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Almost all modern web browsers will try multiple A records on a connection failure. You do though need to make sure the connection to the first fails quickly an
by adamt 17y ago
Almost all modern web browsers will try multiple A records on a connection failure. You do though need to make sure the connection to the first fails quickly and doesn't time out for some reason.
- justinsb 17y agoAh thanks.. it feels like that's almost the wrong way round though; that if it doesn't get a rapid TCP connection establishment then it should try another address. I guess an issue is that the client sends the first data in the HTTP protocol, so you don't get a full health indication until after you've issued your request, at which point you have to worry about idempotency etc.
- dphiffer 17y agoSeems like this could be addressed by a browser UI enhancement. That is, let the user decide when to cut off a slow connection and try another IP. After n seconds show a "try elsewhere" bar.
- Timothee 17y agoThat sounds like a bad solution for such a problem. Imagine your typical internet user going to yahoo.com and being asked "Try elsewhere?". They'd have no idea what that means. They don't know what IP addresses, servers or anything like that is.
- mustpax 17y agoMaybe the refresh button should just try another A record. Most of the time when a page is not responsive I'll give it a couple refreshes before I conclude it's dead. (Or maybe some browsers do this already.)