{"id":8025,"date":"2025-09-26T09:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.infoblox.com\/?p=12294"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:55:12","slug":"delivering-anycast-dns-in-aws-with-infoblox-universal-ddi-and-aws-cloud-wan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/26\/delivering-anycast-dns-in-aws-with-infoblox-universal-ddi-and-aws-cloud-wan\/","title":{"rendered":"Delivering Anycast DNS in AWS with Infoblox Universal DDI\u2122 and AWS Cloud WAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h3>\n

Over the past few months, in conversations I\u2019ve had with enterprises running workloads across multiple regions and hybrid clouds, one theme kept coming up: DNS keeps biting them. Everyone wants the same thing: consistent, resilient DNS services that \u201cjust work\u201d everywhere. But when you start layering in multi-cloud topologies, global reach and the need for fast failover, Anycast DNS quickly shifts from \u201cnice to have\u201d to \u201chard to manage.\u201d <\/p>\n

That\u2019s where this story begins. In this blog, we\u2019ll walk through how Infoblox Universal DDI\u2122 and NIOS-X can be deployed natively in AWS, integrated with Cloud WAN and extended with Anycast DNS to provide global reachability. The magic is in combining Infoblox\u2019s centralized management and automation with AWS\u2019s global networking fabric so you can onboard apps faster, reduce operational overhead and deliver a DNS fabric that\u2019s both highly available and cloud ready. <\/p>\n

The lab we built demonstrates a practical design with two AWS regions, Frankfurt and Paris. Each region has Shared Services and Production virtual private clouds (VPCs), with Infoblox NIOS-X appliances delivering Anycast DNS. AWS Cloud WAN ties the regions together, optimizing routing and ensuring DNS requests seamlessly fail over when needed. <\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Figure 1. High-level topology across Frankfurt (eu-central-1) and Paris (eu-west-3) interconnected by AWS Cloud WAN<\/p>\n

Deploying Infoblox NIOS-X in AWS<\/h3>\n

The foundation of the design is the deployment of Infoblox NIOS-X appliances in the Shared Services VPCs across regions. These appliances act as the DNS engines for the environment and are centrally managed through the Universal DDI portal. Deployment leverages standard AWS EC2 workflows together with Infoblox join tokens for seamless onboarding. <\/p>\n

Deployment steps: <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Launch NIOS-X instances in each target region using the Infoblox-provided AMI from the AWS Marketplace.<\/li>\n
  2. Apply join tokens during instance initialization so that appliances automatically register with the Universal DDI portal. <\/li>\n
  3. Validate onboarding by confirming that the new NIOS-X instances appear under Configure \u2192 Servers<\/em> in the Universal DDI portal.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    While this blog keeps the focus on architecture, the lab that follows goes further. There we\u2019ll show how the same deployment workflow can be integrated into a continuous integration (CI)\/continuous delivery (CD) pipeline so that NIOS-X appliances can be spun up, registered and configured automatically as part of your infrastructure-as-code process.<\/p>\n

    \"Figure<\/p>\n

    Figure 2. Universal DDI portal showing NIOS-X appliances registered and online (Configure \u2192 Servers<\/em>) <\/p>\n

    Why This Matters:<\/strong> This automated onboarding workflow eliminates manual registration steps and ensures new appliances are consistently visible in Universal DDI across regions, reducing deployment time and human error. <\/p>\n

    AWS Infrastructure Setup<\/h3>\n

    In each AWS region, we provisioned two distinct VPCs: <\/p>\n