DNS Contingency Switcher

With the Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher, switching between live and backup services has never been easier.

The Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher enables operators to quickly update DNS entries with the correct host names and IP addresses when services or applications need to be switched to backup or contingent servers. This is useful in a disaster recovery situation but also when planned maintenance is required (such as applying Windows Server security patches) or business continuity processes need to be tested.

In organisations that rely on DNS to direct users to the correct services, manually changing DNS entries is fraught with difficulty. Editing DNS zone files by hand can result in errors being introduced, and when there are many entries to alter, it becomes a time consuming and stressful operation. Additionally, reverting the changes requires further edits to the zone files. Utilising DNS management products to perform these tasks is not always the answer as products generally only allow one entry to be changed at a time, and the process still requires manual data entry that can result in errors.

It is possible to script these changes, but often when changes are made to the environment it is common to find that the scripts have not been maintained, leading to numerous issues occuring when services need to be switched in an emergency.

DNS Contingency Switcher screen shot

The Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher utilises either Infoblox or VitalQIP DDI solutions to enable rapid DNS changes to be performed without any manual modification of DNS records, and eliminates human introduced errors and discrepancies.

By supporting the two leading DDI solutions, the Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher can be used with DNS servers from various vendors.

Additionally, by leveraging the DNSSEC capabilities of the underlying DDI solution, the Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher can be used to manually direct application traffic to specific servers by updating and automatically signing DNS records without any manual interaction, thus ensuring service levels are not affected due to invalid DNSSEC digital signatures. This makes the product ideal for switching services between different cloud vendors when using DNS to direct customers to specific cloud-based services.

The Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher uses industry standard web technology to deliver an intuitive user interface that enables operations staff to perform DR/BCP switches without the assistance of experienced DNS administrators, and has already saved many man-hours of work at some of the largest global institutions.

Accumuli Security DNS Contingency Switcher and IPAM System Integration