During the recent virtual launch event for Infoblox Universal DDI™, attendees had the opportunity to get their questions about the new product suite answered in dynamic Q&A sessions with Infoblox leadership. Universal DDI revolutionizes cohesive management of critical network services across your entire environment, so the audience understandably wanted to learn more about how it can help them build more agile, resilient enterprises.
There were more inquiries than we had time for during the scheduled sessions, so we wanted to share the top ones that we received. They ranged from the future of BloxOne DDI to how Universal DDI discovers zombie assets.
Our Infoblox specialists provided detailed answers, shedding light on Universal DDI’s capabilities and future direction. Here are some of the key questions and responses from the event.
Implementation Process
Q: What is the typical implementation process for Universal DDI in organizations, and what challenges might we expect to face?
A: Infoblox Universal DDI Management, Universal Asset Insights and NIOS-X as a Service are 100% SaaS, eliminating the need for customers to deploy or manage any additional infrastructure. This approach ensures quick adoption, minimal setup time and seamless integration into existing environments.
Future of BloxOne DDI
Q: Is this replacing BloxOne services?
A: Universal DDI Management and the corresponding NIOS-X Server options include all capabilities previously available in BloxOne DDI and more, including unified DNS management for public clouds, access views for segmented domain management and integrated management of NIOS objects across multiple grids. Universal DDI Management also seamlessly integrates with Universal Asset Insights™ for enhanced discovery, visibility and analysis of all assets across the enterprise.
Failover / Survivability
Q: What safeguards are in place if this centralized system goes down?
A: Infoblox has built a robust, highly available and resilient cloud service with controls in place to meet our SLAs. For customer-deployed elements, working with our solution architects to design highly available deployments ensures a resilient system.
Integrations
Q: What third parties will Universal DDI work with?
A: Universal DDI Management works with AWS, Azure, GCP and NIOS-X. We are also working on Microsoft Management.
Pricing
Q: Are all the DNS “flavors” included in the Universal DDI SaaS offering, or is each “flavor” purchased incrementally?
A: Infoblox Universal DDI Management provides the ability to manage public cloud DNS services (such as Amazon Route 53, Microsoft Azure DNS and Google DNS), private cloud and on-premises DNS services (such as Microsoft DNS and BIND). There is no need to purchase separately.
Infoblox Portal
Q: Is Universal DDI also managed through the CSP portal?
A: Yes, Universal DDI can manage several DDI platforms via a single interface. This interface is the Infoblox Portal (formally known as the CSP).
Reporting
Q: Is the reporting server available for Universal DDI? If so, does that work managing multiple grids?
A: There are multiple options when it comes to reporting: users can send their data through a data connector to a destination that is supported by Infoblox (this includes NIOS reporting server). You can also export your logs to an Amazon S3 bucket, and the last option is the cloud reporting in the Infoblox Portal.
Future of NIOS
Q: What’s going to happen to the NIOS on-prem Infoblox environment?
A: Infoblox NIOS DDI will continue as a viable option for the delivery and management of critical network services. We are continually introducing new capabilities on this platform, as evidenced by the recent NIOS 9.0.5 and PayGo innovations.
Zombies
Q: How would Universal DDI determine which resources are “zombie assets”?
A: Universal Asset Insights uses several methods to detect zombie assets in your network. For example, it checks for detached storage volumes and unattached IP addresses. The system is also being enhanced to include DNS query detection, resource utilization monitoring (covering CPU, memory and disk) and network traffic monitoring.
Infoblox Grid
Q: Is this the end of Grid and Grid Manager model?
A: No, the Infoblox NIOS DDI solution and Grid management model will continue to exist. NIOS DDI has a rich roadmap, and Infoblox will continue to deliver new capabilities and features as planned.
You also get the option to manage your NIOS implementations through the Infoblox Portal if you prefer.
UDDI Capabilities
Q: When managing third-party DNS and DHCP, will Universal DDI be able to monitor operational statistics such as queries per second, etc., or is this just configuration management at the moment?
A: It is currently just configuration management. However, if a NIOS-X server is serving DNS and DHCP, then we would be able to provide monitoring statistics such as QPS and LPS.
Compliance
Q: Is Universal DDI FedRAMP compliant?
A: No. However, we have achieved FedRAMP Moderate level certification on a select set of products. Additional information can be found at trust.infoblox.com.
Learn More
The Infoblox Universal DDI launch event provided a wealth of information and insights directly from the experts. Whether you’re curious about current capabilities, future roadmap or integration options, the answers to these audience questions highlight the robust features and forward-thinking approach of Universal DDI.
Ready to dive deeper? Discover how the Infoblox Universal DDI Product Suite can transform your critical network services management.
Missed the event? Watch the full presentation and Q&A sessions to hear Infoblox leaders and customers share how it is already driving business value for enterprises like yours.
