What is our primary use case?
The purpose of this solution is to work with different main services already existing on the customer side, such as Microsoft's DHCP server and DNS server. While these services are mostly covered by Microsoft, Infoblox addresses the limitations and improves them significantly. For example, working with the DHCP server is more efficient and easier with Infoblox.
Similarly, managing DNS services is much better in Infoblox compared to Microsoft. Infoblox excels in resolving DNS queries quickly and efficiently, and its management capabilities are superior. Infoblox focuses on DNS security, which is their main area of expertise. They want to host the DNS server in their system to enhance and secure DNS operations.
This is their competitive advantage in the market—providing superior DNS security and management capabilities, not just managing security but also securing and controlling DNS records.
What is most valuable?
Infoblox excels in managing DNS, DHCP, and IP addresses. Additionally, they prioritize DNS security, which is crucial for the security department.
While DNS, DHCP, and IP address management are typically handled by the networking or systems department, Infoblox provides advanced security features that cater to the security department's needs as well.
What needs improvement?
There is some room for improvement in setup and the pricing model.
For how long have I used the solution?
We recently started again this year with Infoblox for our customers. I worked with it in 2016-2017, when I handled the technical part. Now I have shifted to sales and solution architecture.
Buyer's Guide
Infoblox DDI
December 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Infoblox DDI is a stable solution. There was one product, Advanced DNS Protection, that was recently mentioned. It is another solution from Infoblox. About five years ago, there were some stability issues, especially with the hardware version.
Whether it was hardware or a virtual appliance, the hardware version was not stable. However, they have made significant improvements and resolved many hardware issues. Currently, we are only selling the DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) product. So, I haven't encountered many cases where stability became a concern as they have addressed the hardware issues.
So far, based on the product we have installed for our customers, I would rate it a nine out of ten. But it also depends on the specific product implementation. Since we primarily sell the virtual solution, which integrates well with the customer's virtualization system, it provides added stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Infoblox DDI is a scalable solution. It's a scalable solution in general. I would rate the scalability an eight of ten.
How are customer service and support?
In the past five to six years, Infoblox DDI's technical support has been average. However, I can't comment on their current support as we haven't needed to contact them for technical assistance. We have been relying on their professional service support during the implementation phase. The professional service team has been responsive and quick in addressing our queries. But I can't provide a definitive answer on their technical support as we haven't yet opened a support case with Infoblox.
We are using support from a third-party provider, not directly from Infoblox. Infoblox does provide its own support. What I meant was that during the ongoing implementation phase, we are primarily relying on the professional service support from Infoblox.
We haven't transitioned to their regular technical support yet, as the professional service team is still involved in the project. So, once the professional service is done with the implementation, we will switch to Infoblox's regular technical support.
How was the initial setup?
Setting it up is not easy. It's not difficult, either. It requires certain configurations to be done, but once the admin understands how it's done, it will be easy to deal with. But it does take some time to become familiar with it in general.
What about the implementation team?
Infoblox DDI can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises, or if you want, even in organizations that don't have a window for the internet.
Deployment time depends. If it's a fresh installation, it won't take much time. But mostly in Infoblox DDI, the implementation includes migration, which can be a tough part, especially when migrating from Microsoft to Infoblox. It requires a dedicated tool from them to migrate the DNS server and DSCB from Microsoft. So that's the main challenge. But if you start from scratch, it will take not much time.
Additionally, if the customer doesn't have a DNS server from Microsoft, it's easier. So, if they focus on resolving integration troubles, that would make Infoblox a better solution.
In general, integration with third-party vendors has become complex now because they use custom APIs. So integration with other third parties is not a big deal now.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would say the pricing falls between average and expensive. It's not a cheap product.
I would rate it as an eight out of ten, with one being a low price and ten being a high price.
There are some additional actions that may incur additional costs. For example, one of the additional costs is the Enterprise Reporter license. It is an additional license required for reporting purposes. Infoblox DDI itself doesn't include reporting capabilities, so a dedicated solution is needed, which requires an additional license.
There are many features that were previously added one by one. For any single feature, an additional license was required. But now, since they have switched to a subscription-based model, you can get a lot of services and features in one license. So there's no need to add an additional license. It's less complicated now. That's the only thing I remember from the enterprise reports or reports enterprise that remains the same.
What other advice do I have?
I really recommend this type of solution because I'm sure most of our customers are using Microsoft DSCB and DNS, but there is no security for that because Microsoft doesn't have this type of security solution.
We are really focused on the security part, especially the DNS security part because there are a lot of attacks using DNS nowadays. Infoblox DDI is working hard on the end of security. So, I don't believe Microsoft can provide this. Therefore, I highly recommend people use solutions like Infoblox.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller