Digital infrastructure does a lot of heavy lifting. It delivers the responsiveness and availability demanded by enterprise applications which are being placed across multiple data centers (on-premise, in private clouds and in public clouds), and accessed from global locations.

According to Gartner, 81 percent of respondents now work with two or more providers, which means modern IT teams have to guarantee resiliency while working in an increasingly multi-cloud world.

Intelligent app access requires load balancing from the edge

Load Balancers and Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) are well-known tools for balancing server loads. ADCs distribute traffic within a single data center, while server Global Server Load Balancers (GSLBs) contribute value by distributing workloads across multiple data centers or sites.

Global Server Load Balancers integrated into recursive DNS servers and deployed at the network ‘edge’ (Edge DNS GSLBs) takes this to the next level. The benefits include simplified deployment, improved user experience, strengthened app resilience and, importantly, enhancement to any Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).

Major global outages like Google’s latest cloud failure are rare, but show even the biggest cloud players are vulnerable. Fortunately, the impact of cloud failure can be minimized by using DNS-based Edge GSLB to seamlessly route traffic to a defined and configured backup data center at another location. For network administrators, the three main steps of DRP are made much easier: 1) Preparation 2) Test 3) Activation

Detailed Preparation: Simple and Stress-Free

Changing the configuration of the DNS entries for multiple applications can be confusing and lead to errors. Edge DNS GSLB can be used to prepare the scenario and ease the activation.

Edge DNS GSLB linked to an application repository allows preparation at the server level that will be deployed at disaster time. Priority for switchover of each application, as defined in the BIA (Business Impact Analysis), can be prepared stress-free in advance.

Disaster scenario testing: Minimal impact on network and users

Using DNS to plan for a disaster means IT teams don’t need to risk disrupting the entire network when testing DRPs. They can easily test a DRP scenario at one pilot site and apply a DRP strategy to just one Edge DNS GSLB server without impacting other sites. This means they can confirm they have a robust strategy in place without impacting user access to the applications.

Switchover activation at disaster time: Fast, automated and error-free

With just one click, the configuration defined during the preparation phase can be applied when disaster occurs. During the disaster recovery phase, switching the manage status of the nodes per application priority will automatically change the DNS configuration on all the servers and direct the user application traffic towards services located in the backup data center.

Gain competitive ‘Edge’ by ensuring service continuity

For today’s businesses, every second of downtime is extremely costly. Users simply must be able to access critical apps at all times, so when planning for a disaster, ensuring service continuity is key for any modern organization to remain competitive. Putting DNS at the heart of DRP strategies will give multi-cloud businesses the best ‘Edge’ they need to succeed.