BlueCat Edge Reviews

Name: BlueCat Edge
Brand: BlueCat
Rating: 4.2 (6 reviews)

4.2 out of 5

6 reviews
83% willing to recommend

What is BlueCat Edge?

BlueCat Edge is an intelligent DNS resolver and caching layer that leverages existing DNS infrastructure to provide unprecedented visibility and control over DNS traffic. As a first hop DNS resolver, BlueCat Edge intelligently manages DNS forwarding rules and logs all queries to offer intuitive analytics and data governance. By monitoring all queries and IP addresses with BlueCat Edge, enterprises can also leverage BlueCat’s advanced Threat Protection and policy-based network/security features to protect the enterprise against cyber threats, such as domain name generation algorithms and tunneling that lead to data exfiltration or network downtime.

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BlueCat Edge is the #7 ranked solution in top Domain Name System (DNS) Security solutions. PeerSpot users give BlueCat Edge an average rating of 8.4 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 6 most recent BlueCat Edge reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.0. (Among the lowest in the category). BlueCat Edge is most commonly compared to Cisco Umbrella: BlueCat Edge vs Cisco Umbrella. BlueCat Edge is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 71% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 15% of all views.

Helped 816,660 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

LeandroFreitas

Senior Network Engineer at Cgi Deutschland KG

The most impressive feature of BlueCat Edge is its versatility combined with robust security. It acts as a central platform that intelligently routes traffic to the correct resolver while simultaneously enforcing security policies. This includes the ability to blacklist malicious domains or redirect traffic, providing a significant security advantage. In my experience, I've successfully migrated nearly 100,000 internal IP addresses across 14 global data centers using BlueCat Edge, handling a substantial amount of traffic with ease. The interface is user-friendly, and what I find most helpful is the ability to quickly view logs. These logs contain all the queries from internal clients and the corresponding responses from the DNS service, making troubleshooting DNS traffic significantly easier. In the past 24 hours, we've seen 86,000 unique IP addresses using the service, though this number likely fluctuates seasonally. Overall, it's the best solution I've found for troubleshooting DNS traffic. The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive.

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David Muscat

Principal Architect, System Design /Enterprise-Hybrid Cloud DNS Lead at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

BlueCat Edge’s ability to detect DNS threats and identify malicious queries comes in quite handy. We can keep track of the low or minor things. It has even helped us track down misconfiguration, which was great. We have had some situations where we had to take corrective action on malicious intent going outward. For example, we had a particular machine going to a malicious site at 2 AM, and we had to take that proactive or automatic action to stop it from going there. We can deny them the ability to even connect. A lot of companies use what is called web content filtering. They want to prevent you from going to certain websites. For example, on your work machine, you want to go to playboy.com. Your machine makes the DNS call, gets the IP address, and attempts to make that connection to that website. The web content filtering at that point will jump in and say, "Hey. You are trying to go somewhere that you are not supposed to be going to." It blocks you. It happens very fast. When you make the DNS request to find out where playboy.com is located, before you even get the DNS response to try and connect to the site, you are blocked. It happens at a level much faster than web content filtering because in some cases, when you try to connect, you might even get a payload that comes down to you before your web content filtering kicks in. BlueCat Edge offers provider-agnostic DNS discovery and resolution across multiple cloud environments. We are using it because routing DNS traffic is critical to the operations of our business. We have the ability to define rule sets and be able to say that this traffic is destined for Cloud A and then we are going to forward that over there. When a request comes in for Cloud B, we are going to set it over there. If a request is for something on-prem in our data center, it is going to get routed over there. I love that ability of BlueCat Edge. It has made our life very easy. We use the Security Dashboard, and we have the ability to see situations happening realtime. We also have CrowdStrike threat protection features turned on, so we get to see other issues flowing as realtime can get. We have DGA and top-level DTLD that you are not supposed to go to. We could have that visibility at a finite level, which is great. This visibility from the Security Dashboard has helped save time when not only troubleshooting but also with any configuration issues. If there is a configuration issue, we have to go look and figure out a fix for that configuration issue that we may have created accidentally. In terms of securing our infrastructure from end to end so that we can detect and remediate threats, we do get the flags that are thrown as soon as something comes up from something within our internal network. The DNS queries are immediately dumped to our SIEM solution in our security team's purview where they could immediately take action. We also have some of the automations turned on to generate emergency tickets to the appropriate team. It makes life so much easier. BlueCat Edge has probably reduced our threat risk by 68%.

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reviewer2340669

Enterprise Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We encountered some malicious queries, and BlueCat Edge proved invaluable in detecting these DNS threats. While currently only operating in monitor mode, its biggest benefit has become its instrumental role in diagnosing performance issues. It serves as a crucial troubleshooting toolset within our infrastructure, helping us identify and resolve outages effectively. BlueCat Edge's ability to provide agnostic DNS discovery and resolution across multiple cloud environments is fantastic. I even use it for various DNS providers, including Active Directory, F5, Route 53, and GCP. This capability makes it a key component for me, as it allows me to seamlessly navigate the same DNS namespace across different infrastructures, something that I've found only BlueCat can offer. The main benefits of BlueCat Edge are its improved performance over our previous infrastructure and its large cache management capabilities. Both contribute to exceptional performance gains. Additionally, it provides valuable visibility into DNS activity, revealing which clients are making what queries and enabling detailed investigation. As we migrated more of our infrastructure onto BlueCat, beyond just the Edge product, we observed immediate benefits in terms of visibility. The biggest hurdle we faced was redirecting our internal clients to use Edge over existing internal DNS solutions. This initially slowed down our metrics, but we still had access to the data. As more systems started using Edge, the benefits became increasingly apparent. BlueCat Edge has helped our organization reduce operational expenses by decreasing our downtime and providing better DNS performance for queries, as well as helping us identify misconfigurations within our clients' networks.

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BlueCat Edge mindshare

As of November 2024, the mindshare of BlueCat Edge in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category stands at 3.4%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Domain Name System (DNS) Security

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Nov 12, 2024

Valuable Features

BlueCat Edge offers unparalleled IP Address Management, ease of integration, and routing capabilities. It enhances security by blacklisting malicious domains and redirecting traffic intelligently. Users appreciate its versatility, user-friendly interface, and efficient troubleshooting features, supported by comprehensive log visibility. With the ability to handle vast traffic efficiently and route different domains to specific DNS resolvers, it serves as a DNS router for organizations, providing them with valuable control and management over their network environments.

"Edge has reduced the complexity and has been more reliable."
"The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive."
"We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having."

Room for Improvement

BlueCat Edge needs a more intuitive graphical interface with real-time data capabilities and better logging. Users desire improved cleanup features, advanced filtering for security configurations, and the ability to selectively export data. Enhanced threat detection and categorization options for blocking specific queries are also requested along with comprehensive documentation. The platform's current pricing is considered high, and past issues with version 3 have been addressed partially in version 4.

"I would like to see improvements in threat detection and the ability to add categorization for blocking queries, such as those related to adult entertainment."
"The main improvement for BlueCat Edge's security configuration would be more granular control."
"I have concerns about several aspects of BlueCat's site management."

ROI

BlueCat Edge significantly improved network reliability and performance, leading to reduced downtime and smoother operations. Users noted a measurable increase in efficiency and productivity, reporting faster issue resolution and streamlined processes. Enhanced security features minimized vulnerabilities and threats. Cost savings were observed due to reduced need for manual intervention and fewer outages. Overall, users experienced substantial improvements in service availability and operational efficiency, translating to a favorable return on investment.

Pricing

Enterprise buyers note that BlueCat Edge's pricing can range from $10,000 to $200,000, depending on usage. The subscription-based model allows unlimited Edge endpoint deployments, offering significant savings compared to other products. While BlueCat is viewed as expensive, it provides substantial value, particularly as a bundled solution with other BlueCat products. The current pricing model, based on IP consumption rather than per-IP costs, is seen as more reasonable and competitive when compared to alternatives like Infoblox.

"The licensing model for BlueCat Edge seems very good, although I can't confirm if it's specific to our contract."
"We find the current pricing model more reasonable compared to the previous per-IP pricing."
"One of the nice benefits of getting DNS Edge is that you buy the subscription, and you are allowed to deploy as many Edge endpoints as you need. You do not need a separate license for each one. If you deploy 20 of them, you will not be billed for that many. It is one subscription. You can deploy as many as you need and consume as much as you need. The cost comes in based on the number of IPs that you are consuming and running through DNS Edge. We have that pretty much locked in for what we need for internal purposes. Being able to save money on deploying Edge endpoints has saved us drastically from deploying other BlueCat products in lieu of that."

Popular Use Cases

BlueCat Edge serves as a DNS server and traffic management tool for various organizations. Users, including universities, primarily use it for managing DNS resolutions and security by capturing malicious requests. It integrates cloud and on-premises infrastructure, handling redirects and internal query sorting. Many organizations have multiple Edge deployments, utilizing its capabilities for DNS traffic management across diverse locations and infrastructures. It acts as a primary DNS resolver, facilitating resource direction within networks.

Service and Support

Customers express mixed feelings about BlueCat Edge's support. Some value the enterprise support, praising dedicated teams familiar with specific environments. Others find standard support response times inconsistent, noting delays in receiving assistance. The premium service earns appreciation for proactive engagement, regular communication, and client-centric focus. However, some still experience longer wait times than expected when contacting support, though the knowledge base is seen as sufficient, with additional improvements anticipated.

Deployment

BlueCat Edge's initial setup was generally easy, involving straightforward configuration and deployment. Some found the architecture more intricate than single-service systems, requiring hybrid infrastructure and collaboration with BlueCat's team. Deployments varied, with phased implementation across regions. Larger projects necessitated careful planning and a team for execution. Edge configurations in environments like Azure were simplified, benefiting from a centralized management system for quick service point creation. Infrastructure upgrades caused delays due to regulatory compliance issues.

Scalability

BlueCat Edge demonstrates strong scalability, effectively supporting thousands of users with numerous subnets and flexible deployment options. It efficiently manages traffic with load balancers and leverages caching and DNS features. Scaling potential is robust, although it may require intricate configuration and adjustment. The platform balances ease of use and functionality, making it suitable for organizations with growing service demands and the need for adaptable infrastructure. Its capability continues to meet evolving needs across multiple locations efficiently.

Stability

BlueCat Edge demonstrates solid stability, frequently rated nine out of ten. Users experience minimal downtime due to anycast implementation and effective load balancing. While not flawless, issues encountered, like a bad update, are promptly addressed. Only a single impactful problem occurred over 12 years where it was quickly resolved. Organizations appreciate the solution's robustness despite minor interruptions, indicating reliable performance and ensuring minimal user disruptions, ideal for maintaining seamless operations in various environments.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our BlueCat Edge Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.