Infoblox Aims to Make DNS Dynamically Scale

5 DDoS Myths Debunked

Thanks to a recent spate of high-profile distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the robustness of the DNS platforms that every organization relies on to access the internet has become a significant issue.

Against that backdrop, Infoblox today released an upgrade to its Infoblox NIOS software that makes it possible to dynamically scale DNS query requests across local appliances and cloud resources. To help enable that process, Infoblox today also unveiled appliances that are 50 percent faster than its previous generation, while also adding support for the Microsoft Azure cloud alongside existing support for several other cloud platforms.

Finally, Infoblox announced a subscription pricing model that makes it simpler to transfer software licenses across appliances and clouds, improved the load balancing software that Infoblox relies on to distribute DNS requests across multiple appliances, and enhanced its reporting and analytics tools.

Ashish Gupta, chief marketing officer for Infoblox, says while there’s not much an organization can do when it is the subject of a massive DDoS attack, Infoblox makes it possible to more easily identify junk queries. Should the primary DNS service an organization relies on for any reason become unavailable, Infoblox can also redirect queries to a cloud service or a local appliance. The recent DDoS attack on the Dyn DNS service that slowed access to major portions of the internet highlights why it’s important that IT organizations keep their DNS platform options open and flexible, says Gupta.

In general, Gupta says most IT organizations don’t appreciate the focal point a DNS gateway can provide in terms of both improving application performance and securing the overall IT environment. By combining a threat intelligence service that Infoblox gained by acquiring IID earlier this year with its DNS platforms, it becomes possible to proactively take steps to secure applications long before malware finds its way to the network perimeter, says Gupta.

“IT operations and security are finally coming together around a single pane of glass,” says Gupta.

In fact, Gupta contends that DNS platforms are the most logical spot to apply Big Data analytics because of the visibility provided into core internet traffic.

The challenge and opportunity, says Gupta, is not only integrating Infoblox DNS platforms with a wide variety of third-party IT security technologies, but also employing a DNS grid architecture that ensures the highest amount of DNS server availability possible.

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