BlueCat Integrity Reviews

We primarily use BlueCat Integrity for DNS purposes internally. 

We deployed BlueCat Integrity using a hybrid model because many of our applications are finance-related. This product helps us to secure those applications and always helped our internal applications to work in secure environment.

BlueCat Integrity is very user-friendly. Its interface is easy to navigate and has all the features we were looking for, compared to other vendors. This made it easier for us to manage and deploy in our complex environment, which includes multiple domains and acquired companies.

We have integrated ServiceNow with our DNS server. If any alerts are created or any issues are detected, we receive an alert directly in ServiceNow, which is then routed to a specific team.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single pane of glass view of our IP addresses, which is useful for our organization. We sometimes lose track of which IP address range is assigned to which server or team, but BlueCat Integrity keeps track of everything for us, making it easy to see at a glance which IP addresses are assigned to Team A or Team B for example.

BlueCat Integrity helps to prevent human error. If we enter incorrect information, such as an incorrect subnet, BlueCat Integrity displays a pop-up message stating that the information is incorrect and that we should recheck the configuration. This is an add-on feature that is not available in other solutions.

It has helped us reduce downtime. When we used Windows DNS, we had many issues, such as the server hanging occasionally. We had to reboot the entire server during production hours, which caused major incidents. BlueCat Integrity has minimized these incidents, and we now have zero downtime. Nothing has happened on our site since we implemented it. All major incident calls have been eliminated.

BlueCat Integrity helped us consolidate by eliminating our old DNS server, which we used to track command-line or third-party utilities. This saved us costs, as we no longer need to purchase licenses for those tools. Everything is now visible through BlueCat Integrity.

It helps us free up staff time. With our old DNS system, we had to engage all of our staff many times, such as at midnight, during the day, or operations. This took a lot of time for us to process the product queue. For example, if I wanted to send someone on training, I had to cancel it because of these issues. But now, 

We have peace of mind because we no longer receive major incident calls late at night or early in the morning.

DNS aliases, which we use extensively in our applications are a valuable feature. We simply provide the alias to users, and they cannot see the real IP address or DNS name. This feature is specific to each application and is very powerful for us.

- DNS load balancing features for A records for most of clusters we use for GoAnywhere MFT applications.

I would like the GUI to be similar to AWS and Azure, where we can simply click on an item to expand it and see all the information on one page, without having to click to the next page.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for over 12 years.

BlueCat Integrity was down only once in the last year for a security patch.

We have not had any issues with the scalability of BlueCat Integrity. We have already implemented a load-balancing solution with seven appliances, so if we need to replace one, the others will take over. We have the same setup in staging, development, and lab environments. We test all new changes in the lab environment before moving them to staging and then to production. This is a very well-balanced product.

Awesome customer service from BlueCAT whenever we needed. 

Positive

Originally, we used Microsoft DNS, but it had many problems. We had to purchase and constantly monitor many tools with Microsoft. If we skipped an option during configuration, we would continue to receive error messages, and we would have to check the event logs to keep track of those errors. BlueCat Integrity is very easy to manage, so we chose it.

Multiple teams were involved in the step-by-step implementation. The infrastructure architecture team analyzed the requirements and then passed them to us for the proof of concept. Once the POC was completed, we implemented the changes in the development environment, then in the staging environment, and finally in the production environment.

With the help of BlueCat support , internal team implemented as a team work.

Our management very happy with BlueCAT supports and services.

We worked closed with our BlueCat TAM and work on cost and pricing based on our business partners requirement.

We evaluated BlueCat Integrity and other vendors and found that BlueCat Integrity was one of the most reliable options in terms of both security and administration. Their support team was also helpful and quick.

I give BlueCat Integrity a ten out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity does not require maintenance. There are no specific patches and the solution updates automatically so we don't have any additional downtime.

The value and security that BlueCat Integrity adds to an organization demonstrates the value of a full-stack integrated DDI management solution.

BlueCat Integrity is the most reliable DDI solution with awesome customer support. Whenever we have any issues or urgent customer or business needs, they are always there to help. We call them and they immediately start working on the issue, and they come up with a solution quickly. We can usually implement the solution within one or two days. Their customer support is that good.

We would like to utilize BlueCat Integrity to initiate operations in multiple regions, aiming to establish a disaster recovery, scalability, and resilience plan for the APAC and MA regions.

BlueCat Integrity is user-friendly, thanks to its powerful API. Our technicians appreciate the solution's excellent graphical interface, which makes it easy to comprehend.

BlueCat Integrity is flexible, fast, and quite optimized.

Currently, our company is satisfied with BlueCat Integrity, which has granted us peace of mind. 

The most valuable features are scalability and cloud infrastructure.

During our testing phase, we encountered some issues with Active Directory and DNS reverse lookups.

I have evaluated BlueCat Integrity and will be implementing it in July. 

In the limited contact I have had with BlueCat Integrity's support, they have been excellent.

Positive

We previously utilized Microsoft on-premises, but we transitioned to BlueCat Integrity for cloud support.

The deployment process is straightforward. We intend to deploy based on regions and site types, such as forward operating bases, followed by administrative offices, headquarters, warehouses, and finally factories or plants.

Our management decided that there is a return on investment and that is why they have decided to move forward with BlueCat Integrity.

BlueCat Integrity meets our expectations and aligns with our budget forecast.

We evaluated Infoblox and chose BlueCat Integrity because it uses fewer resources and offers a better price. We appreciate their support and consulting services, as they understand that BlueCat Integrity is not widely known in the world due to being newer in the market. However, they compensate for this by providing effective consulting services that offer proof of concept and demonstrate value.

I give BlueCat Integrity a ten out of ten.

I suggest that any organization which doesn't believe they require a comprehensive, integrated DDI management solution should consider utilizing the consultation services offered by BlueCat Integrity. This will help them understand the value it brings.

I recommend that organizations try BlueCat Integrity, as they will love it.

BlueCat Integrityk is our central DDI System used for DNS, DHCP, and IPAM.

Our BlueCat address managers are deployed on-premises in a clustered configuration. All the servers are physical machines located on-premises, except for one virtual server running in the Azure cloud. This external DNS server is specifically maintained to support our remote clients.

The key advantage of BlueCat Integrity is its adherence to open standards, allowing for integration with external tools. While I find Integrity's built-in bulk update functionality lacking, I can leverage open-source ISC tools and the standard NS update protocol for a smoother update experience. This gives me far better results.

I recognize that companies try to sell extra features and products. One of BlueCat's main competitors, Infoblox, heavily advertises and pushes its additional security features. However, my priority is a product that excels at DDI, which I believe BlueCat does well. While I welcome improvements, it currently performs its core function effectively, and I don't want additional features to compromise its security. I simply want it to do its job well, which it demonstrably does.

BlueCat Integrity effectively manages our IP address space with a centralized view, similar to how many companies encounter, we have a few exceptional cases where we've lost control of entire blocks or ranges. While this creates discrepancies, it's not a fault of BlueCat's but rather a result of these specific edge cases within our organization. Overall, BlueCat Integrity performs well. Having a single pane of glass view is important in an IPAM system.

BlueCat Integrity significantly improves our operational efficiency by automating IP address management. Manually tracking all our IPs would be a cumbersome and error-prone task, which Integrity effectively eliminates.

Last June, upon joining the organization, I began using BlueCat Integrity and found it to be a valuable tool. It has facilitated the smooth migration of various departments, similar to integrating external companies, and effectively addresses our general needs.

While DHCP redundancy has demonstrably reduced downtime, the existing DNS redundancy seems sufficient. There was a proposal for a redundant primary DNS server, but it appears to deviate from standard protocols and therefore won't be implemented.

BlueCat Integrity has streamlined the process of integrating external solutions, making it easier to incorporate products from other companies into our systems.

I am happy with the peace of mind BlueCat Integrity provides. I am not up at night worrying about anything related to BlueCat.

The most significant advantage of BlueCat is its foundation on open-source software, specifically BIND and ISC DHCP. Notably, BlueCat avoids any modifications to these underlying products, instead building its IPAM and DDI systems on top of them. 

BlueCat is releasing a completely new interface next January. While it doesn't currently have all the minor features I want, hopefully, they'll be added over time.

While knowledge is a factor, both technical support and training need a significant overhaul. The root cause lies in the BlueCat support's attitude, which seems focused on closing tickets quickly rather than ensuring solutions. This means genuine attempts to improve functionality, even if not strictly broken, are met with workarounds and closed tickets. This focus on expediency hinders true problem-solving and a positive user experience.

Unfortunately, due to development timelines, new features won't be considered until the release of the next version of BlueCat Integrity, expected in January of next year. Any interface improvements or requests specific to the older system are a waste of time. This will ensure our requests are well-positioned for implementation in the upcoming release.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for eleven months.

BlueCat Integrity has been stable. I would rate the stability ten out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity supports our network scalability and response to changing demands. I would rate the scalability seven out of ten.

While the advanced support team has some excellent individuals who offer valuable design changes and assistance, the quality of day-to-day technical support is unfortunately lacking.

Compared to other solutions, BlueCat's technical support is poor.

Negative

While the majority of our organization uses the industry-leading IPAM solution, BlueCat Integrity, there are a few pockets still utilizing Infoblox. Additionally, Active Directory continues to influence IP address management in some areas, requiring integration with the DDI system.

If we're considering replacing BlueCat Integrity, there are two main drawbacks to consider. First, unlike Infoblox, BlueCat directly interacts with existing DNS, DHCP implementations BIND and ISC DHCP, allowing for more granular control. Second, Infoblox creates a management layer that separates us from core functionalities like DHCP leases and zone files. This lack of direct access makes troubleshooting and advanced configuration difficult with Infoblox, which is a major advantage of BlueCat Integrity.

While the initial setup of the entire system was easy, deploying the BlueCat software that manages the underlying services, ISE, DHCP, and Bind proved more complex. This complexity stems from legitimate reasons, but it can be challenging. For instance, setting up failover redundancy within BlueCat was more intricate than on our previous DHCP server, requiring additional learning on my part. These additional steps, though not impacting the core system's functionality, do add some complexity to the deployment process.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten. BlueCat Integrity excels at its core functionality of managing DNS, DHCP, and IP addresses. Unlike some competitors who prioritize security features in their marketing even though they're DDI solutions, BlueCat should stay focused on what they do best: providing a robust DDI platform. While expanding into other areas is understandable because they want to increase profits, it's crucial not to lose sight of their core strength and risk compromising the user experience.

We operate four geographically separate data centers across two locations in Switzerland. These house two BAM servers, 34 production BDDS DNS DHCP servers of which one is virtual, and a small, entirely virtualized lab environment.

Two administrators manage the DDI system with full access, handling everything from BlueCat to DNS and DHCP. We focus on complex tasks and leave routine record updates to end users or a dedicated layer two team at the network operation center that handles tickets and other tasks. There's also a first-level support team, but their exact involvement in DDI maintenance is unclear.

While BlueCat excels as a DDI solution for managing DNS security, its attempts to expand into other areas like full device discovery are unnecessary for our needs. 30 specialized tools can handle those tasks more effectively. We prefer to keep BlueCat focused on its core strength: DNS security within our network.

I recommend BlueCat Integrity for DDI needs. Unlike QIP and Infoblox, Integrity adheres to open standards without modifying them, and leverages the most popular open-source implementations available, ensuring compatibility and avoiding potential issues arising from custom code.

We are fortunate to have two incredible individuals from BlueCat who provide exceptional support and guidance. Their expertise and willingness to help are truly invaluable.

Our DDI environment is managed by BlueCat Integrity, a unified platform for our DNS, DHCP, and IP address management.

The user interface is intuitive and easy to learn. New users can navigate it confidently without confusion. Our international teams in France, India, and the US have all successfully managed the IPAM system with the UI, demonstrating its clear design. This reinforces the idea that a well-designed interface can make even complex technology accessible.

They offer a consolidated view, like a single pane of glass, of our entire IP address space. This comprehensive view is incredibly valuable. The vast amount of information is presented in a user-friendly way, similar to a database. BlueCat intelligently organizes this data, including the ERTs, for efficient exploration. A convenient dashboard provides a central location to access all this information.

It delivered immediate benefits. It offered a high degree of control, comprehensive information for log monitoring, and more. Compared to a Windows system, it streamlined log analysis with its exceptional logging capabilities. Overall, it's an excellent solution.

BlueCat Integrity helps reduce human error by automating tasks and improving data integrity. For example, its DNS features can check for typos and other configuration errors, ensuring accurate data is used. Additionally, Integrity's infrastructure creation and data organization tools promote consistency and reduce the potential for mistakes caused by manual processes.

It minimizes downtime by offering various high-availability features. One such feature is called XHA, which ensures service continuity even if individual machines or appliances experience issues. This allows services to remain online during maintenance updates, for example. Additionally, BlueCat Edge leverages Anycast technology to provide further redundancy for Integrity's DNS services.

Previously, BlueCat's reach was limited to North America. We've expanded our footprint globally. This involved decommissioning many legacy servers worldwide, particularly Windows-based ones like DNS and DHCP servers, as well as some digital services on firewalls and routers. This shift to BlueCat grants us greater control and allows for a more standardized configuration across our global network. It also facilitates easier deployment and enforcement of network-wide standards.

Our organization heavily utilizes BlueCat Integrity's API for automation and data integrity monitoring. It effectively provides all the information necessary for our current automation needs, making it a valuable tool.

BlueCat Integrity has significantly improved our IT staff's efficiency. A centralized console streamline updates, while global configuration deployment further reduces time spent on management tasks. Overall, BlueCat Integrity offers a wide range of time-saving functionalities that benefit our environment.

While we haven't encountered any server issues, a key strength lies in our well-architected DDI infrastructure. For instance, our DHCP redundancy server resides in a separate location, ensuring failover if the primary site experiences problems. Similarly, with geographically dispersed DNS servers in India and Australia, redundancy is built-in. BlueCat Integrity's robustness further enhances network stability. Since implementing it, we haven't experienced service outages or reboots. The product's maturity is evident, but our monitoring practices also play a crucial role.

The time saved by using BlueCat Integrity translates directly to cost savings.

BlueCat Integrity helps us reduce our TCO.

BlueCat Integrity has been a game-changer. It frees up my time to focus on other projects that improve our network environment, research new technologies, and more. This robust and mature product has given me peace of mind. Since joining this team and using BlueCat, I haven't lost a single night's sleep worrying about DNS, DHCP, or IP Address Management. It simply works reliably in the background, just as it should.

BlueCat Integrity has proven to be a robust solution. We haven't encountered any problems with it, and it is reliable.

BlueCat's ability to deliver secure updates quickly is crucial for us. When it comes to DNS security, timely updates and patches are essential. Fortunately, BlueCat excels in this area, providing the peace of mind we need.

I've been impressed by BlueCat's performance and user-friendly GUI. The API allows for easy data collection, particularly for automation purposes. While external monitoring tools are available, BlueCat's built-in monitoring provides an additional layer of convenience and trust.

BlueCat Integrity could benefit from several improvements. First, faster log processing would be beneficial. Ideally, the system would adopt a similar approach to BlueCat Edge for improved efficiency. Second, the IPAM dashboard could be enhanced to display more information and provide data analysis features. This could include visualizations, log analysis, and improved reporting with insights and metrics. Similar to BlueCat Edge, reports should be presented in a modern way that leverages more data for analysis. Ultimately, the goal is to visualize logs and gain insights directly within reports.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for ten years.

A mature solution, BlueCat Integrity has consistently demonstrated stability within our infrastructure, never exhibiting any issues.

While we rely heavily on the network, there may be times when perfect network balance isn't achievable. The impact of this depends on our specific actions. Thankfully, BlueCat Integrity is a lightweight service, making it easy to scale our work. Additionally, our infrastructure has ample resources, allowing us to easily add more if needed, solidifying this solution's scalability.

We truly value the professional support offered by BlueCat. While it is a paid service, their expertise is excellent, and we rely heavily on their assistance. They are the vendor with whom I have the best working relationship.

The technical support is quick to respond and knowledgeable.

Positive

The deployment is straightforward. The most important part is to figure out all the clients and the networks that are going to rely on the infrastructure.

One person can handle the deployment as long as they are familiar with the solution.

The implementation was completed in-house.

BlueCat Integrity's pricing is reasonable within the market.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity ten out of ten. We heavily rely on BlueCat Integrity, and it's been very dependable. When we demonstrate our network management to other teams, they're impressed by the level of control we have. There's very little to complain about – it's a well-architected and implemented solution. The built-in redundancy and global distribution are particularly helpful, contributing significantly to its overall effectiveness.

Apart from system updates, no maintenance is required for BlueCat Integrity.

For those who say they don't need a full-stack integrated DDI management solution, I simply offer good luck. Dedicated DDI solutions provide far greater visibility compared to less mature options. This is crucial – without it, we'd be flying blind. Security is paramount for our company as well. A reliable vendor should quickly release patches for any Common Criteria Evaluation issues affecting our DNS, DHCP, and IT infrastructure. This allows us to swiftly update our security team and maintain a proactive stance. Remember, while DNS, DHCP, and IPAM aren't complex products, they are critically important. A single vulnerability can cripple the entire company. A proper response and vendor support during high-impact situations are essential. While the need for a solution like BlueCat Integrity scales with company size, even smaller organizations benefit from the peace of mind and efficiency it offers. Frankly, having experienced the advantages of DDI solutions, I wouldn't dream of working without one today.

For a smooth experience with BlueCat Integrity, prioritize initializing your IPAM component. Updating BlueCat with all your IP addresses upfront helps prevent future management challenges. Since IPAM can be complex, leverage automation as much as possible to automatically collect IP address information. Additionally, security is paramount when dealing with DNS, so always prioritize security best practices.

We use BlueCat Integrity to have visibility into our address management.

BlueCat Integrity is fairly straightforward. I have been using it myself for quite a long time. The actual user interface is a little dated, but that is being addressed in the upcoming release.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single-pane-of-glass view of our IP address space, which is important for our organization to see what is being utilized.

For the six years we have been using BlueCat Integrity, we have begun to transition from Microsoft to BlueCat DHCP and DNS. The ability to easily view our options and zones is a significant improvement over our previous approach. The user interface has improved over time, but it is still somewhat dated. A major UI overhaul is planned for release 10, which is scheduled for release next spring.

BlueCat Integrity can help reduce human error by pushing changes to multiple places with only one human input, reducing the likelihood of errors. Compared to our previous solution, BlueCat has reduced human errors by 25 percent.

BlueCat Integrity has not really helped us consolidate any tools. We were already using one Microsoft tool, and now we are using one BlueCat tool, with the advantage of only having to use one interface with BlueCat Integrity versus multiple with Microsoft.

BlueCat Integrity is a solid product. It does not have flashy features, but it is reliable and we have few problems with it. BlueCat does a good job of keeping the product up-to-date with security patches and updates. BlueCat Integrity provides us with flexibility and visibility that we did not have before.

The most important improvement is that it would be nice to have more built-in tools for bulk updates and bulk changes. I understand that there are APIs for this, but that requires coding skills. I am no longer a coder, so it would be helpful to have built-in tools for imports and other tasks.

The UI is outdated and needs a modern refresh.

The RFC is over 25 years old, and some record types have become obsolete. I would like newer DNS record types, even if they are not part of the RFC.

I have been using BlueCat Integrity for six years.

We originally used Microsoft for DHCP, DNS, and IP address management. We have since migrated to BlueCat Integrity for better visibility into our address management. Multiple people are able to manage using BlueCat Integrity.

The initial deployment was straightforward. The basic deployment took one month, but the full deployment with the server took around six months and was completed by two people.

Originally, we compared BlueCat Integrity to other products. It was not the cheapest nor the most expensive solution, but it was among the more expensive ones. Overall, I would say that it is priced fairly, though perhaps a bit on the high side.

I would rate BlueCat Integrity eight out of ten.

BlueCat Integrity is deployed in our corporate environment across multiple locations around the world.

The purpose of the solution is to provide DNS, DHCP, and icon services for the corporation and all subsidiaries. 

I like that it's a single source of truth for us. We automate against it. We use APIs against it due to the fact that it is where the data is. The solution provides a single pane of glass view. And we use it as a single source of truth. It’s crucial for us.

It’s flexible. The tool can certainly be customized to no end. You can make a lot of stuff work if you're willing to divert from the standard options, which of course then brings the risk that you're not running the planned configuration. We have a few border cases, so we actually do that.

The solution helped our organization reduce downtime. Compared to where it was before, even if it's a very theoretical question, I’d say the downtime has decreased.

BlueCat Integrity helped us consolidate tools or applications. Through an API and having the data there we were able to build some tools that have allowed us to get rid of a lot of other tools.

It is not that easy to use. It's not rocket science, however, even compared to other products in the BlueCat portfolio, it's one of the most complicated.

The big downside of the customization is when there are new releases and you have to customize all of it again since you’ve diverted from the standard.

One of my biggest criticisms is that you need additional pieces of software. Competitors have a lot of these things built into one solution. BlueCat doesn't. I need additional resources to actually do things. You actually need a lot of add-ons from the solution's portfolio. While some of them are provided, most you have to pay for separately. In reality, they should just be part of the product.

The reporting capabilities need improvement. It holds a lot of information, and that information is easily accessible in the tool and through API. However, for instance, the moment anybody who is not a user of the product asks me for some information and I just want to run a report to hand back to them or something like that, it gets utterly complicated. 

Quite a few times we have not been able to pull reports out of the tool and provide them.  

Usability needs to be better. The main structure basically hasn't changed in years. It's got a bit polished, however, it doesn't really have a modern UI-based tool. That said, the product is being used by IT professionals. Still, sometimes the old design makes things unnecessary and difficult.

I've been using the solution for four years now. 

BlueCat is stable. 

The solution is scalable in multiple ways. There are lots of ways to scale. 

While we did not exactly use anything else from the DDI side, we were using Windows DNS.

The main reason for the adoption of this product was to have one centralized management system. That was one of the key drivers. Also, we wanted visibility and stability for having that single source of truth.

We're running one special environment that is fully deployed in the cloud, and our main environment is deployed on-prem remotely.

It's easy to deploy on-prem and even easier to deploy the cloud version. Our migration team deployed the solution. They were comprised of three people. It took us a year to deploy, however, we had to make the whole transition to remote work first. 

We use the solution globally. We have it across a few production campus facilities and 25 subsidiaries globally. 

We have to run the updates. We're on our own for that. We basically do the data. When we get the notifications, we go into scheduling the when, what, and how internal testing will take place. We plan to do all of this in-house.

Of course, we have to monitor the devices themselves. They sometimes act up, and sometimes the product does not report certain issues efficiently and then we have to dig into the log file. There is a lot of proactive maintenance in that regard. The good thing is that the product is so standardized and open. At the end of the day, of course, I would prefer not to have to do it. 

BlueCat helped with implementation. During the design phase, we had some workshops with them and they provided good insights and best practices.

We have witnessed an ROI while using the product. The ROI mainly comes from the initiative itself, including centralizing data and having automated server deployment. We've saved money across a variety of products, so it's hard to pinpoint an exact number. 

We are paying for an enterprise license. I'm not aware of the exact cost. The pricing, as far as I understand it, is fair. It's not cheap and also not expensive. 

We use the API to do certain calls, however, not with ServiceNow or any other ITSM. It's more for other really technical tools that need specific kinds of information. We don’t really do integrations.

To anyone at an organization who doesn't think they need a full stack integrated management solution, I'd say, actually, this is an absolute must-have. Automation really is the biggest driver. I could not see how someone could ever do any meaningful automation without having this kind of platform. Also in terms of security, it's important for security initiatives. You simply need to have the visibility of your network. That's another big one. 

If a person is interested in the solution, it's important to evaluate the product. Look for a reference customer and dig into the possibilities of the product.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

It primarily serves as our DNS solution.

The insight into the overall health of our network, particularly in terms of DNS functionality, is positive. This visibility proves invaluable when troubleshooting and resolving issues. It provides a holistic view, including information on DNS and DHCP services, making it a thorough and effective tool for monitoring and managing DNS functionality.

DNS security is safeguarded comprehensively from end to end.

It offers a unified view of our IP address space through a single pane of glass. Whether using IPM or Integrity with DNS, you can easily correlate and match all assigned IPs with the DNS configuration. This integration ensures that each IP address in IPM corresponds to a DNS name, providing comprehensive visibility.

It has been seamlessly integrated with various IT operation manager platforms, including SolarWinds. While it might not be accurate to label the integration with Integrity as direct, it's apt to say that our BlueCat solution is monitored by SolarWinds. Additionally, for internet access, such as reaching domains like Google.com, we rely on Cisco Umbrella.

It helped us in minimizing human errors by facilitating automation through the use of scripts.

The design with BlueCat ensures minimal downtime as it is highly redundant. In the event of a server failure, multiple servers seamlessly handle the traffic, making the occurrence of downtime highly improbable.

It did not contribute to the consolidation of any previously used tools or applications.

It assisted in saving time for other projects.

One of the standout features of BlueCat is its foundation on Linux, making it one of the earliest DNS solutions. This inherent stability, derived from its Linux-based architecture, provides a well-established and reliable platform. Once you become familiar with the technology, managing it becomes straightforward.

It primarily supports DNS high availability failover when the servers share the same subnet. However, it does not offer robust support for high availability failover with different subnets, especially if the servers are located in different data centers and belong to distinct IP networks. In such cases, setting up high availability becomes challenging, often requiring manual failovers.

We have been using it for approximately five months.

There were no stability issues.

It provides good scalability capabilities.

I am satisfied with its customer service and support. I would rate it eight out of ten.

We were using NS-1 previously but decided to switch, primarily because IBM acquired the company, and subsequently, they discontinued the solution.

The initial setup was somewhat challenging, but it wasn't overly difficult.

The deployment process spanned approximately two months. The overall project required four resources, including roles such as design and project management, to complete it.

I am not sure about the exact pricing, but I believe their cost is lower compared to Infoblox.

The previous solution reached its end, leading the vendor to discontinue the service. During the customer review, we evaluated options between BlueCat and Infoblox.

For a medium-sized company, having a DNS solution is essential. Whether it's BlueCat, Infoblox, or another option, it's crucial for smooth operations. While it's technically possible to work with Linux Spine or other solutions like F5 DNS, they are often challenging to manage due to the absence of a graphical user interface. Having a dedicated DNS solution tailored for medium-sized companies, like BlueCat, is indispensable for scalability and efficiency. Before implementing BlueCat, it's advisable to ensure that employees undergo training. You may consider requesting an evaluation license from BlueCat to set up a lab for training resources dedicated to working on the BlueCat DNS solution. Additionally, exploring a POC could be beneficial. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

It provides us with IPAM, which is managing our address space, along with DNS and DHCP services.

Integrity supplies DNS resolution, which is how everything runs, the devices or host need to resolve a name, and it provides those answers in a quick, orderly fashion and everything is humming in the network. Without it, meaning if things were failing and breaking down, we would be impacted.

There are some RFCs that Integrity abides by so that you can't create records that are not in accordance with RFC standards. Other tools I've seen will let you create those records but Integrity doesn't allow you to do so. You don't make those mistakes.

In addition, there were some areas in our organization where address space was still kept on spreadsheets or that used other tools to support DNS or to manage the address space. Integrity has become the single source of truth for our address space. Using the database within Integrity has given us the ability to create UDFs (user-defined fields) and populate them with additional data that provides security information, devices, and application owners.

In that regard, what's in the database is not Integrity's problem, but it's only as good as what you put into it and remove from it. As long as the data you put in is accurate and, when you decommission things, you remove them, it's fine.

The most valuable feature is its stability. The product is very stable, and that's key.

The tool is also very easy to use and navigate. You do have to have some DNS or IPAM experience, and understand how they work, to navigate.

We are integrating with more and more tools every day, not with a canned solution, but through an open API solution where we're creating calls and writing to Integrity, back and forth.

BlueCat Integrity provides a single pane of glass view of your IP address space when you are a small company. But if you acquire multiple other companies, there are other products on the market that provide a better view than the way BlueCat handles it, although Integrity still does provide that functionality. Our company has been acquired, and has acquired other companies, and we have address conflicts because a company we purchased is using the same address space and it gets very difficult to see it in one view.

The way that Integrity handles it is that it creates multiple configurations and you have to bounce back and forth to see how that address space is being used. It does provide us with a way to manage multiple environments but it requires some additional hardware for some of the Microsoft integration when it comes to handling dynamic updates.

Also, a problem with integrating Integrity with ServiceNow, for example, is that we're in the cloud with ServiceNow, and there is a compatibility issue with that in terms of communicating back and forth.

And one of the big pushes within our organization is multi-factor authentication. Integrity is not up to snuff yet for supporting some of the new standards for multi-factor authentication, specifically on the BDDS.

One more negative is that, while the product is IPAM, DNS, and DHCP, it does provide NTP functionality, but one of the things that they have yet to correct or catch up with is NTP authentication. There are new standards being pushed out and they are lagging a little bit in supporting them.

One of the other pieces that has been a sticky point for our organization is some of the API functionality. A lot of it used to be SOAP. In the new versions they're releasing it's going to be RESTful APIs, which is what we were always looking for. It's just taken BlueCat a little bit of time to catch up with some of the other vendors that provided that already.

I've been using BlueCat Integrity for about seven years.

It's kept us pretty much in "the nines". We haven't had any issues with it. There are always the little one-offs and "gotchas", but overall, the product is very stable. It provides the solution that we're looking for.

It's very scalable, based on the hardware you throw at it, like with any product. Typically, you build it for what you have, but when you need to scale up, you need to add more CPUs and memory to the boxes to handle more. It's very easy to scale.

Our Integrity deployment is global. We have multiple instances. The two government entities we work with have their own, independent Integrity environments. We also have one for our legacy environment, which has about 100 BDDSs in it, and we have it in our new organization, which has about 50. The new organization isn't global but the old organization was. So we have about 150 DNS servers deployed globally, handling DNS and DHCP. I expect BlueCat would consider this a medium-sized deployment. I know they have others that are a lot larger than this.

The support is very good. They can provide us with solutions to pretty much any weird requests we come up with. They have supported us on some crazy requests from our business side for things that typically don't come in and we have to reach out to them for advanced services to support them. There are always situations where things are not working as expected and we also work with them when going through upgrades or changes.

We're a company that acquires a lot of other companies. For example, we're integrating an environment that has Infoblox, which is an Integrity competitor. We're taking all of that data, with the help of Integrity's professional services, and importing it into BlueCat and supporting that environment from Blue BlueCat's hardware. And then, we'll decommission the Infoblox appliance so that we have all the IPAM data within one system.

One of the negatives we had with Infoblox was their support. Almost every request that we would submit to them would require a call to our sales group to ask "What's going on? We're not getting support." With BlueCat the difference has been night and day. We have a group of people who specifically look at our account and track our cases and requests.

Our company also supports government environments where we adhere to a lot of STIG (Security Technical Implementation Guide) requirements. The majority of what we work on with BlueCat's advanced services is making sure the system supports these requirements for hardening the system, so that they're not vulnerable in any way. The government has a lot of higher standards than a normal organization.

Positive

When we did switch it was because we were sold on it by the sales team. They stated that they could take our existing data, integrate it easily, and get the environment up. There was also a significant cost difference compared to the other products that were out there. The fact that the price was reasonable compared to some of the others was another driving point.

It was a fairly easy integration. To stand the environment up is very easy. I was the only one involved on our side.

The challenge is getting everybody else to change. When you're talking about 100,000 devices needing to change their DNS entries, that's a little difficult to get done. It takes years, and there are people who read the request but just never get around to doing it. There are ways to overcome some of those things and get everyone to use the product. It's just how much you have to band-aid it to make it work.

Their support services were great. It didn't take long. We reviewed a lot of the data and it was flawless. We were able to cut over everybody using it without any impact. I give kudos to their group.

The solution has reduced our total cost of ownership. With one of the other vendors, the overall cost to replace our existing setup was double, and that's why we didn't go with them.

Overall, it's a decent price for the product. There are other vendors that have support models and costs that are, sometimes, double what BlueCat charges.

We've pretty much used, or looked at, every other product out there.

One of the better things about Integrity is that the underlying code it uses is an ISC DNS and DHCP. It's not like some of the other vendors that have created their own version of DNS. 

For example, Infoblox has its own and things are not OPEN standard. And even Microsoft's DNS is not OPEN standard. There are things that they can do in there that you probably couldn't do in a bind environment, but how it works could be a little quirky. At least with bind, you know what you're working with.

BT Diamond IP is the same thing. They created their own bind version instead of using the standard. What happens there is that you get vulnerabilities on their product, whereas with bind, it's an open standard and you're going to get vulnerabilities and CVEs corrected sooner than later.

In our case, it has been a challenge to make sure we get the correct information. We are using some additional tools to get that corrected. One of the things we've purchased is Forward Networks, which discovers your network and all the devices and all the connections. We are populating Integrity from that data. So if a subnet no longer exists, it will delete it, and if host records are no longer on the network, it will delete them. It will also discover and add subnets that we may not have known about, such as when some remote site has a subnet that is not represented in Integrity.

If someone at an organization doesn't think that they need a full-stack DDI management solution, I would have to ask them how they are handling it now. If you don't have an IPAM solution, and the size of your organization would be a big piece of it to get your return on investment, I can't see how you wouldn't. I know of a company that is managing all of its external zones manually, and there is a team of about four people handling that. They could probably do that with one person if they had the correct setup using Integrity.