What is DNS?
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a central part of the Internet, providing a way to match names (for instance a web site that you’re seeking) to numbers (the IP address of the web site). Anything connected to the Internet – laptops, tablets, mobile phones, websites – has an Internet Protocol (IP) address made up of numbers.
Our web site has an IP address of 146.66.91.189, but this is obviously not easy to remember. However, our web site’s domain name (or address) https://zen.net.au is something that people can recognise and remember.
You can think of DNS as a ‘phone book’ for the Internet. DNS resolves (or translates) domain names to IP addresses, enabling humans to use memorable domain names while computers on the Internet use IP addresses to communicate.
What is DNS used for?
- Resolving names of web sites
- Routing messages to e-mail servers and webmail services
- Connecting app servers, databases and middleware within a web application
- Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
- Peer-to-peer sharing programs
- Multi-player games
- Instant messaging and online meeting services
- Communication between IoT devices, gateways and servers
Most consumers and many organisations just use the DNS servers provided by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). The issues with this approach are:
Your ISP will provide almost no content filtering via their DNS servers:
- Sites that are known to contain malware will not be blocked
- Sites that contain non-business use content will not be blocked
- There is no reporting of sites that your staff have visited
Managed DNS – security and reporting
The benefits of using a Managed DNS Service are:
- Improved security
- Sites that are known to contain malware and adware are blocked automatically
- Using Managed DNS adds an additional layer of protection to your network
- Improved productivity
- You can implement a “business use” policy that blocks access to inappropriate content (e.g. porn, violence, peer-to-peer file sharing etc.)
- Reporting of the sites that have been accessed by staff
- You can’t manage what you don’t understand, the reporting provides an insight into the activity occurring on your network.
Pricing
Managed DNS is available from $30ex per month (up to 50 users).
If you have questions or would like to implement Managed DNS, please contact us for further details.