Do you remember the time when the internet territory was quite small and simple? Back then, it was so much easier for people to connect specific IP addresses to specific computers. Once more devices and people joined the internet network, this process became much more difficult.
Consider that the domain name and IP addresses were assigned manually by only one person, Elizabeth Feinler. This untenable and crowded internet caused the development of a system by Paul Mockaperties, called the DNS.
This article will explain thoroughly what is managed DNS and a self-hosting DNS. If you want to know why we need a managed DNS, you have come to the right place.
What is DNS?
Let’s define the basic meaning of DNS with a simple example. All computer devices on the internet platform, from smartphones, laptops, to servers responsible for websites, communicate with one another by using specific numbers. These numbers are known as “IP addresses.”
If a user wants to visit a website, it is not needed to remember and enter a long number. Instead, users enter a domain name (e.g. arvancloud.ir) and still end up in the exact place.
Simply put, a Cloud DNS service such as Arvan Cloud is a globally distributed service that translates human-readable names (domain name) into numeric IP addresses like 192.124.249.166 that help computers to connect. Some may consider the internet’s DNS system a general phone book, managing the directions between names and numbers. DNS servers turn any requests for names into specific IP addresses, and this way, they will control which server an end-user will reach when a domain name is typed in a web browser. These requests are called “queries.”
Read also: 3 Types of DNS Servers You Should Know about
How Does A DNS Work?
Generally, a domain name and its matching IP address are called a “DNS record.” If users visited a website earlier, the DNS records are cached on their computer, and they will be taken directly to the website. If no records are found, the query will be sent to the local DNS provider, usually the internet provider (resolving nameserver). If the records are not cached there, the request will be forwarded to “Root NameServer,” responsible for storing DNS data. Once the record is found, it will be cached on users’ computers. Now when a user enters arvancloud.ir on a browser, it will be displayed on the screen instantly. Now, as a business owner or startup enthusiast, is it better to use a self-hosting DNS server or a managed DNS? Let’s find out what these concepts are.
Read also: What Is DNS and How Does It Work?
What Is Managed DNS?
Managed DNS is an enterprise-grade service fully managed by a specialist DNS hosting company. Managed DNS is like a managed server, and it will handle the full management of a business resource (website, application, and communication). The managed DNS has different levels of services. The owner will also have a control panel to manage the DNS records, but the professional DNS hosting company implements the technical and specific details.
Why Do We Need Managed DNS?
When self-hosting a DNS server, you will be the administrator, and you can set values and parameters. Still, usually, all the queries will be resolved from a single physical location. In fact, if a user far from your DNS server is trying to connect to your website, DNS response may take a while to reach them.
In other cases, if your own DNS server malfunctions or becomes unavailable, you have to be knowledgeable to troubleshoot, deploy a fix, and resolve it. You have to be prepared for DDoS attacks and have the specialized skills to mitigate them and keep the servers running smoothly. This is a lot of work! That’s why we need managed DNS.
The following are some of the vital benefits of using a Managed DNS service provider.
Simplicity
Using a Cloud DNS provider will relieve the owners from the frustration and responsibilities associated with creating and managing their DNS servers. A Managed DNS Hosting ensures that a team of professionals are handling your business.
Costs Saving
Usually, the managed DNS provider resources are shared by different customers in a multi-tenant environment, and for that, the business owner will save money on software/hardware expenses.
Security
A Cloud DNS provider will take care of the updates and other features to eliminate and mitigate the DDoS attacks and other DNS attacks. They offer multi-layer security monitoring by professionals and upgrading the system’s security.
Performance
The managed DNS providers offer a large-scale DNS network. They have various points of presence (PoP), which are located all around the globe. These distributed servers will automatically accelerate the queries by sending that request to the closest points of presence. This process will improve the performance and ensure that the destination is always accessible for clients.
Availability
With a managed DNS provider, there is no need to implement additional infrastructures. The managed DNS servers are located globally, and they will eliminate any point of failure. A Cloud DNS provider ensures that you will get uninterrupted service even if one of the equipment fails.
Reports
A managed DNS provider will offer precise and practical analytics such as log generation, traffic analysis, monitoring requests/geolocations, IP health check, usage and downtime trends.
Custom-build feature
One of the best things about implementing a cloud-based DNS service is that the owner can choose the server and its locations. This will involve you in the process of achieving what you exactly need, and this is one of the benefits of using managed DNS services.
Secondary DNS Server
Secondary DNS servers will receive the information from primary DNS servers. They include the read-only copies of the primary zone files. Once a primary DNS server outrages or fails, the secondary DNS servers will add reliability.
To specify more about these advantages, it is essential to know that managed DNS services provide many large DNS networks to support resiliency. Their intelligent traffic routing (geolocation) will direct the traffic dynamically, improve digital assets accessibility, and reduce DNS load time. The other security and disaster recovery features offered by Cloud DNS providers are web application firewalls (WAFs), web filtering, and anti-malware. Managed DNS servers are specialized in global load balancing and cloud migration. Managed DNS providers are famous for controlling failovers, meaning that they ensure the system’s uptime by redirecting traffic away from the down endpoints and serve the system’s continuity.
Conclusion
Managed DNS servers will provide you with excellent features, a professional team, and 24/7 support. Self-hosting DNS is a difficult choice. To create an efficient, reliable and scalable DNS infrastructure, you need money, expertise, and time. You should know the process, have updated knowledge, and monitor the system frequently. Therefore, a cloud-based DNS solution is your way out. The managed DNS services will offer a cost-effective process, high availability, flexibility, security and many other important features we mentioned above.
A managed DNS service like Arvan Cloud Managed DNS, a world-known authoritative DNS service, will provide you with the fastest response time, and super-advanced security (DDoS mitigation and DNSSEC). If you have any further questions, contact us.
