Today’s businesses increasingly rely on digital communication. Externally, search engines recommend that your website loads in less than half a second or customers could get impatient and bounce. Internally, 70 percent of email users in one study responded within 6 seconds of reading a message and 85 percent responded within 2 minutes. You don’t have time for your business to slow to a crawl because of a clogged server or due to poor DNS management.

What is DNS management?

In the complex web of the internet, where seamless connectivity is vital, Domain Name System (DNS) emerges as a critical component.

DNS management refers to the process of overseeing and controlling the Domain Name System for a network or domain. The DNS is a crucial component of the internet infrastructure, acting as a decentralized system. It translates human-readable domain names (like www.example.com) into numerical IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. Effective DNS management involves multiple operations. Its ultimate goal is to ensure the reliable and efficient functioning of an organization online.

Key aspects of DNS management include:

1. Configuration – Set up and configuring DNS records, such as A (Address) records, CNAME (Canonical Name) records, MX (Mail Exchange) records, etc. This helps map domain names to specific IP addresses or designate mail servers.
2. Optimization – Improve the performance of DNS resolutions by implementing various strategies. For example, optimizing the Time-to-Live (TTL) settings to reduce latency and enhance user experience.
3. Security – Implement security measures to protect against threats, like:
   • DNS spoofing
   • Zone hijacking
   • Cache poisoning
   • Other types of cyber attacks.
4. Monitoring – Regular monitoring of the DNS performance has multiple benefits. First, it helps resolving issues promptly. Furthermore, it ensures the reliability and availability of domain-related services.
5. Scalability – Accommodate the growth and changes within your organization. This will ensure scalability to handle increased traffic and evolving infrastructure needs.

DNS management is crucial for maintaining a secure, responsive, and reliable online presence. Thus, it’s an integral part of overall IT and cybersecurity strategy.

However, the efficient functioning of DNS requires diligent management. The ultimate goal is to optimize performance, security, and reliability.

How to use DNS management as a business enabler

DNS serves as the digital address book. It translates human-readable domain names into numeric IP addresses that computers understand. This translation is basically the backbone of online accessibility. It ensures that when users enter a website URL or send an email, the correct destination is reached.

Effective DNS management is a pivotal enabler for your business. It influences your online presence, communication, and overall digital operations. Efficient DNS management ensures that customers can easily find and access your business website. This streamlined accessibility has a significant contribution to a positive user experience. Furthermore, it fosters customer engagement and trust.

Moreover, DNS management plays a crucial role in business communication. It enables the functioning of email systems. This way, staff members can communicate seamlessly with one another and with external parties. Reliable DNS management ensures the smooth flow of emails. It reduces the risk of disruptions in internal and external communication channels.

Overall, a well-managed DNS delivers major benefits:

• Enhances your digital presence.
• Serves as a foundational element for the efficient and secure functioning of your online operations.

Thus it’s an essential enabler for businesses. You need it to establish a robust and reliable online infrastructure. Therefore, implementing a good DNS management platform is paramount for your business. Here are a few ways in which it will have a positive impact over your business.

1. Increase your reliability

One of the most important parts of your IT infrastructure is reliability. You can’t afford for your website and online communications to fail, both for your customers and your employees. Even a minor outage of one hour or two can have a significant impact on your revenue, especially as your business starts to grow.

A DNS management provider knows that its reputation is built on reliability. The company has multiple protection levels in place to reroute information if one of them stops functioning.

Many of these DNS management providers have global operations. They can easily make up for downtime in one area by routing traffic to another. The goal is to keep your servers online at all times—no matter what happens. As a result, you can enjoy stability and speed with your online operations.

2. Bigger infrastructure means faster speed

Another benefit of investing in a DNS management service is that you can tap into the substantial hardware resources that the provider uses. If you opt to manage your DNS in-house, your website can quickly slow down as your site traffic grows. If you add more employees, their email messages can contribute to traffic clogs.

However, a DNS management service is made for scaling. You can continue to grow and the service will support you. There’s no need to concern yourself with sluggish responses attributed to a congested server.

The best part is that scaling only comes with marginal increases in cost. But even so, this is much better than costs increases caused by in-house scaling, where you will need more hardware, IT staff and server space.

Finally, a strong DNS management system can also protect you in the event of a short-term traffic spike. For example, if an influencer mentions your brand and traffic floods your pages or you have higher than normal order numbers because of Black Friday, your site can handle it. You don’t have to worry about a site crash—and the lost business that comes with it—because your servers are protected.

3. Specialized DNS support

Oftentimes, brands will hire DNS services from their domain name registrars. This is considered the easiest way to invest in DNS. However, it might not be the most reliable. The main job of your registrar is to sell domains and your domain provider may not focus primarily on more extensive DNS services.

This is why it’s important to look for a management company that offers DNS management services and/or DNS hosting services. Such providers stay on top of DNS trends and are keenly aware of any new threat that could befall their customers. Additionally, these companies make scaling easy.

4. Clear analytics on your DNS

Some providers deliver advanced analytics thanks to their DNS management platforms. With their help, you can optimize your business and technology. Common metrics include DNS traffic, real-time load, and general server health. Such data highlight how well your DNS is doing and the growth you are experiencing as a company.

5. Keep your data safe

A well-managed DNS can be closely linked to data safety through various mechanisms. One fundamental aspect is to safeguard against cyber threats. DNS is a common target for malicious activities, such as DNS spoofing or cache poisoning, which can lead to unauthorized access and data breaches.

Proper DNS management involves more operations, like:

• Deploy access based control
• Implement your company’s data access policies
• Set up a sound backup and disaster recovery

Furthermore, with a platform like DNS Manager you can even go further. When a DNS zone is added, the platform checks whether it’s already part of an existing zone that belongs to another client. This algorithm protects you against zone hijacking.

Overall, both robust DNS management practices and security measures are important.

Choose a reliable DNS management provider

You need a partner who can support your current information technology needs and who can also help you scale into the enterprise business you plan to become.

Instead of investing in internal DNS tools, look for a management firm that can handle your business today and in the future. Check if they use an enterprise-grade DNS management platform like DNS Manager and deliver all functionality you need. Such providers are scalable, reliable, and more affordable than you realize. Take the first steps to protect your DNS today!