Addressing Cloud-based DNS – It’s Time to Move

My first exposure to DNS was working at a dial-up internet access company. At the time, one of the most protected elements of the infrastructure was the DNS. Only the most elite of the staff could modify zone files. Today everyone developing web-based applications needs access to safely and securely update DNS. At F5 we’re leading this evolution with the launch of our new F5 Cloud Services portfolio, find out more here. Launching first in the portfolio is a DNS Cloud Service which offers secondary authoritative DNS.

Why would you want to use the cloud for your DNS?

1. It’s just easier to use something that’s already expertly architected and globally deployed. Architecting, building, and maintaining a geographically dispersed, redundant DNS application delivery network is expensive. 
2. Building it yourself increases the chances of getting the dreaded 3:00 a.m. phone call when things go south.
3. Paying appliance maintenance renewals and upgrading hardware every 5–7 years might be a waste of resources you could be investing in innovations that deliver ROI for the enterprise.

Whatever your reason, F5 DNS Cloud Service can help you get started in the cloud with just a few clicks.

F5 DNS Cloud Services offers an expertly architected, globally distributed, anycast fronted DNS architecture with built-in DDoS protection. You can easily leverage it as a secondary by configuring simple RFC complaint zone transfers from your primary. That way, if you come under a DDoS attack, we got your back, and you can sleep easy at knowing DNS Cloud Service will survive the attack even if your primary goes down.

Let’s be honest though, having your primary answering DNS traffic on prem is going to be slower than a globally distributed cloud DNS infrastructure. To ensure faster response times, keep your primary DNS on prem, have it serve as your configuration-only node (hidden primary), and use DNS Cloud Services to respond to all of the DNS queries. The global anycast deployment ensures DNS queries are being answered as close as possible to their origination.  Now you’ve got built-in security and speed, without having to change the way you manage your DNS. It’s completely transparent to your admins and tools, and you get all of the benefits of a cloud solution.

Still looking for more? Coming soon, F5 Cloud Services will expand the DNS service in two major ways:

1. We’ll introduce cloud-based DNS load balancing, using the very same expertly engineered global DNS Cloud Service anycast network and built-in security features. The new services will enable you to direct traffic to different application instances by availability or geographic location. Join our Early Access Program today to get a preview of the new services.
2. In the coming months, we’ll be offering Primary DNS as part of the DNS Cloud Services offer. In addition to our easy-to-use GUI, you’ll have a rich set of REST APIs for creating/updating/deleting zones and records.

Get started today for free with secondary authoritative DNS, now available in the AWS Marketplace. Our DNS Cloud Services demo will help provide guidance on how you can easily and quickly provision and configure secondary DNS in just a few clicks. Looking for more answers, contact our Cloud Services Team.