Multicloud IP Address Management and DNS with Azure

Using appliance-driven architectures made sense years ago. With the onslaught of multicloud and SASE architectures, though, an overlay DDI solution saves you from costly cloud expenses and technical debt.

What's in a Name?

Names are how we identify things, especially in the world of IT. We can't just say to a server, "hey you," and hope it knows we're talking to it. Devices require some sort of identification for means of communication, and therefore require IP addresses and often more human readable names provided by DNS. We then create groups by assigning risk levels and affinities in order to more easily organize and secure our devices.

This is fundamental to IT, no matter what kind of architecture we're working with currently or plan to move towards in the future. Multicloud is no exception. However, what we do introduce is more complexity (or maybe it's been there all along and this is just the year of customer experience for B2B). Let's also discuss a quick definition of what we mean by multicloud. Having multiple sites, even including public cloud instances isn't really new. We could likely even say it's been around for decades. What's new is the ability to simplify operations around this kind of architecture. Using the same management and orchestration solutions in our public cloud instances as we do on-premises is one way to simplify operations, likely the most useful way to do this currently.

As footprints inevitably grow and change, multicloud IP Address Management (IPAM) and DNS administration become even more crucial for  assets you own. Each new edge, network, or cloud-based resource increases the burden of operational responsibility. Unified DDI management and orchestration become table stakes which require going beyond keeping the network up to providing the best performance while making management sustainable.

Simplicity Leads to Security

As the attack surface grows, as is the case with multicloud, it makes sense that malicious attackers will find new ways and paths to attempt to hack into our systems. While having layered security, defense in depth, is key to this, there is another element which is important. That is simplicity and consistency.

In the 2022 Data Breach Investigation Report by Verizon, it's noted that "the human element continues to drive breaches." In fact, about 82% of attacks were because of human error as we wrote up in our recent blog about MFA. In order to create the most secure environment, it's necessary to be consistent and ensure we're checking all the boxes. By using overlay technologies, we can use the same workflows both on-premises and in the cloud to ensure we're maintaining those consistent deployments whether we're using a GUI or an API. Overlays act as a standardized tools for your entire DNS, DHCP, and IPAM environment.

Azure DNS and Azure Active Directory

Men&Mice and Microsoft have a long standing partnership with similar core values. Microsoft wants to make it easy for their customers to explore and migrate to public cloud and multicloud architectures, while minimizing risk that their current Microsoft solutions will have issues. Men&Mice do a similar thing, offering our customers the ability to more easily migrate to the appropriate DDI services for their workloads, while maintaining sustainable management operations. Micetro, by Men&Mice will help you do this no matter what you're using on-premises or in the public cloud with Azure, AWS, or others.

It's commonly stated, though I don't have the actual data, that about 95% of companies use Microsoft Active Directory (AD) for identity services. An example of how Microsoft is making it easy for companies to move to Azure is by introducing Azure AD Connect, which allows organizations the ability to synchronize users, groups, and objects while offering federation integration, enhanced security, and health monitoring. Of course, Micetro integrates with both your on-premises AD and Azure AD as well.

Embracing public cloud still entails Azure DNS and IPAM records being fresh and accurate. System observability and controllability are still key for both traditional and cloud footprints. The boundaries of IP and the challenges with DNS and namespaces persist. Irrespective of how you end up connecting users and agents to on-premises or cloud-based workloads, unified DNS, DHCP, and IPAM (DDI) solutions set you up to succeed, continually and reliably.

DDI Automation, Orchestration, and Management

Using a single authoritative UI and API, an OTT(Over The Top), or overlay, DDI solution enables simple integration while streamlining interactions across silos without displacing them. This DDI solution then becomes the one trusted System of Record (SoR). When your perspective shifts to view DNS as the beating heart of a digital footprint, it’s not just operations and security teams that demand effective and efficient Change Management and record management; it also heavily impacts project and product team delivery.

For More Information and How To Configure

If you'd like more information on why and how to configure Azure integration with Micetro, check out this white paper. You'll read all about the business and technical drivers for multicloud architectures, and then see how you can actually configure the integration with the GUI or APIs.