Top 6 trends every admin should be ready for </2016> <2017>…
For the past 15 years, DNS Made Easy has been at the forefront of many of the shifts that led to what is now modern DNS management. At the close of each year, the network engineers at DNS Made Easy share their expert opinion on the future of traffic management and trends all network administrators should be preparing for in the coming year.
#1 It’s Getting Cloudier
In recent years, the DNS industry has experienced a major shift catalyzed by migration to cloud-based platforms. This has enabled clients to control much more than just the availability of their domains… Now you can use DNS to improve the performance of your website for users all over the world.
Over the next year, our experts predict that more top brands will make the switch to cloud-based DNS, or use a cloud DNS provider for their secondary DNS services. This kind of hybrid DNS setup has become increasingly popular amongst top brands who were reluctant to move all of their traffic over to the cloud. By using a cloud DNS solution as a secondary DNS service, traffic will be divided between both in-house and outsourced infrastructure for increased performance and redundancy.
#2 DNS for CDN’s
With the cloud becoming the backbone of most Internet services, CDN’s have become a staple for websites with international audiences. This shift has forced many DNS services to rethink the way they manage their records, since CDN’s are dynamic and change IP’s depending on a user’s location.
Not too long ago, DNS Made Easy reinvented the DNS record specifically for CDN’s called ANAME records. This new record type is able to mimic CNAME functionality at the root level, revolutionizing the way DNS zones can be configured.
Over the last year alone, we have seen ANAME adoption increase two-fold, with companies of all sizes adding ANAME records to their configurations. In 2017, we predict this trend will continue with not just international companies using ANAME functionality, but also small businesses who value performance and reliable speeds.
#3 Integrated Monitoring
Integrated monitoring is revolutionizing the way we route query traffic. Although it is still in its early days, solutions like Constellix are already using monitoring to influence routing decisions.
“We anticipate that over the next year integrated monitoring will become an industry standard for all traffic management services. Rather than using monitoring for determining whether a site is simply up or down, and it will become an integral asset for assessing performance and determining the best possible route,” says Founder of Tiggee Steven Job.
#4 The Rise of ITOS
Our experts think 2017 will be the year of ITOS! Just in the last few months, the ITOS (Internet Traffic Monitoring Services) industry emerged as the leader in traffic routing. ITOS harnesses the cloud to combine advanced query routing techniques with traffic monitoring, while staying affordable for small businesses.
This technology was previously exclusive to only enterprise organizations, as it requires massive amounts of infrastructure and a global presence. Now, clients of all sizes are able to leverage DNS to improve experiences for specific target groups based on user characteristics.
#5 Granularity
As companies grow, they usually find that they need to reach some clients in unique ways. Whether it’s a language barrier, a targeted marketing campaign, or to conquer location-based performance issues. With advances in the cloud and geo-targeting technology, DNS is now able to be manipulated to target clients based on unique identifiers such as: IP address, location (region, city, geographical coordinates), ASN, ISP, and more.
Over the next year, we anticipate that there will be a rapid growth of smaller companies, like startups and small businesses beginning to adopt these tactics. As with most high-level DNS services, granular targeting is usually only accessible to large enterprise companies because it requires vast amounts of infrastructure.
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#6 Double Down on DNS
2016 saw record-breaking DNS-based attacks and outages, which thrust DNS management into the spotlight as both a vulnerability and a critical asset. In the wake of the attacks, clients were concerned about the uptime and security of their domains. As we saw in October, even large DNS providers are vulnerable to attacks. In the weeks after the outage, dozens of large brands moved portions of their query traffic over to a secondary DNS provider. This is the tried and true, best way to ensure 100% uptime for your domains –even if your primary provider is downed.
Over the next few months, our team will be monitoring the top domains very carefully as we are anticipating a large spike in the adoption of secondary DNS services. As of this month, we found a 5% increase in top domains adding a secondary provider. By Q2 2017, we believe this number will triple.
Also published on Medium.
