Amazon CloudFront announces support for HTTPS DNS records

Today, Amazon CloudFront announces support for HTTPS resource records in Amazon Route 53.HTTPS resource records allow domain name systems (DNS) such as Amazon Route 53 to provide additional information such as supported HTTP protocol versions and port numbers before the HTTP connection is attempted. This helps clients establish the initial connection using their preferred HTTP protocol to improve application performance and security.

By using the HTTPS DNS records during DNS lookup, clients can discover the CloudFront capabilities that boost application performance and security. For example, clients can identify if HTTP/3 is enabled on the CloudFront distribution, without the need for additional round-trips (RTT) to negotiate HTTP protocols after the DNS lookup. This can reduce application load times, especially in regions with limited network infrastructure. By providing secure connection information upfront, HTTPS DNS records streamline the process of establishing secure connections to CloudFront distributions. Additionally, customers using Route 53 can benefit from free HTTPS record queries when using CloudFront alias records, reducing DNS costs.

HTTPS DNS records are supported from all edge locations. This excludes Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) region, operated by Sinnet, and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) region, operated by NWCD. To learn more about implementing this feature and its benefits, read our detailed blog post.