BlueCat Integrity Reviews

Our DDI environment is managed by BlueCat Integrity, a unified platform for our DNS, DHCP, and IP address management.

The user interface is intuitive and easy to learn. New users can navigate it confidently without confusion. Our international teams in France, India, and the US have all successfully managed the IPAM system with the UI, demonstrating its clear design. This reinforces the idea that a well-designed interface can make even complex technology accessible.

They offer a consolidated view, like a single pane of glass, of our entire IP address space. This comprehensive view is incredibly valuable. The vast amount of information is presented in a user-friendly way, similar to a database. BlueCat intelligently organizes this data, including the ERTs, for efficient exploration. A convenient dashboard provides a central location to access all this information.

It delivered immediate benefits. It offered a high degree of control, comprehensive information for log monitoring, and more. Compared to a Windows system, it streamlined log analysis with its exceptional logging capabilities. Overall, it's an excellent solution.

BlueCat Integrity helps reduce human error by automating tasks and improving data integrity. For example, its DNS features can check for typos and other configuration errors, ensuring accurate data is used. Additionally, Integrity's infrastructure creation and data organization tools promote consistency and reduce the potential for mistakes caused by manual processes.

It minimizes downtime by offering various high-availability features. One such feature is called XHA, which ensures service continuity even if individual machines or appliances experience issues. This allows services to remain online during maintenance updates, for example. Additionally, BlueCat Edge leverages Anycast technology to provide further redundancy for Integrity's DNS services.

Previously, BlueCat's reach was limited to North America. We've expanded our footprint globally. This involved decommissioning many legacy servers worldwide, particularly Windows-based ones like DNS and DHCP servers, as well as some digital services on firewalls and routers. This shift to BlueCat grants us greater control and allows for a more standardized configuration across our global network. It also facilitates easier deployment and enforcement of network-wide standards.

Our organization heavily utilizes BlueCat Integrity's API for automation and data integrity monitoring. It effectively provides all the information necessary for our current automation needs, making it a valuable tool.

BlueCat Integrity has significantly improved our IT staff's efficiency. A centralized console streamline updates, while global configuration deployment further reduces time spent on management tasks. Overall, BlueCat Integrity offers a wide range of time-saving functionalities that benefit our environment.

While we haven't encountered any server issues, a key strength lies in our well-architected DDI infrastructure. For instance, our DHCP redundancy server resides in a separate location, ensuring failover if the primary site experiences problems. Similarly, with geographically dispersed DNS servers in India and Australia, redundancy is built-in. BlueCat Integrity's robustness further enhances network stability. Since implementing it, we haven't experienced service outages or reboots. The product's maturity is evident, but our monitoring practices also play a crucial role.

The time saved by using BlueCat Integrity translates directly to cost savings.

BlueCat Integrity helps us reduce our TCO.

BlueCat Integrity has been a game-changer. It frees up my time to focus on other projects that improve our network environment, research new technologies, and more. This robust and mature product has given me peace of mind. Since joining this team and using BlueCat, I haven't lost a single night's sleep worrying about DNS, DHCP, or IP Address Management. It simply works reliably in the background, just as it should.

BlueCat Integrity has proven to be a robust solution. We haven't encountered any problems with it, and it is reliable.

BlueCat's ability to deliver secure updates quickly is crucial for us. When it comes to DNS security, timely updates and patches are essential. Fortunately, BlueCat excels in this area, providing the peace of mind we need.

I've been impressed by BlueCat's performance and user-friendly GUI. The API allows for easy data collection, particularly for automation purposes. While external monitoring tools are available, BlueCat's built-in monitoring provides an additional layer of convenience and trust.

BlueCat Integrity could benefit from several improvements. First, faster log processing would be beneficial. Ideally, the system would adopt a similar approach to BlueCat Edge for improved efficiency. Second, the IPAM dashboard could be enhanced to display more information and provide data analysis features. This could include visualizations, log analysis, and improved reporting with insights and metrics. Similar to BlueCat Edge, reports should be presented in a modern way that leverages more data for analysis. Ultimately, the goal is to visualize logs and gain insights directly within reports.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for ten years.

A mature solution, BlueCat Integrity has consistently demonstrated stability within our infrastructure, never exhibiting any issues.

While we rely heavily on the network, there may be times when perfect network balance isn't achievable. The impact of this depends on our specific actions. Thankfully, BlueCat Integrity is a lightweight service, making it easy to scale our work. Additionally, our infrastructure has ample resources, allowing us to easily add more if needed, solidifying this solution's scalability.

We truly value the professional support offered by BlueCat. While it is a paid service, their expertise is excellent, and we rely heavily on their assistance. They are the vendor with whom I have the best working relationship.

The technical support is quick to respond and knowledgeable.

Positive

The deployment is straightforward. The most important part is to figure out all the clients and the networks that are going to rely on the infrastructure.

One person can handle the deployment as long as they are familiar with the solution.

The implementation was completed in-house.

BlueCat Integrity's pricing is reasonable within the market.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity ten out of ten. We heavily rely on BlueCat Integrity, and it's been very dependable. When we demonstrate our network management to other teams, they're impressed by the level of control we have. There's very little to complain about – it's a well-architected and implemented solution. The built-in redundancy and global distribution are particularly helpful, contributing significantly to its overall effectiveness.

Apart from system updates, no maintenance is required for BlueCat Integrity.

For those who say they don't need a full-stack integrated DDI management solution, I simply offer good luck. Dedicated DDI solutions provide far greater visibility compared to less mature options. This is crucial – without it, we'd be flying blind. Security is paramount for our company as well. A reliable vendor should quickly release patches for any Common Criteria Evaluation issues affecting our DNS, DHCP, and IT infrastructure. This allows us to swiftly update our security team and maintain a proactive stance. Remember, while DNS, DHCP, and IPAM aren't complex products, they are critically important. A single vulnerability can cripple the entire company. A proper response and vendor support during high-impact situations are essential. While the need for a solution like BlueCat Integrity scales with company size, even smaller organizations benefit from the peace of mind and efficiency it offers. Frankly, having experienced the advantages of DDI solutions, I wouldn't dream of working without one today.

For a smooth experience with BlueCat Integrity, prioritize initializing your IPAM component. Updating BlueCat with all your IP addresses upfront helps prevent future management challenges. Since IPAM can be complex, leverage automation as much as possible to automatically collect IP address information. Additionally, security is paramount when dealing with DNS, so always prioritize security best practices.

We use it for IPAM, DNS, DHCP, and cloud solutions.

We've enhanced security with the toolset. It has given us a better, real-time jump on issues that might crop up versus an issue that has already arrived and now we have to deal with it. We can catch it a little bit before it goes off, which is great. Other tools, like antivirus or malware, catch it once the machines are trying to download the packages. With DNS, you catch that as it's trying to attempt to go and ask for the download, so it's a couple of steps before, which makes it to be a lot faster in saving a lot of extra work that would be needed.

It provides a single-pane-of-glass view of our IP address space, which is very important for us. It's an item that can be used across the board for multiple teams—from network to platform teams. It's an easy-to-use portion of the toolset that's out there.

We're using its integration with ServiceNow. It's a great integration. We're expanding on those out-of-the-box tools with which integrations are provided. So, we're able to expand our capabilities. We're looking at other automations as well to expand.

It has helped reduce human error. Prior to BlueCat, which was a long time ago, we used to have spreadsheets and notepads of our records of where DNS is, what's being kept, what's not being kept, which networks are available, and which ones aren't available. I've run into some colleagues in other organizations that still do this today, and I'm surprised because we've had a lot of overlaps. We've had machines being built that are stepping on top of other machines. We've had production outages, whereas now with the IPAM capability and the real-time view into it, all those mistakes are pretty much gone. We don't have any overlap. We don't see any other machines taking over IP space from other machines. That's pretty much gone. It provides a great single source of truth for what's in our infrastructure.

It has helped to reduce downtime. When there are issues, a lot of fingers point back to its DNS. With the toolsets and with what's provided in diagnostics, we're able to prove and provide reliable information to lessen an outage in some areas so that they can start concentrating on items other than DNS. We're able to jump in and reroute and move items around to make things move faster.

It has helped to consolidate tools or applications. We rely on multiple Microsoft solutions, Linux, Unix, and Red Hat. We're able to take all that and have that under one umbrella for DNS. We're now able to streamline that type of configuration.

It has freed up our IT staff for other projects. The resiliency that it provides had me focus on being able to do other work for DNS or other tasks that are assigned to me outside of DNS. If we were looking at it in terms of manpower, it has saved about one manpower's worth of work for a year.

The most valuable piece, which has been a lifesaver, would be the BlueCat DNS resolver. BlueCat Cloud DNS resolver is a tool that takes a look into your cloud's DNS and then reports back everything it finds into BlueCat's DNS Edge solution. The Edge solution has a bunch of nice rules that you can configure to route the DNS traffic. That automation alone is a lifesaver for me for the day-to-day churn of the DNS components that change on an hourly, daily basis.

From the time that I've been using it and the input that I've been having into their engineering, they're very flexible in seeing what the issues are. They're very flexible in working on new changes within the product. I've had great input on issues that we've run into in our world when using their products.

The ease of use is where I got to give a little knock on them. Once you start using the tool, it becomes very easy. It's actually quite easy to use. The problem that I run into is documentation. The documentation could be a little bit richer. Documentation has always been a little pet peeve for me with them.

Sometimes the documentation does not really show real-world applications. Need to get tickets into support to get more details on how an item is supposed to operate or some CLI sequence may be missing in the docs.  

I am hoping to see an improved robust process to mass import/export IPAM data in their next major release.

We've been a customer of BlueCat since about 2013.

It's very stable. We've only run into one issue this past week and a half ago. We had roughly two outages all this time, and it was the second outage. That was due to a bug not in BlueCat software but in the underlying Linux bind. We actually hit it, and we were able to work around it and fix the issue and get moving again. In ten years, there were only two outages, so the system is very stable.

It scales very well. We're able to move and change things on the fly. We're able to bring up, bring down, not lose a beat, and still be in production without issues.

They're hands down fabulous. They're there in a pinch. We use their enterprise solution for support, and they are top-notch. I can't say anything wrong with them. They're there when you need them.

You have to work out a schedule with them. They just don't sit there and wait for Dave Muscat's call. Just put it that way. I have to schedule it with them, but they're there. In some cases, when we have issues where some people contact me with problems, or our customers need to have something resolved, and I'm not hitting it, I put in a ticket. It's a quick and easy process.

They're usually pretty good at responding. They sometimes respond within 15 to 20 minutes. They're sometimes a lot better than what they put out there in their SLA. We're on the phone talking quickly. In our outage situation that we had last week, within minutes, there was already an email with a link in there to jump on a call so we can start working on the issue. I'd rate them an eight out of ten.

In terms of comparing their support with the support for our previous solution, the previous solution that we had was a free Microsoft solution, so there was no support tied to that. That was just us and googling.

Positive

We had a mixture of many products. It was Windows, Sun Solaris, and spreadsheets. 

We used to be part of a division of another company, and we were being sold off into our own company. I happened to raise my hand at a meeting with only a couple of weeks left to go before the actual cutoff date. I asked what we are doing for DNS. I was told that we just put a bunch of machines together to which I said no. You don't just put a bunch of machines together. You have to have a hierarchy of a solution. There was a third-party management company that was managing our separation, and they formed a little group that looked at three different products, and BlueCat won that process.

In terms of the deployment model, we have both environments. We're on-prem with all virtual servers, and we're also in the cloud. It's an Azure cloud, but it's private to us.

Ease of deployment is there once you work out the nuances of the documentation. Once you read between the lines, It goes quite well. Deploying virtual machines is a very easy process. They've really matured in deployments of their DNS Edge solution and patching.

In terms of the deployment duration, technically, we're still deploying after all these years. When we first launched the project, the initial deployment and cutover were in the vicinity of 12 to 18 months because of the sheer amount of data that we needed to migrate. We were working with all the teams. We're in the healthcare field, so there were a lot of HIPAA regulations and time frames based on the contracts we had.

Only I was involved in its deployment. Its original deployment and any subsequent deployment were done by me. I finally got my first person to help me this week.

When it comes to maintenance, I do have a group of three guys in India. They take care of patching, and they take care of the upgrades. They take care of the low-level tickets that come in and get generated in our ServiceNow platform. They handle requests to add or remove a record.

Our outage levels have gone down to almost nothing. We're roughly 99.8% outage free at this point in time since using the product. We've only had two medium-sized outages, and neither one of those outages caused an outage. It has been reliable enough.

I can sleep at night. I haven't said that about any other product I've dealt with, whether it's Microsoft, Linux, Cisco, or anything of that nature. I can sleep at night knowing the type of redundancies and configurations that have been put in place and the collaborative engineering work that we and BlueCat have put together to make things solid for us.

They're competitive. The way they run their model is good. Could it stand some tweaking? Sure. There are some items there. One of the things I looked at in the recent past was their container solutions. You have to pay for licensing to use their containerized platform, but the licensing doesn't include the container licensing itself. I'd love to be able to have one big package per se.

They were flexible with us. We were in a model at the time where we owned the licenses, and as time progressed forward with the product, we're now in a subscription-based model, which makes it easier for us to move the product around the way we need to use it. It has made that easier for us.

I've never been the person who brings numbers into the equation when I'm dealing with the product. So, I don't know about the total cost of ownership, but according to me, it's well worth every dime we pay for it. It has streamlined our business across the board.

We evaluated Men&Mice and Infoblox. BlueCat won that process just for ease of use and ease of installation. We were also not looking at solutions that would sit on top of a Microsoft product at the time.

Make sure you have your data available. You should have your IPAM data and your DNS data. You need to be able to bring it in, so you need to have a mechanism to pull that. You can test the solution, probably in a small VMware environment. It doesn't have to be cloud. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate. If you have a small lab, you can probably throw this together.

To someone at an organization who doesn’t think that they need a full-stack, integrated DDI management solution, I'd say that I don't care how big or how small an organization you are. You need some type of solution to manage your network. You need to have at least some type of IPAM. You need something that's going to keep track of your network space and your DNS space. You need to be able to look at it at a glance and be able to manage those systems and make changes on the fly. Whether you're a small school or a small business, you need to have something.

Overall, I'd rate it a nine out of ten. The reason why I rate it a nine is the documentation. I've always had problems with their documentation.

BlueCat Integrityk is our central DDI System used for DNS, DHCP, and IPAM.

Our BlueCat address managers are deployed on-premises in a clustered configuration. All the servers are physical machines located on-premises, except for one virtual server running in the Azure cloud. This external DNS server is specifically maintained to support our remote clients.

The key advantage of BlueCat Integrity is its adherence to open standards, allowing for integration with external tools. While I find Integrity's built-in bulk update functionality lacking, I can leverage open-source ISC tools and the standard NS update protocol for a smoother update experience. This gives me far better results.

I recognize that companies try to sell extra features and products. One of BlueCat's main competitors, Infoblox, heavily advertises and pushes its additional security features. However, my priority is a product that excels at DDI, which I believe BlueCat does well. While I welcome improvements, it currently performs its core function effectively, and I don't want additional features to compromise its security. I simply want it to do its job well, which it demonstrably does.

BlueCat Integrity effectively manages our IP address space with a centralized view, similar to how many companies encounter, we have a few exceptional cases where we've lost control of entire blocks or ranges. While this creates discrepancies, it's not a fault of BlueCat's but rather a result of these specific edge cases within our organization. Overall, BlueCat Integrity performs well. Having a single pane of glass view is important in an IPAM system.

BlueCat Integrity significantly improves our operational efficiency by automating IP address management. Manually tracking all our IPs would be a cumbersome and error-prone task, which Integrity effectively eliminates.

Last June, upon joining the organization, I began using BlueCat Integrity and found it to be a valuable tool. It has facilitated the smooth migration of various departments, similar to integrating external companies, and effectively addresses our general needs.

While DHCP redundancy has demonstrably reduced downtime, the existing DNS redundancy seems sufficient. There was a proposal for a redundant primary DNS server, but it appears to deviate from standard protocols and therefore won't be implemented.

BlueCat Integrity has streamlined the process of integrating external solutions, making it easier to incorporate products from other companies into our systems.

I am happy with the peace of mind BlueCat Integrity provides. I am not up at night worrying about anything related to BlueCat.

The most significant advantage of BlueCat is its foundation on open-source software, specifically BIND and ISC DHCP. Notably, BlueCat avoids any modifications to these underlying products, instead building its IPAM and DDI systems on top of them. 

BlueCat is releasing a completely new interface next January. While it doesn't currently have all the minor features I want, hopefully, they'll be added over time.

While knowledge is a factor, both technical support and training need a significant overhaul. The root cause lies in the BlueCat support's attitude, which seems focused on closing tickets quickly rather than ensuring solutions. This means genuine attempts to improve functionality, even if not strictly broken, are met with workarounds and closed tickets. This focus on expediency hinders true problem-solving and a positive user experience.

Unfortunately, due to development timelines, new features won't be considered until the release of the next version of BlueCat Integrity, expected in January of next year. Any interface improvements or requests specific to the older system are a waste of time. This will ensure our requests are well-positioned for implementation in the upcoming release.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for eleven months.

BlueCat Integrity has been stable. I would rate the stability ten out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity supports our network scalability and response to changing demands. I would rate the scalability seven out of ten.

While the advanced support team has some excellent individuals who offer valuable design changes and assistance, the quality of day-to-day technical support is unfortunately lacking.

Compared to other solutions, BlueCat's technical support is poor.

Negative

While the majority of our organization uses the industry-leading IPAM solution, BlueCat Integrity, there are a few pockets still utilizing Infoblox. Additionally, Active Directory continues to influence IP address management in some areas, requiring integration with the DDI system.

If we're considering replacing BlueCat Integrity, there are two main drawbacks to consider. First, unlike Infoblox, BlueCat directly interacts with existing DNS, DHCP implementations BIND and ISC DHCP, allowing for more granular control. Second, Infoblox creates a management layer that separates us from core functionalities like DHCP leases and zone files. This lack of direct access makes troubleshooting and advanced configuration difficult with Infoblox, which is a major advantage of BlueCat Integrity.

While the initial setup of the entire system was easy, deploying the BlueCat software that manages the underlying services, ISE, DHCP, and Bind proved more complex. This complexity stems from legitimate reasons, but it can be challenging. For instance, setting up failover redundancy within BlueCat was more intricate than on our previous DHCP server, requiring additional learning on my part. These additional steps, though not impacting the core system's functionality, do add some complexity to the deployment process.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten. BlueCat Integrity excels at its core functionality of managing DNS, DHCP, and IP addresses. Unlike some competitors who prioritize security features in their marketing even though they're DDI solutions, BlueCat should stay focused on what they do best: providing a robust DDI platform. While expanding into other areas is understandable because they want to increase profits, it's crucial not to lose sight of their core strength and risk compromising the user experience.

We operate four geographically separate data centers across two locations in Switzerland. These house two BAM servers, 34 production BDDS DNS DHCP servers of which one is virtual, and a small, entirely virtualized lab environment.

Two administrators manage the DDI system with full access, handling everything from BlueCat to DNS and DHCP. We focus on complex tasks and leave routine record updates to end users or a dedicated layer two team at the network operation center that handles tickets and other tasks. There's also a first-level support team, but their exact involvement in DDI maintenance is unclear.

While BlueCat excels as a DDI solution for managing DNS security, its attempts to expand into other areas like full device discovery are unnecessary for our needs. 30 specialized tools can handle those tasks more effectively. We prefer to keep BlueCat focused on its core strength: DNS security within our network.

I recommend BlueCat Integrity for DDI needs. Unlike QIP and Infoblox, Integrity adheres to open standards without modifying them, and leverages the most popular open-source implementations available, ensuring compatibility and avoiding potential issues arising from custom code.

We are fortunate to have two incredible individuals from BlueCat who provide exceptional support and guidance. Their expertise and willingness to help are truly invaluable.

Our company provides network infrastructure management services for ten clients. We handle DNS, DHCP, and IPAM for these clients, all utilizing the BlueCat Integrity platform.

The most effective features for IP management are log reviews and configuration management.

BlueCat Integrity is easy to use but it can be time-consuming. It has improved our troubleshooting. We can go to the server and see the logs.

BlueCat Integrity has helped reduce downtime andhas saved 50 percent of our time.

It has streamlined our IT team's workflow, freeing up valuable time for other projects. The intuitive user interface simplifies the process of provisioning IP addresses to customers.

We recommend the BlueCat automation to our customers because it saves almost 50 percent of our time. Through the self-service portal, our customers can complete their requests themselves.

BlueCat Integrity helped improve network stability.

The professional DNS and support service helps integrate BlueCat Integrity.

The most valuable features of BlueCat Integrity are the user-friendly UI and the permission management.

A common complaint about BlueCat is that adding new features or making even small changes requires a full deployment process, which can be time-consuming. This is especially problematic for deployments using SSP (hidden primary), the business-critical DNS server, which can take up to seven minutes to deploy depending on network size.

Unfortunately, BlueCat Integrity doesn't support bulk Content Security Policy configuration. We'll need to set these policies manually for each element or develop a script to automate the process.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for two and a half years.

I would rate the stability of BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten. At times we get high utilization on some servers. 

I would rate the scalability of BlueCat Integrity ten out of ten.

The technical support is responsive and they have resolved any issues we have had.

Positive

We previously implemented Infoblox and it remains in use, but we've also added BlueCat Integrity to our network management toolset. We prefer the integration and automation in BlueCat.

While BlueCat Integrity is easy to deploy, the overall deployment time varies based on network complexity. New customers can be up and running in two weeks, but migrating existing configurations from Infoblox to BlueCat Integrity can take up to three months. This is because the migration involves a staged approach, transitioning DNS settings first, then DHCP, and finally finalizing DNS changes.

BlueCat Integrity is more cost-effective than Infoblox.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten.

The majority of our clients who use BlueCat Integrity are enterprise customers.

Once BlueCat Integrity is deployed there is no maintenance required.

We did not face any challenges when integrating BlueCat Integrity into our client's systems.

Even for organizations hesitant about needing a full-suite DDI management solution, BlueCat Integrity's time-saving features and cost-effectiveness make it a compelling choice. I recommend BlueCat Integrity to others.

We primarily use BlueCat Integrity for DNS purposes internally. 

We deployed BlueCat Integrity using a hybrid model because many of our applications are finance-related. This product helps us to secure those applications.

BlueCat Integrity is very user-friendly. Its interface is easy to navigate and has all the features we were looking for, compared to other vendors. This made it easier for us to manage and deploy in our complex environment, which includes multiple domains and acquired companies.

We have integrated ServiceNow with our DNS server. If any alerts are created or any issues are detected, we receive an alert directly in ServiceNow, which is then routed to a specific team.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single pane of glass view of our IP addresses, which is useful for our organization. We sometimes lose track of which IP address range is assigned to which server or team, but BlueCat Integrity keeps track of everything for us, making it easy to see at a glance which IP addresses are assigned to Team A or Team B for example.

BlueCat Integrity helps to prevent human error. If we enter incorrect information, such as an incorrect subnet, BlueCat Integrity displays a pop-up message stating that the information is incorrect and that we should recheck the configuration. This is an add-on feature that is not available in other solutions.

It has helped us reduce downtime. When we used Windows DNS, we had many issues, such as the server hanging occasionally. We had to reboot the entire server during production hours, which caused major incidents. BlueCat Integrity has minimized these incidents, and we now have zero downtime. Nothing has happened on our site since we implemented it. All major incident calls have been eliminated.

BlueCat Integrity helped us consolidate by eliminating our old DNS server, which we used to track command-line or third-party utilities. This saved us costs, as we no longer need to purchase licenses for those tools. Everything is now visible through BlueCat Integrity.

It helps us free up staff time. With our old DNS system, we had to engage all of our staff many times, such as at midnight, during the day, or operations. This took a lot of time for us to process the product queue. For example, if I wanted to send someone on training, I had to cancel it because of these issues. But now, 

We have peace of mind because we no longer receive major incident calls late at night or early in the morning.

DNS aliases, which we use extensively in our applications are a valuable feature. We simply provide the alias to users, and they cannot see the real IP address or DNS name. This feature is specific to each application and is very powerful for us.

I would like the GUI to be similar to AWS and Azure, where we can simply click on an item to expand it and see all the information on one page, without having to click to the next page.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for over ten years.

BlueCat Integrity was down only once in the last year for a security patch.

We have not had any issues with the scalability of BlueCat Integrity. We have already implemented a load-balancing solution with seven appliances, so if we need to replace one, the others will take over. We have the same setup in staging, development, and lab environments. We test all new changes in the lab environment before moving them to staging and then to production. This is a very well-balanced product.

Originally, we used Microsoft DNS, but it had many problems. We had to purchase and constantly monitor many tools with Microsoft. If we skipped an option during configuration, we would continue to receive error messages, and we would have to check the event logs to keep track of those errors. BlueCat Integrity is very easy to manage, so we chose it.

Multiple teams were involved in the step-by-step implementation. The infrastructure architecture team analyzed the requirements and then passed them to us for the proof of concept. Once the POC was completed, we implemented the changes in the development environment, then in the staging environment, and finally in the production environment.

We evaluated BlueCat Integrity and other vendors and found that BlueCat Integrity was one of the most reliable options in terms of both security and administration. Their support team was also helpful and quick.

I give BlueCat Integrity a ten out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity does not require maintenance. There are no specific patches and the solution updates automatically so we don't have any additional downtime.

The value and security that BlueCat Integrity adds to an organization demonstrates the value of a full-stack integrated DDI management solution.

BlueCat Integrity is the most reliable DDI solution with awesome customer support. Whenever we have any issues or urgent customer or business needs, they are always there to help. We call them and they immediately start working on the issue, and they come up with a solution quickly. We can usually implement the solution within one or two days. Their customer support is that good.

We have been a partner of BlueCat for two years now, and we are responsible for deploying the solution over the Middle East region. I have the most experience with BlueCat Integrity.

BlueCat Integrity is generally easy to use and administer, though the ease of use can vary depending on the user's experience level. Migration can be complex for beginners or those new to IT, but daily operation is straightforward.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single interface for managing IP address space, DNS, and DHCP within one console. Many organizations have separate consoles or teams for these functions, leading to unused IP space and a lack of awareness regarding its allocation. If team members leave, knowledge of this IP space is lost, resulting in wasted resources and inefficient management, especially when viewed from a cross-team perspective.

It provides immediate benefits by allowing us to easily migrate our existing files to its software. The software then automatically identifies any missing or misconfigured elements in our network environment, providing a comprehensive overview and improving overall efficiency.

The primary migration tool helps reduce human error by automating the transfer of existing network configurations into the BlueCat system. This tool simplifies the migration process and verifies configurations against industry best practices, highlighting potential issues. While BlueCat offers recommendations, it ultimately allows users to make informed decisions and retain specific configurations necessary for their unique environment, such as those required for certain products to function correctly.

BlueCat consolidates disparate network management tools. Organizations often rely on default Microsoft DNS and DHCP servers, which are separate tools within Active Directory, and manage IP addresses through the DHCP server. This results in three separate components with different consoles and configurations. BlueCat streamlines this by integrating all these functions into a single, unified platform.

It has helped organizations by providing automation features that can handle specific IT tasks, freeing up IT staff for other projects.

BlueCat reduces the total cost of ownership by automating tasks, which allows IT staff to focus on other projects instead of managing DNS and DHCP tools. Additionally, BlueCat consolidates functionalities into a single server, decreasing infrastructure costs associated with separate solutions and consoles. This automation and consolidation significantly reduce IT costs.

Once correctly configured and deployed, it offers significant relief through its automation capabilities. This automation enables features like automatic failover to redundant DNS or DHCP servers, eliminating concerns about server failures and ensuring service continuity. IP address management can also be automated based on device and location, further streamlining network administration. With proper configuration, BlueCat Integrity minimizes the need for ongoing manual intervention and reduces the administrative burden on network administrators.

The most valuable feature of BlueCat Integrity is decentralized management, which enables real-time visibility and control over the entire IP address space, DNS, and DHCP from a single console. This feature is crucial for organizations.

The user interface could be improved, as the implementation of BlueCat can be complicated and requires personnel with expertise in DNS, DHCP, and IP management.

We have been a partner of BlueCat for two years.

BlueCat is a well-known, stable solution in the community, with an architecture designed for reliability. The appliance itself provides a clustered environment, so even if one service fails, there's no need for manual configuration or worry. This built-in redundancy minimizes service disruptions, ensuring your network runs smoothly at all times.

BlueCat Integrity's scalability depends on the type of appliance used, so we typically communicate with the customer to determine their IP address and DNS server needs. Virtual appliances offer inherent scalability by simply adding resources for smooth software operation, with performance contingent on the provided hardware specifications.

BlueCat's customer support, particularly its solutions team, has been excellent. While I've collaborated extensively with its partner team, including solution architects, I haven't needed to contact its general technical support.

Positive

We have seen customers using Infoblox and Microsoft IPAM, and we have migrated these customers to BlueCat. BlueCat is better because it provides a unique blend of features and flexibility.

Implementing BlueCat Integrity itself is straightforward, but migrating data from older configurations and consolidating solutions can be complex for those who aren't seasoned professionals.

The deployment of the solution itself takes about two or three hours. Migration depends on the size of the IP address management and can take nearly 24 hours.

The number of people required for deployment depends on their experience with the BlueCat solution. As an implementation service provider, we could deploy with two people at most. While the interface may seem complex to those unfamiliar with it, customers should also be able to deploy with two to three people: one with IP knowledge, one with DNS expertise, and one with DHCP experience. Ultimately, the most crucial requirement is someone who thoroughly understands the environment where the solution will be deployed.

I handle professional services as a partner, providing integration and migration support to customers in the Middle East. It typically requires two people to implement the solution.

BlueCat helps reduce IT cost because it automates many tasks. This automation frees up staff for other projects and consolidates several solutions onto a single server, reducing infrastructure costs.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity nine out of ten. The only negative is the complexity that can occur around migrations.

BlueCat is not typically used to directly prevent downtime. While its DNS functionality helps resolve domain names, this depends entirely on how it's configured within your organization or solution. BlueCat doesn't actively support downtime prevention. Although it aids in the handover process between multiple DNS or DHCP servers, it offers no active functionality to prevent downtime for a single DNS server.

Upgrading BlueCat Integrity requires some downtime, regardless of whether it's a physical or virtual appliance. The process involves setting up the new appliance and migrating the configuration from the old appliance. While virtual appliance migration typically takes under an hour, physical appliance upgrades require additional time for installation and initial setup. The configuration transfer is relatively quick, simply importing and exporting existing settings.

If someone believes they don't need a full DDI solution, I recommend they first verify their IP address management is accurate and all allocated addresses are being utilized effectively. They should also confirm their DNS is functioning correctly and that critical services are operating as expected. There's a high chance of misconfigurations or outdated settings that could lead to downtime or security vulnerabilities. This is where a dedicated DDI solution can provide comprehensive management and prevent potential issues.

New users should understand their organization's IP structure and DNS configurations before implementing BlueCat for a smooth experience. It is important to be familiar with DDI technologies.

We would like to utilize BlueCat Integrity to initiate operations in multiple regions, aiming to establish a disaster recovery, scalability, and resilience plan for the APAC and MA regions.

BlueCat Integrity is user-friendly, thanks to its powerful API. Our technicians appreciate the solution's excellent graphical interface, which makes it easy to comprehend.

BlueCat Integrity is flexible, fast, and quite optimized.

Currently, our company is satisfied with BlueCat Integrity, which has granted us peace of mind. 

The most valuable features are scalability and cloud infrastructure.

During our testing phase, we encountered some issues with Active Directory and DNS reverse lookups.

I have evaluated BlueCat Integrity and will be implementing it in July. 

In the limited contact I have had with BlueCat Integrity's support, they have been excellent.

Positive

We previously utilized Microsoft on-premises, but we transitioned to BlueCat Integrity for cloud support.

The deployment process is straightforward. We intend to deploy based on regions and site types, such as forward operating bases, followed by administrative offices, headquarters, warehouses, and finally factories or plants.

Our management decided that there is a return on investment and that is why they have decided to move forward with BlueCat Integrity.

BlueCat Integrity meets our expectations and aligns with our budget forecast.

We evaluated Infoblox and chose BlueCat Integrity because it uses fewer resources and offers a better price. We appreciate their support and consulting services, as they understand that BlueCat Integrity is not widely known in the world due to being newer in the market. However, they compensate for this by providing effective consulting services that offer proof of concept and demonstrate value.

I give BlueCat Integrity a ten out of ten.

I suggest that any organization which doesn't believe they require a comprehensive, integrated DDI management solution should consider utilizing the consultation services offered by BlueCat Integrity. This will help them understand the value it brings.

I recommend that organizations try BlueCat Integrity, as they will love it.

We use BlueCat Integrity to have visibility into our address management.

BlueCat Integrity is fairly straightforward. I have been using it myself for quite a long time. The actual user interface is a little dated, but that is being addressed in the upcoming release.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single-pane-of-glass view of our IP address space, which is important for our organization to see what is being utilized.

For the six years we have been using BlueCat Integrity, we have begun to transition from Microsoft to BlueCat DHCP and DNS. The ability to easily view our options and zones is a significant improvement over our previous approach. The user interface has improved over time, but it is still somewhat dated. A major UI overhaul is planned for release 10, which is scheduled for release next spring.

BlueCat Integrity can help reduce human error by pushing changes to multiple places with only one human input, reducing the likelihood of errors. Compared to our previous solution, BlueCat has reduced human errors by 25 percent.

BlueCat Integrity has not really helped us consolidate any tools. We were already using one Microsoft tool, and now we are using one BlueCat tool, with the advantage of only having to use one interface with BlueCat Integrity versus multiple with Microsoft.

BlueCat Integrity is a solid product. It does not have flashy features, but it is reliable and we have few problems with it. BlueCat does a good job of keeping the product up-to-date with security patches and updates. BlueCat Integrity provides us with flexibility and visibility that we did not have before.

The most important improvement is that it would be nice to have more built-in tools for bulk updates and bulk changes. I understand that there are APIs for this, but that requires coding skills. I am no longer a coder, so it would be helpful to have built-in tools for imports and other tasks.

The UI is outdated and needs a modern refresh.

The RFC is over 25 years old, and some record types have become obsolete. I would like newer DNS record types, even if they are not part of the RFC.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for six years.

We originally used Microsoft for DHCP, DNS, and IP address management. We have since migrated to BlueCat Integrity for better visibility into our address management. Multiple people are able to manage using BlueCat Integrity.

The initial deployment was straightforward. The basic deployment took one month, but the full deployment with the server took around six months and was completed by two people.

Originally, we compared BlueCat Integrity to other products. It was not the cheapest nor the most expensive solution, but it was among the more expensive ones. Overall, I would say that it is priced fairly, though perhaps a bit on the high side.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity is deployed in our corporate environment across multiple locations around the world.