AWS Default DNS Server (EC2)

If you are troubleshooting name resolution on an EC2 instance or setting up a new VPC, knowing where the default DNS server lives saves you a lot of guesswork. AWS provides two DNS addresses for every VPC: a link-local address (169.254.169.253) and a CIDR-based resolver IP that is derived from your VPC’s primary IPv4 range.

The AWS default DNS server for a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is 169.254.169.253 for IPv4. This special address is automatically provided via DHCP to resources within the VPC and is used by the Amazon Route 53 Resolver for name resolution. It is a portable address that works consistently across all VPCs in any region, allowing your EC2 instances to resolve private domain names registered in Route 53.

If you have an Amazon VPC with a primary IPv4 CIDR block of 10.0.0.0/16, then the default DNS server for instances in that VPC is located at 10.0.0.2. This IP address is a reserved address within your VPC’s network range, specifically the base of the VPC network plus two. This default DNS server is part of the AWS Route 53 Resolver service, which handles DNS queries for local EC2 instances and private hosted zones.

How It Works

• When you create a VPC, Route 53 Resolver is automatically enabled to provide DNS resolution.
• The IP address for this resolver is determined by your VPC’s primary IPv4 CIDR block.
• For a 10.0.0.0/16 network, the DNS server is located at 10.0.0.2.
• It handles queries for local domain names within the VPC and also performs recursive lookups for other domain names against public name servers.

• Cloud-Platform
• Networking

• Aws
• Dns