Route traffic intelligently with DNS-based GSLB for BlueCat Edge

DNS-based global server load balancing (GSLB) is an essential tool for intelligent traffic routing in modern enterprise networks.

However, for many organizations, DNS GSLB is decentralized, often managed by teams overseeing dedicated—and usually costly—load balancing hardware. This fragmentation creates operational friction, complicating routine tasks and disaster recovery efforts.

What if your networking team—the experts who already manage DNS infrastructure—could seamlessly take back control? DNS GSLB, integrated into our powerful BlueCat Edge platform, is now available to put intelligent DNS traffic management back where it belongs: with your DNS administrators.

The result is improved resilience, reduced costs, and simpler policy management.

In this post, we’ll explore why many enterprises struggle with traditional DNS GSLB. Next, we’ll delve into how DNS GSLB for Edge addresses these challenges and the benefits it offers. Finally, we’ll outline how DNS GSLB for Edge works and touch on some use cases that demonstrate tangible results.

Enterprises struggle with traditional DNS GSLB

Traditionally, DNS GSLB solutions are expensive, application-centric, and siloed within general load balancing solutions. This division leads to slower response times, increased ticket friction, and complexity in enforcing DNS policies.

Consider this common scenario that an enterprise network engineer recently shared with BlueCat:

“It’s incredibly frustrating to see our SLAs [service level agreements] slipping because we don’t have control over load balancing DNS. The F5 team is overwhelmed, juggling both application management and DNS GSLB. It would be a game-changer for my team to have control over DNS GSLB, allowing us to streamline our operations.”

Indeed, BlueCat’s research highlights these issues clearly: 71% of networking professionals that BlueCat recently surveyed noted that the financial cost of traditional GSLB significantly constrains adoption.

Benefits of DNS GSLB with BlueCat Edge

DNS GSLB for Edge solves these problems by enabling intelligent, policy-driven traffic steering directly within your DNS infrastructure. With Edge, networking teams gain:

• Lower costs: Deploy DNS GSLB via Edge Service Points in regions or sites where traditional load balancers are cost-prohibitive, significantly reducing expenses.
• Greater control: Create and enforce routing policies in real time, directly aligned with your network topology, without dependency on external teams or tools.
• Reduced risk: Edge dynamically adapts DNS responses based on real-time health checks, automatically managing traffic even during outages, thereby minimizing downtime and compliance gaps.
• Continuous health checks: Each Edge Service Point constantly assesses endpoint health from its unique vantage point on the network. It utilizes this real-time information intelligently, directing client traffic to the best available server.
• Resilience through per-query decisioning: Edge evaluates every DNS query against live endpoint health. Failed services are automatically removed from responses without waiting for time-to-live expiration. This ensures near-instant failover and keeps applications online during outages.
• Plug-and-play with existing GSLB solutions: Because Edge acts as the client’s first-hop DNS resolver, it can ingest and refine DNS responses from upstream GSLB systems (like F5 Big IP Global Traffic Manager or cloud-native services). This allows enhanced, client-aware traffic steering while supporting a smooth migration or coexistence strategy.
• Simplified, scalable policy configuration: Utilize network-based grouping to create broad, reusable rules, eliminating per-app configuration complexity and enabling faster rollouts across environments.

How DNS GSLB works in BlueCat Edge

The process to deliver DNS GSLB is straightforward yet powerful. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how it works:

1. Client initiates query: DNS requests from users or devices first reach Edge.
2. Edge processes request: Edge resolves DNS queries normally.
3. Real-time policy application: Before returning responses, Edge applies GSLB policies, prioritizing endpoints based on network health and configured rules.
4. Optimized delivery: Clients receive the most optimal DNS answer tailored to their network location and real-time service conditions.

Real use cases and results with DNS GSLB for BlueCat Edge

Consider a disaster scenario when primary data center subnets experience outages. With Edge DNS GSLB, you can dynamically reroute traffic to healthy alternate subnets, ensuring continuous application availability without manual intervention.

Edge also enables precise per-application traffic steering. For instance, internal teams, such as R&D, can route traffic to specialized subnets optimized for performance or compliance requirements, independent from general routing policies.

For more on how DNS GSLB works with BlueCat Edge, watch this demo:

By bringing DNS GSLB back under the control of networking teams, Edge delivers immediate and impactful outcomes.

• Optimized application delivery ensures consistent routing for users to the best application endpoints, based on real-time health checks and network conditions.
• Enhanced security limits DNS responses to a single, optimized IP address per query, reducing exposure and potential attack surfaces.
• Flexible deployment supports both standalone DNS GSLB implementations or complements existing load balancers, enabling selective deployment tailored to your network needs.

Ready to reclaim control over DNS GSLB with Edge? Learn more about how you can transform DNS from a simple resolution point to a powerful decision engine for smarter, faster, and safer traffic steering.