BlueCat DNS and DHCP Server for AWS

BlueCat Integrity  is one of my main roles here, and we use it a lot. We use BlueCat Integrity  as our main DDI  function. DDI  stands for DHCP, DNS and IPAM, and we use the full functionality that BlueCat Integrity provides to us.

For example, regarding DNS, which is the most important functionality of the DDI, we depend on other products, even if they are BlueCat products, to provide us with categorization of external DNS.

In our company right now, we have more than 1,000 domains and we have a couple thousand networks. We are a company that has more than 300 locations and around 100,000 employees. With one person, it is not sufficient for our needs. However, it depends on the size of the company. If the company is a little bit smaller, one person for sure can take care of it. In my specific case, a team is necessary because of the scale and how large we are.

BlueCat Integrity is a very mature and reliable product, and we really love it. BlueCat has other products that we use as well, but this one is the base. If this one is not working well, it would not be a good product, and we would not even be using the other ones. We can say it is extremely mature and reliable, and these are the things that I like the most about it.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single pane of glass view of our IP address space for us, for sure. That is true.

It is extremely important. Otherwise, it would not be something that we would be using. For example, as I mentioned, BlueCat has even other additional products, and one of the things that we request them all the time is to integrate these other products in the single pane of glass, even though if it is not the core of DDI. This is pretty good, what they are doing, and they are improving and evolving it a lot, which is something we appreciate.

I would say yes, BlueCat Integrity has helped me to reduce human error in practice. The interface is pretty good and it has some automatic verifications that can be done.

Regarding what I dislike about BlueCat Integrity, they have improved the interface right now. It is more modern, and we are even using the new version. All the automation is good. I believe they could add more security features embedded in the product. Security features would be something that I would suggest.

For example, regarding DNS, which is the most important functionality of the DDI, BlueCat Integrity could suggest specific hardening on the DNS configuration when we are talking about the DNS records themselves. One thing I would love is whenever I configure a domain that is externally exposed, BlueCat Integrity could provide additional security guidance.

I specifically started to use BlueCat Integrity when I joined CGI around eight years ago. However, CGI has had it for longer than eight years.

The stability of BlueCat Integrity is pretty good. I do not recall the last time we had a very important incident with DNS. It is really pretty stable. This comes to the thing that I mentioned in the beginning. BlueCat Integrity is a platform that is mature and that we can trust.

Regarding scalability, our solution has so many servers and so much redundancy, and we did not even get into a point where we needed to add more servers because of load. We are pretty overprovisioned. If you need to add additional devices and if you know how to do it and if you need to increase your size, it is easy if you know what you are doing. The scalability of the product is pretty good. It is easy to replicate, create new sites, and expand the system.

I have contacted the technical support or customer support every week. I believe that we have the premium support regarding the quality and the speed. The support is excellent. We have a good relationship with them. When you have an issue, you know that the issue is not only yours, but theirs as well. The way I am talking to you reflects that I really appreciate this vendor. It is easy to work with them. Until now, I would give the support a score of 10. They have been doing a very good job.

I did not use a commercial product previously. I only used freeware tools. For example, the DNS server which is BIND. BlueCat Integrity actually relies on BIND as well. What BlueCat Integrity does is provide orchestration and management, a layer above BIND that helps us a lot with the management of everything. I have never used a product that was comparable. I used a little bit of SolarWinds, but I would not be so prepared to compare both. There are other IPAM solutions in the market. However, with the extent of BlueCat Integrity usage that I have as well as the experience, it is difficult for me to compare with the other ones because I used them briefly.

The initial deployment of BlueCat Integrity is easy. It is pretty good.

One person can do the deployment, but it really depends on the size of your company or the size of your installation. In our company right now, we have more than 1,000 domains and we have a couple thousand networks. We are a company that has more than 300 locations and around 100,000 employees. With one person, it is not sufficient for our needs. However, it depends on the size of the company. If the company is a little bit smaller, one person for sure can take care of it. In my specific case, a team is necessary because of the scale and because of how large we are.

If you ask me this question in six months regarding the pricing of BlueCat Integrity, I probably will have a better idea because it is a renewal time. I can tell you it is expensive or cheap, but I do not know what the market is charging for this product specifically. I am a technical person, not from procurement. Perhaps we are paying a price that is a lot for what the market is requesting for this kind of solution, or perhaps it is not a lot. The price I would like to pay does not necessarily mean that the price that the market has for this kind of solution. According to what I know, it is a fair price. However, I cannot tell you a lot more than that.

BlueCat Integrity's automation capabilities are pretty good, and we have been using it a lot. I would rate this review a 10.

Predominantly, my use cases for BlueCat Integrity  include DDI , DHCP, and DNS services within our organization.

I like most about it that it is centralized, and that is the key point. Being able to understand the overall health and configuration of your environment from a single pane of glass is invaluable. Prior to this, I was running predominantly Microsoft-based services, which require you to log into individual devices or servers one at a time. BlueCat Integrity  solves that problem tremendously for me. Within this enterprise, I have over 150 of these devices running around that I do not have to log into individually. I log into one location and centrally manage them all.

Centralized management is the number one and most critical advantage. Individually managing Microsoft DHCP or DNS servers is always not fun, but centralized management is a huge advantage for any grid-style DNS environments or DHCP environments. Between BlueCat Integrity and Infoblox, these are competitive products that compete against the Microsoft free tools. They are not free, but if you license them, I think you understand what I am saying. Compared to Microsoft, Microsoft is great for smaller environments. When you get into larger environments, it just becomes unmanageable. BlueCat Integrity really shines in that space.

They are killing it for us. It has been working so well and so nicely since we re-architected a few years ago. That was probably when I did my first PeerSpot  review, as BlueCat Integrity picked up a bad reputation. It was not really BlueCat Integrity's fault. It was due to internal decision-making to try to figure things out on our own. We could not figure things out, so that is when I got involved and said, 'Let us get BlueCat Integrity in the arena.' We re-architected, redesigned, redeployed, and things have gone from zeros to heroes because of that.

There is not much to dislike about it. It is not a Microsoft product. It is based on Linux. I am a Microsoft guy learning to run these Linux environments. So there is a little bit of a learning curve there if you are not already a native or natural Linux user.

We do have to patch our environments, probably quarterly, with hot fixes or updates that we have to apply. Updates and maintenance and applying them could be improved. Unfortunately, we can only do them one at a time. We have to follow them sequentially. We cannot do them all in mass. That does become a problem for us, especially if we have a zero-day threat that is sitting out there that is live. If I cannot update my environment within moments, then I am challenged. In order to update this environment with 150 plus devices, I have to go through one at a time. That can take us several days to be able to patch.

Our API is the only automation capability. Our networking team who provisions our new networks as we build a new environment or a new site or we acquire a new organization handles a lot of that through automation via API. They provision and build up the permissions and rights and access model for each new network and sub-network. We are considering and trying to determine if we need to get even more automated and whether or not we need to leverage more API capability. We are building a team of automation engineers, and they are looking around and digging to find something to work on. We could do some more automation, but what would we do? We still have not figured out what else we would do.

For my team that runs the actual BlueCat Integrity environment, we do not use API automation. Our networking team who provisions and builds the new networks handles that via API. We have thought about going through more in-depth automation, but we cannot find a good use case for it in terms of what level of engagement we want to take with it and how dedicated we want to be to become a development shop. That is still on the wings and we are trying to figure out if this is something that we can handle, or do we continually have to rely upon an external developer. BlueCat Integrity does not develop for us. They have a certain level of liability that they will not accept when it comes to automation and scripting through their API. They say they will guide us, but they will not do it for us.

I have been literally using it for just about 10 years.

Every day, we rely on BlueCat Integrity. That was largely due to the fact that about two or three years ago, the failure rate in our self-made design was terrible. We were dropping hospitals all across the country, at least five a week, with upwards of 30 hospitals per month being impacted due to poor design choices. With the assistance of BlueCat Integrity and re-architecting, redesigning, and redeploying, our failure rate has gone to zero. Dropping 30 hospitals a month, where each hospital is hundreds of beds with thousands of employees, taking them offline is not a good thing. Since we have done our redeployment after last January when we finished, we have enjoyed a complete redeployment and for the last 15 or 16 months, we have had zero failure in the same manner that we were having 30 per month before.

If you do not design and deploy correctly, you can have lots of instability. Following proper design and good manufacturer's best practice recommendations, stability has been exceptional.

Scalability is great as well. We could just plug as many devices as we want into the environment and continue to grow it. Currently, we are at over 150 BlueCat Integrity devices, running at least 70 primary mainstream hospitals and over 1,200 clinical locations. Scalability is great.

It was very easy with guided assistance from BlueCat Integrity teams. The key reason why it made it so much easier for us is that we opted for a premium level of support. We did have to upgrade our support level to really get BlueCat Integrity to participate and help us redesign. That is not their fault. That was us choosing to be cheap the first time around by not purchasing an appropriate level service contract. Once we got that, those guys were really champs and helped us through it.

It is all a matter of which support tier you subscribe to. We have opted for the premium tier here now. That affords us a dedicated team lead that we talk to on a monthly basis. He reviews our conditions. We have come to know each other by first names. He knows our environment, and we know how they operate. At that tier, when you are willing to pay for it, their support level is impeccable. If you go with free or basic support, then you are at the mercy of just about any other support organization, getting the random luck of the draw on which engineer picks up the phone and you have to educate them on what your system is or what your environment is. Having a dedicated support team and a dedicated Customer Success Manager has been immensely helpful for us.

I think the pricing is extremely fair, and if you go to other grid-based services and other competitors in this space, there are not many that I know of. Infoblox is the big one. I am in the middle of assessing and understanding Infoblox's pricing models, but I already know that they are three times what I am paying for BlueCat Integrity.

Centralized management is the biggest selling point that BlueCat Integrity has got. That is the main reason I appreciate the product. All day, every day, I believe this is true. Left to humans, we will screw it up. Some of our automations that are there for provisioning are working great. Now we are trying to figure out how we grow and become a little bit more mature in our space, and we have got an automation team actively investigating ways to improve our scenario.

Large grid style DDI  implementations aren't for everyone. If you're in a smaller organization, where you might only have a handful of devices, you may not be able to justify costs of running a DDI solution. The value really starts to grow when you have dozens or hundreds of devices that need management. A single pane of glass and single point of administration is invaluable to enterprises. Instead of having to uniquely administer individual DNS or DHCP servers, you can do it almost 100% from a single Bluecat Address Manager interface. But if you are an enterprise, you can expect to centralize and reduce your efforts. Our Bluecat SME can just about handle the entire operation himself with about 1/3 of his time dedicated to Bluecat. His other time is available for other support/engineering needs. We do have a few folks trained up though, to eliminate a single point of failure in our internal support model.

I love a lot about it. Is it perfect? No, there is still some opportunity. If I had to give an overall score, I would give it a nine.

We use it for getting an IPAM solution in AWS , which is our first use case. The second use case is we also use it for our on-premise networks to manage the IP ranges. We have distributed all the IP networks, and for DHCP and DNS, we use this software internally for our enterprise network.

We started seeing the benefits of Micetro  immediately because as we started using it, we didn't have to go back to the Excel sheets that we were earlier following and then updating as we moved along. If somebody's using it, we could see for DHCP if the IP allocation is getting full or not, and it would give us an alert. If the users are completely using it, then we know that we need to allocate some more IP range to any site, and that really helped us.

The integration that we did is easy to build up for the on-premise network, and everything regarding DHCP was a good experience for the on-premise team that I'm working with in building up the DHCP and the DNS for the on-premise network.

The initial deployment was fairly easy because we started with the DHCP product for the enterprise network, and the experience with that was very good.

They can improve their support for the CDNV application, which is Cloud Discovery and Visibility. I had to chase BlueCat support a lot for this application, and the support was not good. The CDNV application administration documents were not updated, and they are doing it via a containerized architecture, but that didn't work. We faced a lot of issues during the implementation of CDNV for duplicate files and everything during the initial process.

The CDNV application documentation was not good, and also the support should have been better. We faced a lot of issues in getting support and finding the right person who can help us with issues, so that was always a challenge in the past year from the BlueCat team.

With scalability, if I'm planning to scale it to other instances, there are multiple versions of BlueCat running, and if I want to scale it in other regions as well, I need a license, and then all the stuff that comes with it. There were issues when I was working with the team on it concerning the license, the gateway, and how it is going to look.

We've been using the BlueCat DNS, DHCP, and also their Cloud Discovery and Visibility (CDNV) software for two years now.

We have not experienced any instability with Micetro .

With scalability, there is an issue.

They can improve their support for the CDNV application, which is Cloud Discovery and Visibility. I had to chase BlueCat support a lot for this application, and the support was not good.

We faced issues, but we did not use any alternatives to Micetro, and we are planning for alternatives right now, looking for possible solutions.

The initial deployment was fairly easy because we started with the DHCP product for the enterprise network, and the experience with that was very good.

It took close to three weeks. It was less than a month, approximately two sprints, but it was fairly easy.

There were three people working on this for the deployment process.

We started seeing the benefits of Micetro immediately because as we started using it, we didn't have to go back to the Excel sheets that we were earlier following and then updating as we moved along.

I don't have much idea on the pricing because that's completely with the vendor and the VPs, and the stakeholders who are buying this product.

We faced issues, but we did not use any alternatives to Micetro, and we are planning for alternatives right now, looking for possible solutions.

If I were to put the support on a scale from one to ten, I would give a score of four.

We are users without any partnerships with BlueCat.

Somebody needs to see how the application is running on it, and it also needs to be updated. The versions of BlueCat need to be updated, and while we faced some challenges there, it went with support.

Overall, I rate Micetro a seven out of ten.

In the past, we did not have a DDI  system, so information was distributed in different places. As our environment became more complicated with on-campus, remote offices, and cloud setups, we wanted to integrate all the information together. We recognized the need for a DDI  system.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single pane of glass view for the IP address space, which is important for general planning, design, and implementation. As the environments become more complex, it is very hard to grab information from different places.

It has helped us avoid overlapping information, which is a major benefit as previously we picked up information from different places. We have largely been using IPAM and DNS, although the DNS migration into BlueCat is still in progress.

BlueCat Integrity has helped reduce human error by 20% to 30%.

BlueCat Integrity might have had some effect on reducing downtime or improving network stability. It is hard to measure the effect. Both these aspects are operations-related. If we avoid any overlap in the design and planning phases, generally, it can lower operational risk.

It is easy to use. It has an understandable GUI interface. Its deployment is relatively easy. I would rate it a nine out of ten for ease of use.

The license model of BlueCat Integrity  is easier to manage compared to Infoblox.

The solution is too granular and sometimes complex to configure. We do not always need so many details. Simpler configurations with fewer details would be beneficial.

The API aspect could be improved with more use cases and better handling of object attributes. It is already better than in previous versions. Their product team is planning further improvements in the upcoming version 9.6.

Last month, we had a roadmap meeting with the BlueCat product team. There will be a lot of improvements in version 9.6 coming in the second half of 2025. We will then upgrade our system to that one. It will have quite a lot of new features.

We started testing it three to four years ago, and the system has been operational for around two to three years.

BlueCat Integrity  is quite stable. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.

I would rate the scalability of the solution a seven out of ten.

We have about 50 people working with this solution in the organization.

Their technical support is good. The previous solution that we were using was open source.

BlueCat's technical support is a bit better than Infoblox's. They are quite responsive. They usually get back within one to two hours, or even faster for urgent issues. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

We used phpIPAM for some programs, but for others, we only had Excel sheets, which were not ideal.

phpIPAM is an open-source product, but it only functions as a pure IPAM without integration with DNS or DHCP. It was more of a documentation tool. We also tested NetBox for a while but did not use it in production.

We have a hybrid deployment model. The implementation was done over a period of six to eight months involving four to five people. It was neither too simple nor too complex.

In terms of maintenance, it requires upgrades every two to three months. The upgrades can be done in a few hours, but, normally, we schedule it across a week. We upgrade some of the things first and then upgrade the rest.

The implementation involved four to five people.

It has helped save time, money, and resources by 20% to 30%. As we are migrating other tools into this one, there can be 30% to 40% cost savings.

Our licensing model with BlueCat Integrity is cheaper than Infoblox.

We did a brief comparison of Infoblox and BlueCat.

I would recommend BlueCat Integrity to others. It is quite easy to use. The product's performance is stable, and support is good.

The general documentation is also good. The API part can be improved a little bit. Overall, it is a good solution.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity a nine out of ten.

We have been a partner of BlueCat for two years now, and we are responsible for deploying the solution over the Middle East region. I have the most experience with BlueCat Integrity.

BlueCat Integrity is generally easy to use and administer, though the ease of use can vary depending on the user's experience level. Migration can be complex for beginners or those new to IT, but daily operation is straightforward.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single interface for managing IP address space, DNS, and DHCP within one console. Many organizations have separate consoles or teams for these functions, leading to unused IP space and a lack of awareness regarding its allocation. If team members leave, knowledge of this IP space is lost, resulting in wasted resources and inefficient management, especially when viewed from a cross-team perspective.

It provides immediate benefits by allowing us to easily migrate our existing files to its software. The software then automatically identifies any missing or misconfigured elements in our network environment, providing a comprehensive overview and improving overall efficiency.

The primary migration tool helps reduce human error by automating the transfer of existing network configurations into the BlueCat system. This tool simplifies the migration process and verifies configurations against industry best practices, highlighting potential issues. While BlueCat offers recommendations, it ultimately allows users to make informed decisions and retain specific configurations necessary for their unique environment, such as those required for certain products to function correctly.

BlueCat consolidates disparate network management tools. Organizations often rely on default Microsoft DNS and DHCP servers, which are separate tools within Active Directory, and manage IP addresses through the DHCP server. This results in three separate components with different consoles and configurations. BlueCat streamlines this by integrating all these functions into a single, unified platform.

It has helped organizations by providing automation features that can handle specific IT tasks, freeing up IT staff for other projects.

BlueCat reduces the total cost of ownership by automating tasks, which allows IT staff to focus on other projects instead of managing DNS and DHCP tools. Additionally, BlueCat consolidates functionalities into a single server, decreasing infrastructure costs associated with separate solutions and consoles. This automation and consolidation significantly reduce IT costs.

Once correctly configured and deployed, it offers significant relief through its automation capabilities. This automation enables features like automatic failover to redundant DNS or DHCP servers, eliminating concerns about server failures and ensuring service continuity. IP address management can also be automated based on device and location, further streamlining network administration. With proper configuration, BlueCat Integrity minimizes the need for ongoing manual intervention and reduces the administrative burden on network administrators.

The most valuable feature of BlueCat Integrity  is decentralized management, which enables real-time visibility and control over the entire IP address space, DNS, and DHCP from a single console. This feature is crucial for organizations.

The user interface could be improved, as the implementation of BlueCat can be complicated and requires personnel with expertise in DNS, DHCP, and IP management.

We have been a partner of BlueCat for two years.

BlueCat is a well-known, stable solution in the community, with an architecture designed for reliability. The appliance itself provides a clustered environment, so even if one service fails, there's no need for manual configuration or worry. This built-in redundancy minimizes service disruptions, ensuring your network runs smoothly at all times.

BlueCat Integrity's scalability depends on the type of appliance used, so we typically communicate with the customer to determine their IP address and DNS server needs. Virtual appliances offer inherent scalability by simply adding resources for smooth software operation, with performance contingent on the provided hardware specifications.

BlueCat's customer support, particularly its solutions team, has been excellent. While I've collaborated extensively with its partner team, including solution architects, I haven't needed to contact its general technical support.

We have seen customers using Infoblox and Microsoft IPAM, and we have migrated these customers to BlueCat. BlueCat is better because it provides a unique blend of features and flexibility.

Implementing BlueCat Integrity itself is straightforward, but migrating data from older configurations and consolidating solutions can be complex for those who aren't seasoned professionals.

The deployment of the solution itself takes about two or three hours. Migration depends on the size of the IP address management and can take nearly 24 hours.

The number of people required for deployment depends on their experience with the BlueCat solution. As an implementation service provider, we could deploy with two people at most. While the interface may seem complex to those unfamiliar with it, customers should also be able to deploy with two to three people: one with IP knowledge, one with DNS expertise, and one with DHCP experience. Ultimately, the most crucial requirement is someone who thoroughly understands the environment where the solution will be deployed.

I handle professional services as a partner, providing integration and migration support to customers in the Middle East. It typically requires two people to implement the solution.

BlueCat helps reduce IT cost because it automates many tasks. This automation frees up staff for other projects and consolidates several solutions onto a single server, reducing infrastructure costs.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity nine out of ten. The only negative is the complexity that can occur around migrations.

BlueCat is not typically used to directly prevent downtime. While its DNS functionality helps resolve domain names, this depends entirely on how it's configured within your organization or solution. BlueCat doesn't actively support downtime prevention. Although it aids in the handover process between multiple DNS or DHCP servers, it offers no active functionality to prevent downtime for a single DNS server.

Upgrading BlueCat Integrity requires some downtime, regardless of whether it's a physical or virtual appliance. The process involves setting up the new appliance and migrating the configuration from the old appliance. While virtual appliance migration typically takes under an hour, physical appliance upgrades require additional time for installation and initial setup. The configuration transfer is relatively quick, simply importing and exporting existing settings.

If someone believes they don't need a full DDI solution, I recommend they first verify their IP address management is accurate and all allocated addresses are being utilized effectively. They should also confirm their DNS is functioning correctly and that critical services are operating as expected. There's a high chance of misconfigurations or outdated settings that could lead to downtime or security vulnerabilities. This is where a dedicated DDI solution can provide comprehensive management and prevent potential issues.

New users should understand their organization's IP structure and DNS configurations before implementing BlueCat for a smooth experience. It is important to be familiar with DDI  technologies.