Active Directory and Infoblox’s DNS and DHCP Services

Active Directory is Microsoft’s current network directory offering, used to provide authentication and authorization services to computers running Windows. This white paper describes how Active Directory uses DNS for registration and as a location broker, and how Infoblox appliances can support Active Directory, often more flexibly and securely than Microsoft’s own DNS server.

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Virtualization and Consolidation

Infoblox solutions on Riverbed Steelhead appliances provide customers best-of-breed core network services and WAN optimization on a single platform.

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ESG: Infoblox Introduces IPAM for Windows

This ESG brief summarizes the growing challenges for enterprises trying to manage increasingly complex and dynamic IP address space. It also highlights advantages of using the new Infoblox IPAM WinConnect Solution instead of spreadsheets to gain control and reduce operating costs associated with IP Address Management.

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Delivering IP Address Management in Microsoft Environments

IDC has reported that the IP address management market increased by nearly 50% in 2006 over 2005. The reason is simple: IPAM systems provide demonstrable operational benefits that improve IT operations and lower costs. Using Infoblox IPAM WinConnect solutions, organizations can automate manual processes, reduce network downtime, reduce help desk calls, and save money. This provides a win-win opportunity to create a more stable IT infrastructure, improve service delivery, and lower costs.

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Infoblox Return on Investment

Appliance-based Core Network Services deliver quick payback and lower total cost of ownership. The following ROI study concludes that implementing an appliance-based solution for core network services (DNS, DHCP, IPAM, RADIUS, TFTP, NTP, etc.) materially reduces life-cycle costs for organizations that want to simplify and secure their network infrastructure.

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Network Services in the Branch Office

What is the "True" cost of acquisition? This white paper compares the acquisition costs of general-purpose servers running Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition vs. Infoblox appliances deployed in the branch office. With the introduction of the Infoblox-250, the difference in acquisition costs has been greatly reduced, thereby, providing additional impetus for making the shift to appliances.

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Building a Solid Network Access Control (NAC) Solution

The Infoblox solution provides a robust foundation for new NAC implementations and supports a wide range of trade-offs between security, convenience, and cost. It can be installed initially to support basic network protections and enhanced to add sophisticated NAC services from third party systems. The solution is extremely cost effective—requiring nothing more than Infoblox appliances for DHCP and works with existing network infrastructure, back-end authentication, and endpoint scanning and remediation systems. It can be installed quickly because it requires no major upgrades to the core network infrastructure. And unlike NAC solutions that use overlay or inline devices that may become obsolete once an organization upgrades their network to 802.1X, the Infoblox NAC Foundation module is a lasting investment in critical DHCP infrastructure that increases in value over time.

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Providing Resiliency in Core Network Services

As “round-the-clock” business continuity becomes increasingly critical, organizations need to consider the importance of core network services to the continuous availability and, in the event of a disaster, recovery of every application on the network.
To ensure the resiliancy of your core network systems this white paper give you options to consider regarding implementation, graphical user interface(GUI), anycast, and grid configuration to name a few.

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Utility-Grade Core Network Services

Networks and applications have become highly dependent on a collection of essential core network services that are not always “visible” or on the forefront of IT project lists. For example, virtually all applications, including web, e-mail, ERP, CRM, and Microsoft’s Active Directory require the Domain Name System (DNS) for their basic operation. Most IP-based devices, including laptops and desktops, require Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to obtain an IP address. Newer devices such as IP phones, RFID readers, and cameras that are network-connected require file transfer services (via TFTP or HTTP) to receive configuration information and firmware updates. If core network services are compromised, networks and applications fail.

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The Core Network Services Disconnect

At the heart of all IP networks live core network services, like DNS, DHCP, and RADIUS, that are crucial for keeping traffic flowing, users connected, and applications available. As the number of IP-enabled devices and applications increases, is your core network service infrastructure capable of keeping up? ESG conducted a survey of 201 North American-based networking professionals working at organizations with more than 1,000 employees to help uncover the state of today's network and core network services, including DNS, DHCP, IPAM, and RADIUS.

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Infoblox Integrated IP Address Management (IPAM) Solution

IP address management (IPAM) provides the ability to effectively manage, control, monitor and assign the IP address space within a company. To provide effective IP address management, it is essential to control the two key services within a company that provide the naming and delivery of IP addresses—which are DNS and DHCP—as well as to supply the feature sets necessary to generate and present reports detailing IP address information and usage. In this paper, we will explain the importance of IP address management, discuss the different approaches to implementing IP address management solutions, and explain the features and advantages of the Infoblox IP address management solution.

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Securing Access to Wireless Networks Using 802.1X: Distributing Reliable, Secure, and Cost-Effective Authentication Throughout the Network

Organizations can no longer run an open network and they must start controlling access to their resources. The industry standard for securing access to a wireless network is 802.1X. Implementing 802.1X requires an authentication server that supports RADIUS, yet there are challenges deploying RADIUS in an extended enterprise. If any component of the 802.1X system fails, in particular the RADIUS server, legitimate users will be denied access to the network. This is an even bigger problem in the remote branch office when there is a WAN outage.

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Beyond Quality of Service (QoS): Preparing Your Network for a Faster Voice over IP (VoIP)/ IP Telephony (IPT) Rollout with Lower Operating Costs

IP telephony applications rely heavily on IP network infrastructure services to operate. General-purpose servers and other ad-hoc methods of provisioning these services are costly, difficult to maintain, and do not provide the level of reliability that the average user in a telephony environment expects. Furthermore, new requirements for security and mobility in next-generation IP telephony deployments rely even more on IP infrastructure services to operate. An Infoblox hardened appliance running multiple services in a highly reliable, centrally managed, and scalable platform provides the ideal way for an enterprise to ensure “network dial-tone” for highly reliable, secure, and manageable IP telephony solutions.

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Infoblox Grid Technology: Delivering Next-generation Solutions for Nonstop Core Network Services

Infoblox appliances deliver core network services—including DNS, DHCP, IPAM, TFTP, and RADIUS—in reliable, secure, easy-to-deploy and manageable platforms. Infoblox grids are created by linking appliances together across a distributed enterprise. The grid is not a separate management and reporting application that overlays the individual appliances. Rather, appliances in an Infoblox grid are linked using sophisticated distributed database technology embedded within each appliance. This transforms the collection of appliances into a unified system with very unique and beneficial attributes.

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Infoblox NIOS™ Software: Powering Nonstop Core Network Services

Infoblox NIOS™ software solves a growing, critical problem in enterprise networking: keeping core network services infrastructure—the core protocols and services that store and deliver information about users, devices, and policies for all IP applications—running nonstop. This infrastructure is the foundation that supports new security initiatives, pervasive mobile networking, convergence applications like VoIP, and growing compliance reporting requirements.

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DNS/DHCP: Why Users Prefer Appliances

Ask any seasoned networking professional and he will tell you that while corporate DNS/DHCP services aremission-critical they tend to receive minimal attention. This negligence is no longer tolerable -- businesses depend upon the network for access to data center resources, web-based applications, and IP phones; and network availability depends upon DNS/DHCP.

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Reliable DNS and DHCP for Microsoft Active Directory

Essentially all IP applications—web browsing, e-mail, VoIP, wireless, and many more—rely on the availability of robust DNS and DHCP services. With Active Directory's dependence on DNS as a core service, this reliance is further increased. Offloading DNS and DHCP services from domain controllers onto Infoblox appliances is easy and improves security, reliability, and availability—while simplifying and enhancing manageability and greatly reducing operating costs.

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DNS Appliance Architecture: Domain Name System Best Practices

While many of the principles in this design are agnostic of how DNS is deployed, appliances have provided the ability for companies to deliver this architecture as core network infrastructure—a significant leap in how DNS is deployed and managed. As with other network infrastructure, DNS appliances offer better reliability and security than name servers based on general-purpose operating systems, as well as significant features including high availability, powerful management interfaces, and easy backup and restore. As companies revisit and revise their DNS architectures in light of the increased importance of DNS as a network service, appliances should be considered as the key delivery mechanism for companies that want to optimize management and cost-effectiveness, enhance the security of their networks, and build a scalable, reliable platform for future network growth.

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The DNS Appliance Imperative

DNS has evolved into the de facto standard naming service on corporate networks. While organizations have come to rely on DNS to support their everyday business applications, the protocol and its implementations have grown in complexity. The service has also become a favorite target for hackers. This makes managing and securing an enterprise DNS infrastructure at once both imperative and challenging. Forward-looking enterprises that adopt appliances for DNS can reap the rewards of more reliable, more secure, and yet less costly DNS infrastructure that provides the foundation for today’s critical business applications and those to come.

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Securing Your External Name Servers

External name servers provide two important services to a corporate network: Resolving Internet domain names, usually on behalf of internal resolvers and name servers; and answering queries about the company’s domain names for name servers on the Internet. Cricket Liu, author of DNS and BIND, discusses the critical nature of external name servers and examines the practice of using common makes of name servers in that role, as well as Infoblox's DNSone appliance-based solution.

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