Best Managed DNS Solutions

What is Managed DNS? 

What are the Common Features of Managed DNS Providers? 

Types of Managed DNS Providers 

What are the Benefits of Managed DNS Providers?

The majority of the service providers have a global-level DNS infrastructure. They also have the required expertise to remediate DNS attacks. There are various advantages of availing the services of the best managed DNS services as listed below:

• Expertise and efficiency: Professional DNS management teams can handle the complexities of DNS administration, freeing up your IT resources to focus on other critical tasks. They have the expertise to design, operate, and secure your DNS infrastructure, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.
• Scalability and performance: Managed DNS providers leverage global DNS networks with multiple points of presence (PoPs) to ensure high availability and performance. This means your website can handle increased traffic and remain accessible even during peak load times or in the event of a server failure.
• Enhanced security: Managed DNS providers implement advanced security measures to protect against DNS attacks and DDoS threats. Their security teams continuously monitor and update their systems to stay ahead of emerging threats.
• Customization: Managed DNS providers can tailor their services to meet your specific needs. Whether you require failover protection, load balancing, or geolocation-based routing, they can configure their services to optimize your website's performance and accessibility.
• Cost-effectiveness: While managed DNS services may involve a recurring fee, they can often be more cost-effective than maintaining an in-house DNS infrastructure. By outsourcing DNS management, you can avoid the costs associated with hardware, software, and personnel.

Who Uses Managed DNS Services?

Growing online traffic and increasing demand for speed while loading web pages are key driving factors behind the adoption of managed DNS solutions offerings. The following personas commonly use these best managed DNS services:

• IT administrators: DNS management comprises network management and system administration capabilities. Hence, IT administrators are responsible for overseeing that the solution is properly deployed and well managed in the organization.
• Data privacy and security professionals: Data privacy and security professionals who are responsible for their company’s use of DNS systems may opt for managed DNS providers to ensure all servers are secured.
• E-commerce businesses: To ensure their online stores are always accessible and perform optimally for customers.
• Content delivery networks (CDNs): To distribute content efficiently across a global network of servers.

Software Related to Managed DNS Providers

Related Managed DNS solutions that can be used together with the best managed DNS services providers include:

• DDoS protection software: Distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection software assists in securing websites and applications against DDoS attacks. It is designed to prevent malicious traffic from reaching the organization’s network. The tool aids in preventing DDoS attacks by monitoring website traffic and setting standards for normal traffic loads. 
• Cloud DDoS mitigation software: There are similarities and instances of overlap between DDoS protection software and cloud DDoS mitigation software. While the former has conventionally been used to protect local servers and networks from attacks, cloud DDoS mitigation solutions help secure multiple disparate networks, best managed dns providers, and applications.

Challenges with Managed DNS Solutions

While the best managed DNS services offer multiple advantages, they come with their own set of challenges: 

• Complexity: DNS management is a complex job as it combines two essential yet disparate domains—network management and system administration. Managing a diverse system like DNS necessitates the intervention of more admins. The admins should possess the same level of knowledge and skills in more locations and come with the experience of working with different operating systems and name servers involved. Management of DNS becomes complicated even for the most experienced DNS administrator when the organization’s DNS infrastructure extends over multiple geographic locations, operating systems, and DNS deployments.
• DNS attacks: Lately, DNS security has become a major concern due to growing DNS-based DDoS attacks. DNS services are now exposed to security threats and require a tactical approach. The advanced breed of spyware is compelling organizations to reevaluate their DNS strategies. Implementing a multi-DNS system may temporarily remediate the issue, but it involves massive expenditure while adding an extra layer of IT complexity.

How to Choose a Managed DNS Provider? 

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Managed DNS Providers

Whether a company is looking for its first managed DNS provider or switching to a new one—wherever a business is in its buying process, g2.com can help select the best managed DNS provider. 

An organization must first decide on whether they want to outsource the DNS management to a third-party provider or settle for a hybrid approach by complementing their existing DNS infrastructure with the third-party. Depending on the scope of the deployment, it might be helpful to produce an RFI, a one-page list with a few bullet points describing what is needed from the provider to have a successful deployment.

Compare Managed DNS Providers Products

Create a long list

Evaluation of service providers is an important step in the buying process, right from meeting the business requirements to implementation. Long lists are created by removing options that do not serve the organization’s strategy. It is essential to prepare a consistent list of questions to ask potential vendors keeping in mind the following considerations:

Provision of a global network: Contemporary DNS providers should offer capabilities and intelligent DNS solutions that provide greater speed and control with high connectivity. It is imperative to select a vendor that employs several upstream carriers to eliminate the possibilities of downtime because of outages and deal with threats to the network. 

Balancing traffic load: It is crucial to check with the potential managed DNS providers on the variety of load balancing solutions they can provide—from simple load balancing to advanced configuration settings for automation of operations.

Application-based traffic control: Enquiring the kinds of traffic routing algorithms and filters offered by the managed DNS provider helps the company deploy tools for customizing the configuration of the DNS system and managing their web traffic efficiently.

Create a short list

From the long list of vendors, buyers should read user reviews, view ratings on the G2 Grid® for the managed DNS providers category, surf through useability ratings, and narrow down the list of vendors in the G2 “My List” down to a handful. With this list, companies can compare the features offered by different vendors and their pricing structures.

Conduct demos

While extensive documentation and tutorials are available on managed DNS providers’ websites, it is beneficial to request the provider for a live demo to have a better understanding of their offering.

Selection of Managed DNS Providers

Choose a selection team

The team responsible for selecting the managed DNS provider should comprise employees with the right interest, skills, and time to participate in this process. A good starting point is to aim for three to five people who fill the required roles. This can include the primary decision maker, process owner, system owner or staffing subject matter expert, technical lead, and the network and security administrator. The selection team should compare notes, facts, and figures they recorded during the process, such as the availability of advanced capabilities, usability, and security features.

Negotiation

It is vital to have a discussion around pricing and licensing. For example, the provider may be willing to reduce prices for multi-year contracts. They may also be willing to provide a range of services that can be included in the package with a minimal monthly or yearly fee.

Final decision

Investing time and effort to evaluate DNS solutions and find the right fit is important regardless of whether the solution is deployed to enhance security or optimize network performance. Prior to finalizing the provider, it is recommended to roll out a test run or pilot program to test adoption with a small sample size of users. If the service provider is well received, the buyer can be confident about their selection. If not, it may be time to reevaluate offerings from other providers.

Researched and written by Anindita Sengupta