In today’s complex IT landscape, organizations are expected to accelerate delivery and innovation, gain end-to-end visibility and withstand disruptions across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Yet many organizations still rely on on-premises Microsoft DNS and DHCP bundled with Active Directory (AD), which becomes difficult to manage at scale. Server-by-server changes, fragmented visibility and manual audits slow operations and increase risk.
Over time, DNS and DHCP tasks—often assigned to AD admins because of their proximity to the infrastructure—have shifted from a side responsibility to a core dependency. With no single control plane across distributed Windows servers, ownership is split, changes happen per server and drift accumulates. Troubleshooting lease conflicts and misconfigurations turns into cross-checking spreadsheets instead of delivering higher-value work.
Meanwhile, DNS and DHCP remain foundational to authentication, resource access, application availability and network performance. As environments become more dynamic and distributed, updates multiply, but the server-by-server model persists. Incidents stay reactive and teams lose time.
You can use what you have today, regain control and prepare for tomorrow.
Coexist Now. Consolidate When You’re Ready.
Infoblox Universal DDI™ for Microsoft Management brings Microsoft DNS and DHCP into a unified, cloud-native control plane—without replacing your existing servers. A lightweight, native agent with bidirectional synchronization lets teams keep familiar tools while gaining centralized management and automation.
The result: unified visibility, policy-based change control, role-based access and a complete, auditable history of every change. Zones, records, scopes and leases stay aligned to reduce drift. When you’re ready, the same control plane will give you a clear, low-risk path to consolidate fully into Universal DDI.
Exploring the Role of Universal DDI for Microsoft Management
Universal DDI is Infoblox’s cloud-native platform for DNS, DHCP and IP address management (IPAM) across data centers, edges and clouds. It centralizes orchestration, scales elastically, enforces policy and integrates with enterprise workflows.
Universal DDI for Microsoft Management extends these capabilities to on-premises Microsoft DNS and DHCP:
- A lightweight, native agent deployed by Microsoft administrators on standalone or member Windows servers—no domain controller access or in-place server upgrades required.
- Real-time, bidirectional sync ensures changes in either system (DNS zones/records and DHCP scopes/leases) are reflected across both—eliminating manual reconciliation and reducing drift.
- One intuitive console to manage Microsoft services alongside Infoblox NIOS, NIOS-X and cloud-native deployments. The Infoblox Portal delivers consistent operations across all environments.
Figure 1. Easy-to-install agent installing on a Windows member server
Empowering the Whole Team
Different teams feel the pain of server-by-server management in various ways. With Universal DDI for Microsoft Management, each group gets simpler workflows, clearer visibility and fewer surprises. Here’s how it helps:
- For AD Administrators: Spend less time on manual updates and one-off troubleshooting. No more juggling multiple servers or reconciling spreadsheets to resolve lease conflicts and misconfigurations.
- For NetOps: Manage all DNS zones and DHCP scopes from one console with real-time status, lease utilization and change history, accelerating changes while reducing errors.
- For Security and Compliance: Enforce least-privilege access with role-based access control (RBAC), gain an auditable change log and improve control without unnecessary elevated permissions or domain controller access.
- For IT Leaders: Modernize at your pace. Standardize workflows, shrink silos and reduce operational overhead without an infrastructure overhaul or retraining.
Key Capabilities at a Glance
Here are the core capabilities you’ll use every day. Infoblox Universal DDI for Microsoft Management brings them together in one place so you can move faster with less risk.
- Unified visibility and control across Microsoft, Infoblox and cloud-native services
- Policy-based change management with approvals and guardrails
- RBAC and comprehensive audit trails
- Real-time, bidirectional synchronization of DNS and DHCP objects
- Agent-based deployment on Windows servers; no domain controller access required
- Path to consolidation into Universal DDI when ready
- Deeper insight with IPAM through combining Microsoft DNS/DHCP data with IPAM via Infoblox Universal Asset Insights™ to validate actual usage vs. intended configs, close visibility gaps and reduce tool sprawl
Future-Ready—Without the Overhead
At scale, AD-centric, server-by-server administration slows change and increases risk. Centralized, cloud-native management removes those constraints and prepares teams for hybrid growth.
Figure 2. Comprehensive view of DHCP configurations
With Universal DDI for Microsoft Management, DNS and DHCP are fully integrated into the Universal DDI platform. You get consistent workflows, automation, least-privilege access and auditability—plus a clear, low-friction path to consolidate when the time is right. Complexity drops. Silos shrink. Visibility expands. Critical network services are ready for what’s next.
Let’s Move Forward—Together
If you manage on-premises Microsoft DNS and DHCP today, there’s a more innovative way to simplify operations, reduce risk and prepare for the future—without disrupting what works.
Infoblox Universal DDI for Microsoft Management brings Microsoft DNS and DHCP into a unified platform with centralized control, real-time synchronization and role-based access across hybrid, multi-cloud environments. Whether you aim to cut operational overhead, unify visibility, speed troubleshooting or modernize at your pace, we’re ready when you are.
