How to Fix AWS Route 53 DNS Not Resolving

In this tutorial, you'll learn about How to Fix AWS Route 53 DNS Not Resolving. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices to help you understand and apply this topic effectively.

Your domain does not resolve — NXDOMAIN or SERVFAIL — Route 53 is not serving DNS responses for your domain.

Step-by-Step Fix

1. Verify the hosted zone exists

aws route53 list-hosted-zones --query 'HostedZones[?Name==`example.com.`]'

Expected output:

[
    {
        "Id": "/hostedzone/Z1234567890ABC",
        "Name": "example.com.",
        "ResourceRecordSetCount": 5
    }
]

2. Check NS record delegation

aws route53 get-hosted-zone --id /hostedzone/Z1234567890ABC --query 'DelegationSet.NameServers'

Expected output:

[
    "ns-1.awsdns-1.org",
    "ns-2.awsdns-2.co.uk",
    "ns-3.awsdns-3.com",
    "ns-4.awsdns-4.net]
]

3. Verify domain registrar NS records

dig NS example.com @whois.dns

Ensure the nameservers match the Route 53 delegation set.

4. Check the record exists

aws route53 list-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id /hostedzone/Z1234567890ABC --query "ResourceRecordSets[?Name==`example.com.`]"

5. Test DNS resolution

dig example.com @ns-1.awsdns-1.org

Expected output:

example.com.    300    IN    A    192.0.2.1

6. Update TTL if needed

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id /hostedzone/Z1234567890ABC --change-batch file://record.json

Common Mistakes

Prevention

• Use Route 53 as both registrar and DNS service.
• Set TTL to 300 seconds for production records.
• Enable DNSSEC signing for security.
• Monitor with Route 53 health checks.

Common Mistakes with route53 dns

1. Using head and tail instead of pattern matching, causing runtime errors on empty lists
2. Forgetting that lazy evaluation defers computation until the value is forced, causing space leaks with unevaluated thunks
3. Using return to exit a function early instead of wrapping a pure value in the monad

These mistakes appear frequently in real-world AWS code. DodaTech's contributors have identified these patterns through analysis of open-source projects and production systems.

Practice Exercise

Write a pure function that safely divides two integers using Maybe, then test it with edge cases like division by zero and negative numbers.

This exercise reinforces the concepts covered in this guide. Try implementing it before checking online solutions.

FAQ