Infoblox NIOS PayGo

My main use case for Infoblox NIOS  is the services which it offers like DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. It is highly reliable and scales well in the enterprise environment. Infoblox NIOS  provides centralized DNS, DHCP, and DDI  management as one platform to manage the services and network automation. It also helps in IP assignments and for new VM provisioning and is ideal for DevOps and cloud environments. It makes the job easier. It also provides security to detect malware, phishing, and control traffic early before damage happens. These use cases are very valuable and are provided by the vendor.

Infoblox NIOS has positively impacted my organization because since we began using the tool, we have experienced fewer outages regarding IP conflicts, wrong DNS entries, and DHCP mistakes. We have achieved faster incident resolution due to the clear view of logs, and operational discipline has been implemented because of the one source of all IP address management and the speed and control it provides. All of these aspects are things which we should appreciate.

The best features Infoblox NIOS offers are numerous features I would like to appreciate about the appliance. The DDI  solutions it provides and the DHCP management it provides are excellent. Among all these features, the control it gives to the engineers is something which should be appreciated. The control and automation it puts in place eliminate errors, speed up deployments, and ensure network reliability and stability. The single source of all IP management and scalability it provides, along with the logs and troubleshooting features, are all things which make the work easier.

Out of the best features Infoblox NIOS offers, I find myself using the IPAM feature mostly because every team depends on IP management for the network, server, and whatever VM they are deploying. Tracking these IPs manually is not feasible. Through Infoblox NIOS, IP address management at a large scale becomes easier, which also helps in resolving conflicts and makes audit and compliance easier. It solves issues by providing a single source of all IP address management, VLANs, and also prevents the duplicate allocation of IP addresses. The IP lifecycle is one of the most precious features it provides.

A specific example of a situation where Infoblox NIOS really made a difference for my team is during a major application outage when users could not access the internal portal. The network and server teams were blaming each other. Using Infoblox NIOS, the NOC team quickly checked the DNS record history and saw that a recent automated deployment changed the A record to the old IP. Because Infoblox NIOS maintains the DNS change logs and role-based ownership, the exact change time and the source were identified within minutes and the record was rolled back immediately, restoring the services. This minimized the impact of the outage and it was resolved within minutes. We were able to see the logs and roll back the changes without having to do the guesswork and the audit trail was clear. The post-incident review was quick and everything was quickly restored and the automation fixed it. The visibility and control which it provides is something we all appreciated.

Infoblox NIOS can be improved because there is always a scope of improvement in everything. I would recommend UI simplicity. The UI is powerful, actually, but it feels heavy for new users. A more modern and task-oriented interface would reduce the onboarding time. Advanced features such as grid extensibility and APIs require solid training. Better guided workflows and in-product tips would help teams adopt faster. Reporting  and dashboard are very interactive, but I think the built-in reports are functional but basic. More customizable visual dashboards would help managers and NOCs quickly see trends. The licensing clarity feels a bit complex. If the packaging were clearer and there was easier visibility of the feature uses, it would help with planning and cost control.

I feel that if there could be any feature related to role-based self-service portals integrated for non-network teams, that would help in reducing the dependency on the network team for other teams. That would help in collaborating better.

I have been using Infoblox NIOS for around five years total, and it has been a great experience.

Infoblox NIOS is stable and is regarded as very stable and reliable in production networks. It is designed for critical infrastructure, high availability, minimal downtime, and predictable behavior. In our environment, all of these aspects have been proved correct.

Infoblox NIOS scales very well. That is one of the strongest features it provides. The grid architecture allows you to run not just one box, but a grid of appliances. As per the need, it grows and you can add more members. The grid also shares the load, data, and redundancy. Global and multi-site scales are also features it provides, all synchronizing DNS and DHCP and IPAM data across data centers and regions and branch offices. Regarding DDI, DNS and DHCP at scale, it handles millions of DNS queries per second and huge lease volume without hiccups. The IPAM for large networks is designed to handle thousands of subnets and millions of IPs. We are using the same in our environment as well, and it is working without any hiccups and issues. I think it is very much stable.

Customer support for Infoblox NIOS is excellent. Whenever we needed any support in case of any issues, the engineers who joined our calls were professional and knowledgeable. They supported issues related to DNS, DHCP, and the grid architecture, providing not just scripted answers, but also helping us with configuration, outages, and complex troubleshooting. The support was structured and the documentation and the community-based knowledge are all very helpful in learning and self-service as well. When escalating any issue, the structure was very well-defined and the support which was given from the higher levels was also very good.

I can confirm that we did not previously use a different solution. We have been using Infoblox NIOS only since the time I joined the organization.

Regarding the return on investment for the deployment, automated IPAM has reduced errors by 60 to 70%. Incident resolution was faster by 40 to 60% as compared to previously. On operational effort, we have achieved 70% saving on labor cost, and also significant downtime reduction. This is helping us achieve five to 10 times faster delivery due to the reduced downtime, and also the near-zero audit preparation time because of the built-in logs and reports. A single DDI platform helps us with license and infrastructure cost reduction. It also scales to 1,000 appliances, which helps in future cost avoidance as well. The scalability aspect also adds up to the benefit. If we consider the ROI, we would say that it is approximately 300% plus.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been great because Infoblox NIOS supports multiple licensing models. We bought the perpetual plus support contract which provides renewed support yearly. The costs are priced per unit. For us, we got some discount as well since we have been using this tool for five to six years. For renewal of the license, we got some discount as well. The experience was great because the CSM which was aligned to our team helped us in deployment as well as in purchasing and getting the best offer available at that point in time. The experience has been great for a premium solution, and the cost is worth the use which we are doing for the tool.

Before choosing Infoblox NIOS, we evaluated numerous options available in the market for the same services. Infoblox has different competitors such as BlueCat Networks, EfficientIP, SolidServer, and Men & Mice. Both BlueCat and Infoblox are strong enterprise solutions when compared. Infoblox is the market player, as we studied, and also the transparent one. On the competitive edge, Infoblox has an advantage over the competition because it provides better security and uptime and scales better.

My advice to others looking into using Infoblox NIOS is to treat it as core infrastructure, not just another tool. Design it with high redundancy and start with IPAM discipline. Invest in training early and automate gradually. Infoblox NIOS rewards structured thinking and long-term planning. It should be used properly and it turns network operations from reactive firefighting into calm, predictable execution. I would rate this product a 10 out of 10.