Abstract

Infoblox commissioned Tolly to evaluate Infoblox Universal DDI for multi-platform management across on-premises and public-cloud DDI environments. The main focus of the project was to assess how effectively Universal DDI simplifies DNS, DHCP, and IP address management across local infrastructure and cloud DNS services by replacing separate administrative workflows with a single management plane and a unified API.  

The report centers on hybrid DDI administration spanning on-premises resources plus Amazon Route 53, Microsoft Azure DNS, and Google Cloud DNS. Tolly found that Infoblox Universal DDI provides a single front-end interface for managing these otherwise separate environments, allowing authorized administrators to work from one console instead of moving among multiple vendor portals, credentials, and change logs. As illustrated in the workflow diagrams on pages 1 and 4, the platform does not replace native cloud DNS services; instead, it acts as a unified control layer above them, streamlining management while preserving access to the underlying cloud services.  

Tolly’s test results highlight measurable operational gains. In individual cloud portals, updating a single DNS record reportedly took between 30 and 80 seconds, while the same task through the Infoblox portal required 20 to 33 seconds. In a broader test involving a single DNS-record change across four environments—three cloud platforms plus NIOS-X—the task required 240 seconds when handled separately, but only 97 seconds through Universal DDI. That represents a 59.6% improvement in task time, according to the report. Tolly notes that the separate-portal timing reflects a “perfect world” scenario in which one person already has access to all cloud interfaces, whereas real-world enterprises often face added delays from multiple accounts, fragmented internal responsibilities, and service-ticket handoffs.  

The report also emphasizes automation benefits through the Universal DDI API. Rather than forcing developers to write and maintain separate scripts for AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and on-premises systems, Infoblox provides a vendor-neutral API that abstracts those back-end differences. Tolly verified a programmed workflow that used the same API calls to provision a new DNS record across each tested cloud service and confirmed that the records were created correctly. The report concludes that Universal DDI can reduce administrative complexity, lower staffing burden, and accelerate DDI changes in hybrid multi-cloud environments through one console, one workflow, and one API.