The Battle of Steering: IP vs DNS

DNS Routing (GeoDNS)

You have 3 IPs: 1.1.1.1 (US), 2.2.2.2 (EU), 3.3.3.3 (Asia).

The DNS server decides which IP to give the user.

• Pros: Simple setup. Can use different providers per region.
• Cons: DNS Caching. If EU fails, users are stuck with the dead IP until TTL expires.

Cloud Routing (Anycast)

You have 1 IP: 5.5.5.5 (Announcement is global).

The Network decides where to route the packet.

• Pros: Instant failover. Simplifies client configuration (only one firewall rule needed).
• Cons: Harder to troubleshoot. Requires BGP knowledge or a provider like Cloudflare/AWS Global Accelerator.