DNS in its native form cannot identify a good or best server. Traditional
Service Providers deploy a centralised approach to global traffic
management based on enhancements to DNS, but do have the capability to
augment this with edge-based server selection because they do not
own/operate an edge network. Their resolution of DNS requests is
typically restricted to identifying candidate servers within an edge
domain rather than selecting the "best" server. The invention proposes a
method of handling Internet resource requests whereby a local lookup
server receiving a request searches for a best server able to satisfy the
resource request. The local lookup server finds the best server by
searching a database for a resource record associated with the best
server, and then uses the resource record to retrieve an identifier of a
series of executable instructions that are executed to locate the best
server. The resource requests and responses may hold additional
information relating to operational characteristics which may used to
determine the best server. The invention proposes a DNS record type
comprising a user-defined field for conveying this additional information
in the resource request and in the response. The invention also proposes
architecture for handling the resource request comprising a network
server that provides the requested resource using the best server, as
well as a communications network comprising this architecture.