Navigating the DNS Landscape: Self-Managed vs. Managed DNS Solutions

There are over a billion websites, all vying for attention from users. You want your website to stand out, and to provide customers with a seamless, reliable digital experience. The functionality of your website hinges on effective DNSservice.

DNS is the backbone of internet navigation, translating human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses and directing users to websites. It’s much easier for users to memorize dnsmadeeasy.com vs. an IP address like 192.0.0.0. Managing the traffic to your website necessitates making an informed decision between using a managed DNS provider vs. hosting your own DNS internally.

Understanding the choices between self-managed and managed DNS solutions can be overwhelming, especially for small businesses looking for an easy-to-use solution. Each solution has its own advantages and disadvantages; the key difference lies in who controls the infrastructure and how much effort is required to maintain it.

The DIY Approach: Self-managed DNS

Self-managed DNS gives you total control over your DNS infrastructure—everything from the DNS servers, configurations, and DNS records is under your control. This do-it-yourself approach has several benefits and potential disadvantages to be mindful of.

Benefits of Self-managed DNS

With self-managed DNS, organizations run their own DNS servers, either on-premises or in a cloud environment. This increased flexibility allows teams to configure the DNS settings exactly how they want, including security policies, caching, and load balancing, which is beneficial for organizations with a high volume of sensitive data. 

Generally, enterprise organizations opt for self-managed DNS as they often have advanced security requirements and more extensive resources to deploy their own DNS infrastructure. For internal DNS management, self-managed DNS is recommended for organizations using Active Directory (AD) for authentication, group policy, and locating domain controllers. Additionally, AD needs dynamic DNS service to register domain controllers, workstations, and services, which isn’t supported by many external, managed DNS providers.

Disadvantages of Self-managed DNS

Of course, to implement self-managed DNS, you need to have the technical expertise (and the digital infrastructure) to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot any DNS issues entirely in-house. Everything from outages to performance issues and even DNS-based cyberattacks will fall to the organization's internal team to manage.

Self-hosted DNS also demands continuous maintenance and updates to optimize performance and minimize the risk of cyber threats, like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, DNS spoofing, and cache poisoning.

DNS traffic patterns can be unpredictable, making it hard to anticipate spikes in traffic and manage load balancing. With self-managed DNS, when your DNS server goes down, so does your website. Any misconfiguration, hardware failure, or cyberattack can lead to downtime, impacting operations. This means you need to develop a highly available architecture on your own, which means backup servers in more regions in case one or two fail.

Self-managed DNS can also have scalability issues. As your organization grows and your web traffic increases, you will naturally want to scale your DNS infrastructure to support the increased demand, which will likely require investing in additional infrastructure.

The Game-changer: Managed DNS

A managed DNS provider handles everything—server management, DNS zone orchestration, configuration, maintenance, security—everything is handled for you. For many organizations, using a managed DNS service is a powerful alternative. Managed DNS is a service offered by DNS service providers that allows organizations to leverage their infrastructure and name servers, hosting and managing DNS records efficiently.

Benefits of Managed DNS

With managed DNS, there's no need for your internal teams to have experience with DNS administration; the maintenance and monitoring will be handled by the DNS service provider.

In general, managed DNS providers maintain a network of servers, which helps to minimize downtime and improve query resolution speed by quickly directing traffic to the nearest authoritative server.

Having a large, global infrastructure allows managed DNS providers to handle a high volume of DNS queries easily; this is advantageous for organizations experiencing high growth or who have global traffic.

A managed DNS provider offers a highly available architecture that is resilient in the event that one or more servers go down—potentially as a result of a DDoS attack against the DNS server or other cyberattack. Managed DNS seamlessly reroutes traffic during outages and security incidents, ensuring users maintain uninterrupted access to your online presence. 

Finally, Managed DNS providers offer dashboards, APIs, and automation tools that simplify DNS record management.

Disadvantages of Managed DNS

While it's hard to deny the benefits of a managed DNS service, it does offer less control over the DNS server and its configuration compared to self-managed DNS. Your organization will also be beholden to any rules and restrictions the hosting provider sets forth in their plan.

While the cost of a managed DNS service can be a concern for small businesses, self-managed DNS can easily require a significant investment if the organization does not already have a DNS infrastructure. Additionally, many managed DNS service providers offer free or low-cost plans that are beneficial to smaller organizations.

Which is Right for Your Organization?

Choosing between self-managed and managed DNS depends on your business needs and resources. Compare the pros and cons of managed DNS services and self-managed DNS solutions. Consider factors such as organizational size, technical expertise, budget, and the level of control and customization required. Assess the trade-offs between outsourcing DNS management and maintaining it in-house.

Choosing the Right Managed DNS Provider

When assessing Managed DNS service providers, consider factors such as reliability, scalability, and security features. Evaluate service level agreements (SLAs) and support offerings to ensure they align with your business requirements. Integration capabilities with other services and platforms, such as content delivery networks (CDNs), should also be assessed.

What About My Domain Name Registrar's Free DNS Hosting?

Domain name registrars, such as GoDaddy and Google Domains, typically offer DNS hosting as part of their domain registration services. However, the quality and features of their DNS hosting vary. A domain name registrar's free DNS can be easy and cost-effective for beginners, especially small personal websites. However, for high-traffic websites or those with a global presence, a DNS service provider can offer better user experiences, more reliable DNS servers, and faster response times. Evaluate the technical expertise and needs of your business to make an informed choice.

Unleash the Power of Managed DNS With DNS Made Easy

Managing DNS infrastructure can be complex, but understanding its intricacies is essential for optimizing your online presence. By understanding the benefits of managed DNS, you can make an informed decision to improve the performance, security, and reliability of your website.

Ready to optimize your online presence with managed DNS? Schedule a demo with our DNS experts today to see how DNS Made Easy can help your organization. 

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