vNIOS for AWS Use-Cases

Extending your Infoblox grid into AWS with vNIOS appliances can provide solutions for many hybrid cloud infrastructure requirements and issues. The following are some of the common use cases:

DNS and RPZ for Public Cloud

A vNIOS appliance can be used as the primary DNS server in AWS VPCs. This allows you to extend your enterprise DNS and RPZ services into the public cloud. Clients running on AWS, attached to your VPCs, are able to use the same consolidated and secure DNS service as clients on-premises and in your private cloud environments. vNIOS appliances running the DNS service can be deployed in shared services or transit virtual networks and used for DNS resolution across other virtual networks via peering relationships. This is powerful especially when combined with the vDiscovery use case for automated creation of DNS records for your AWS resources.

IPAM and vDiscovery for Public Cloud

The Infoblox vDiscovery feature can be used for detecting and obtaining information about Tenants, VPCs, Subnets, and Virtual Machines operating in your AWS environments. Many organizations operate hybrid and multi-cloud environments that may contain many subscriptions and accounts. These environments tend to be very dynamic, with things such as VMs being created and terminated on a frequent basis. This makes it difficult to keep track of everything. With Infoblox vDiscovery, tasks can be configured to run automatically, allowing your Infoblox vNIOS appliance to keep track of all AWS environments, storing this data in IPAM. Infoblox vDiscovery can also be used to automate creation of DNS records for VMs running in your cloud environments. Using vDiscovery in conjunction with the Cloud Network Automation (CNA) feature, you will gain enhanced visibility into your cloud environments, all within a ‘single pane of glass’.

DHCP Service for On-Premises Clients

A vNIOS appliance running on AWS can provide DHCP service for your on-premises clients. This DHCP appliance can serve as your primary DHCP server or be configured as part of a failover pair with a NIOS DHCP server running on-premises for a hybrid, survivable solution. Two vNIOS appliances, each running in AWS could also be configured for DHCP failover for highly available, fault tolerant DHCP services. Using a vNIOS appliance running on AWS for DHCP requires using DHCP Relay or IP Helper on your router or layer 3 switch to send DHCP traffic from your on-premises network to your AWS VPC.

Reporting and Analytics

Infoblox Reporting and Analytics automates the collection, analysis, and presentation of core network service data that assists you in planning and mitigating network outage risks so you can manage your networks more efficiently. You can quickly create custom security reports and dashboards to identify security issues, ensuring that your network is secure and available. You can easily meet audit requirements with pre-configured, customizable compliance reports or quickly and easily create your own. To keep your Infoblox Grid running smoothly, you can track and project utilization of the Grid and easily forecast when you will need to scale up. Deploying Reporting members in AWS allows you to migrate workloads from the data center to the cloud and take advantage of the reliability and high availability of AWS deployments.

Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery

You can achieve Fault Tolerance and aid in Disaster Recovery of DDI services by deploying vNIOS appliances in AWS. In case of failure in the Primary Datacenter (power outage, network outage, or other critical failure) an Infoblox vNIOS appliance enabled as a Grid Master Candidate (GMC) can be promoted to the Grid Master role so that Grid services can continue to operate. Deploying vNIOS appliances in multiple regions and across availability zones can increase fault tolerance and survivability further. DNS services can also be redirected to vNIOS instances operating in AWS, possibly without even requiring any manual intervention, helping to ensure the business can continue to operate. DHCP fault tolerance can be achieved using Infoblox DHCP Failover configured between on-premises grid members and members running on AWS.

Network Insight

Infoblox Network Insight automates network discovery and provides a unified network view of layer 2 to layer 3 devices connected to the network such as routers, switches, load balancers, SDN and SD-WAN devices, virtual devices etc. Built on Infoblox’s flagship solution NIOS DDI, Network Insight enables authoritative IP address management with enhanced visibility.  It enables network administrators to easily gather, correlate, and view network data to increase agility, reduce risk and lower cost. Thus, it provides unprecedented on-prem network visibility for network management, eliminates conflicts and outages, improves operational efficiency and silos with streamlined workflows, and simplifies audit and compliance. Deploying Network Insight members in AWS allows you to migrate workloads from the data center to the cloud and take advantage of the reliability and high availability of AWS deployments.