Using multiple A-records for my domain - do web browsers ever try more than one?

Posted by Jonas on Pro Webmasters See other posts from Pro Webmasters or by Jonas
Published on 2011-03-19T21:58:02Z Indexed on 2011/03/20 0:17 UTC
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If I add multiple A-records for my domain, they are returned in a round robin order by DNS-servers.

E.g:

1.1.1.1 A example.com
1.1.1.2 A example.com
1.1.1.3 A example.com

But how does webbrowsers react if the first host (1.1.1.1) is down (unreachable)? do they try the second host (1.1.1.2) or do they return a error message to the user? Are there any difference between the most popular browsers?

If I implement my own application, I can implement so that the second is used in case the first is down, so it's possible. And this would be very helpful to create a fault tolerant website.

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