A method, apparatus, and computer instructions for managing a domain name system (DNS) translation request transmitted to a group of DNS servers. When a DNS request is received at the first DNS server in the group, the length of the input queue at the first DNS server is determined. If the length of the input queue exceeds a predetermined value, then the DNS request is sent to a second input queue at a second DNS server before the DNS request is added to the first input queue. Consequently, the mechanism of the present invention provides for sending DNS requests to whichever DNS server in the group has the shortest queue length and balancing DNS requests across a group of DNS servers