Shuffle filters

Shuffle traffic steering filters rearrange the list of answers randomly — in some cases, prioritizing answers with a user-defined “weight” applied. These filters are helpful for general load-balancing purposes in cases where you want to distribute requests evenly across all your endpoints or gracefully skew traffic distribution toward specific endpoints. A subgroup of Shuffle filters includes the Sticky filters, which help to ensure repeated requests from the same source IP address are handled consistently.

Note: The IBM® NS1 Connect® platform receives incoming requests from DNS resolvers on behalf of the application user or requesting client. As such, "sticky" traffic steering filters will reference the resolver's IP address or subnet, as opposed to that of the individual requestor. However, if the resolver supports the EDNS client subnet (ECS) extension, it can pass the requester's IP prefix to the NS1 Connect platform for more accurate traffic steering decisions.
Table 1. Shuffle filters
Filter Description Related metadata
Shuffle filter This filter randomizes the order of answers in the list to distribute traffic evenly across your application endpoints and services. Optionally, you can precede this filter with a "sifting" (eliminating) filter to shuffle only a subset of answers. For example, you can use the Shuffle filter to distribute traffic evenly among multiple endpoints in the same geographic region. none
Weighted Shuffle filter This filter randomizes the order of answers in the list while prioritizing specific answers more often — as in, placing them at the top of the list. Answers with a higher weight metadata value are placed at the top of the answer list with a probability proportional to the relative weight. Weight
Sticky Shuffle filter This filter randomizes the order of answers in the list while retaining the answer order for subsequent requests from the same source IP address. Optionally, you can enable the Apply stickiness by subnet (not individual IP) option to retain the order of answers returned in response to clients from the same IPv4 or IPv6 subnet. This option helps to ensure requesting clients balanced between multiple resolvers receive a consistent answer. none
Weighted Sticky Shuffle filter Combining the "weighted" and "sticky" shuffling functionality, this filter randomizes the order of answers in the list while prioritizing specific answers more often and retaining the answer order for subsequent requests from the same source IP address. Optionally, you can enable the option to Apply stickiness by subnet (not individual IP) to retain the order of answers returned in response to clients from the same IPv4 or IPv6 subnet.
Note: Changes made to the answers in the DNS record, including their assigned weight value, will force a re-shuffle for all future requests.
 Weight
Group Sticky Shuffle filter

This filter randomizes the list of answer groups while repeating the same answer group order for subsequent requests from the same source IP address. Optionally, you can enable the option to Apply stickiness by subnet (not individual IP) to retain the order of answers returned in response to clients from the same IPv4 or IPv6 subnet.

Note: Do not use this filter for geo-targeting or global service load-balancing configurations.
 none