global web applications, DNS infrastructure, or DDoS mitigation services. It is particularly valuable for CDNs to deliver content efficiently worldwide and for critical services like DNS to ensure fast and resilient name resolution. Implementing anycast can reduce operational costs by simplifying load balancing and improving fault tolerance without complex configurations.