Viettel Group has evolved from Vietnam’s premier telecommunications operator into a global leader in industrial and technological innovation. The company streamlined its DNS infrastructure to improve security and gain capacity for future growth.
Viettel, a leading global telecommunications company founded in 1989, has a rich history of growth and innovation. With a presence in over eleven countries, the company delivers digital nearly 200 million customers across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Since its inception, Viettel has been committed to expanding its subscriber base and enhancing its service offerings. As Viettel introduced broadband services, its subscriber base continued to grow rapidly. To support this growth, Viettel initially relied on traditional infrastructure, adding more servers to their DNS architecture whenever needed.
As the network grew more complex, however, so did the challenges. Viettel’s dedicated team had to manage this vast infrastructure across multiple data centers, which became an operational burden.
Security concerns also began to surface. The traditional architecture, which was built on open-source software, started to show limitations, particularly in handling growing data traffic and ensuring robust security. Reliance on open-source software for Viettel’s authoritative DNS servers, which was initially cost-effective, eventually became a point of vulnerability. The system’s limited memory capacity, coupled with the inherent constraints of the software, made it difficult to effectively manage the increasing demands. Even with upgrades in CPU and RAM, capacity remained insufficient, leading to potential risks in data security and system performance.
Viettel’s long-standing partnership with F5 played a crucial role in addressing the complex challenges of the growing network infrastructure. Recognizing the limitations of the company’s traditional architecture, F5 proposed consolidating the infrastructure with just 40 F5 rSeries appliances, each equipped with F5 BIG-IP DNS and F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM). This consolidation significantly reduced operational costs by lowering energy consumption and minimizing the need for extensive staffing, all while enhancing security and performance.
Implementation was methodical and tailored to Viettel’s specific needs with two phases:
Phase 1: Caching and security enhancement
The first phase focused on enhanced caching and better security. By deploying a dedicated caching layer, Viettel was able to drastically reduce latency, improving the customer experience across both mobile and fixed services. This layer ensured that commonly accessed DNS queries were resolved more quickly, leading to a tenfold increase in processing speed. Additionally, F5 security provided robust protection against emerging threats, safeguarding Viettel’s infrastructure from potential vulnerabilities.
Phase 2: DNS infrastructure optimization
The second phase involved optimizing Viettel’s DNS system to handle the complexities of a modern telecom network. The F5 solution provided a recursive DNS architecture that efficiently managed data traffic and maintained high availability. This architecture also helped the company comply with governmental requirements by blocking access to specific domains, enhancing security. Consolidating DNS functions into fewer, more powerful servers allowed Viettel to maintain the same level of service reliability with fewer resources, further contributing to cost savings.
By optimizing its architecture, consolidating servers, and boosting system performance, Viettel achieved greater operational efficiency and laid the foundation for long-term, sustained growth.
Viettel optimized its DNS infrastructure using F5 solutions, significantly reducing energy consumption and operational costs. This shift allowed Viettel to handle increasing data traffic more efficiently while maintaining high service levels for its growing subscriber base.
“Partnering with F5 has been transformative for our DNS infrastructure, enabling us to streamline processes, improve operational efficiency, and deliver a seamless experience for our customers. The scalability and reliability of F5's solutions have empowered us to manage network demands with greater agility, ensuring our services remain resilient and responsive in a dynamic environment. ”
Ngô Xuân Trường - Fixed Broadband and Television Manager
By adopting advanced F5 DNS security features, Viettel reinforced its network defenses against cyber threats, enabling them to block ANY query type, allowing only queries originating from their own network. This proactive approach mitigated vulnerabilities from open-source solutions, ensuring robust security measures across the company’s expansive infrastructure.
With scalable F5 solutions, Viettel successfully transitioned from an outdated system to a modern, flexible architecture. This transformation enabled them to expand their network capacity seamlessly, accommodating the rising demands of millions of subscribers without compromising performance.
“We’ve achieved a new level of efficiency and reliability in our infrastructure, enabling us to scale and meet the growing demands across the region. F5 has been instrumental in elevating our infrastructure to support Viettel’s commitment to providing seamless connectivity across Vietnam and beyond. ”
Nguyễn Đức Tài – IP, Fixed Broadband and Television Operation Manager
