State of the Cloud DNS Report

State of the Cloud
DNS Report
Basic Edition
April 2014
© 2014
Table of Contents
Overview
DNS Performance Analysis (January 2014)
Introduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Performance Analysis Overview�� 20
Anycast vs. Unicast DNS�� 3
Service Availability�� 20
Provider Overview & Current News�� 4
Synthetic DNS Response Time�� 21
Provider Market Share�� 7
End-user DNS Response Time�� 23
Technology Used�� 9
Akamai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
AWS Route 53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
DNS Features
CloudFlare.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Health Checks - Failover�� 11
easyDNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Health Checks - Load Balancing�� 11
DNS Made Easy�� 29
Dyn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Location Based Routing (Geo IP)�� 12
Zone Based Routing (Anycast)�� 12
DNSSEC.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Pricing
Ultra DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
DNS Networks
Akamai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
DNS Query Volume Pricing�� 15
AWS Route 53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Feature Pricing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CloudFlare.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
DNS Propagation Latency�� 18
DNS Made Easy�� 37
Dyn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
easyDNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Ultra DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Table of Contents
Overview
Introduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Anycast vs. Unicast DNS�� 4
Provider Overview & Current News�� 5
Provider Market Share�� 8
Technology Used�� 10
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Introduction
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the method by which meaningful hostnames
Additionally, DNS can be a potential security threat if hacked and hostnames are
such as “www.google.com” are translated into physical IP addresses needed by
redirected to unauthorized servers. Because of the mission critical nature of DNS,
computers to communicate; DNS is fundamental to the operation of the Internet.
many organizations have elected to outsource their DNS needs to providers that
If an organization loses its DNS capabilities, their hostnames will be inaccessible to
can typically ensure better availability, improved security, and faster performance.
users — even if the servers are functioning!
Anycast vs. Unicast DNS
At the network level, there are 2 methods of deploying DNS: Unicast and Anycast.
Anycast DNS
Unicast DNS
On the other hand, IP Anycast DNS provides multiple routes that queries can travel
Anycast DNS has significant advantages over Unicast DNS. With Unicast DNS,
information is routed to a single network destination, which is identified by a
unique address; inherently, this means there is only one path data can take to
reach its intended destination. Unicast methodology employs a one-to-one
relationship between the destination address and the network endpoint — each
destination address is only able to identify a single endpoint. If a Unicast DNS
server goes down, name server resolution directed at it will be non-functional
which may result in descreased performance and possibly service disruptions.
DNS
NEW YORK
DNS
MIAMI
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
to reach their intended destination — there are a group of possible receivers, which
are all identified by the same end destination address. Anycasting employs a oneto-one-to-many association; data is routed topologically to the nearest geographic
node, which increases performance. Anycast DNS methodology also has the
benefit of redundancy; if a DNS node goes down down, another can immediately
take over and respond to queries for it. Anycasting replicates the same DNS data
to multiple servers around the world, which also provides protection in the case of
denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. In terms of reliability, speed, and security, Anycast
DNS is generally a better choice.
LONDON
MADRID
DNS
NEW YORK
DNS
LONDON
MADRID
MIAMI
Overview
Provider Overview
Akamai
CloudFlare
Akamai is based in Cambridge, MA. It was incorporated in 1998 after its founders
CloudFlare is a privately held company based in San Francisco, CA. It was founded
developed a solution at MIT for improving Internet content delivery performance.
in 2009 and announced the launch of its public beta at TechCrunch Disrupt in
It provides CDN services to one out of three Global 500 companies, and delivers
2010. The founders are former engineers for Project Honey Pot, a system for
15-30% of all Web traffic. Yahoo! was its first customer, and many large media
identifying spammers. CloudFlare has raised over $22 million in funding since
companies use the Akamai CDN. Additionally, Rackspace and HP resell Akamai
2009. It has 35+ employees and unknown revenue. CloudFlare manages its own
CDN as part of their cloud offerings. Akamai has 3000+ employees, and revenue
IP Anycast network consisting of 23 global points of presence (PoPs), with 10 in
for 2012 was $1.374 billion. Akamai does not provide specific details about the
the US, 8 in Europe, 4 in Asia and 1 in Australia. Services include CDN, managed
location of CDN PoPs, but it has publicly disclosed the size of its CDN network
DNS, and some proprietary capabilities built on top of those services, including
as over 127,000 servers in 81 countries. In some cases, Akamai partners with ISPs
automated security and optimization. Key differentiators include extensive
to maintain edge servers within their data centers, thus decreasing ISP bandwidth
experience dealing with and mitigating DDoS attacks (including one of the
costs while improving performance for end users. In addition to CDN, Akamai also
largest attacks in Internet history, a 300 Gbps attack in 2013 against Spamhous);
offers managed DNS hosting. Key differentiators include the largest CDN network
management of its own global IP Anycast network; a free starter plan; and
in the world, a track record supporting some of the largest media clients, and
seamless add-on capabilities, including automatic security and failover protection,
serving Internet content at a massive scale.
and website optimization.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Overview
DNS Made Easy Overview
AWS Route 53 is part of Amazon’s suite of cloud related services. Amazon was
DNS Made Easy launched in 2002 and is a subsidiary of Tiggee LLC. DNS Made
founded as an online bookstore in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, and the Amazon.com site
Easy processes more than five billion queries daily. DNS Made Easy’s parent
launched in 1995. Amazon currently has 33,700 employees and earned $32.204
company, Tiggee LLC was founded in 1999. DNS Made Easy offers a free 30 day
Billion dollars in revenue in 2010. It is speculated that AWS will be the first $1 billion
trial of their services.
cloud computing service.
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Overview
Provider Overview
Dynamic Network Services (Dyn) Overview
UltraDNS Overview
Dyn originally began as a free service by a group of college students back in
Neustar has been in business since 1996 as a trusted, neutral provider of real-time
1998, and officially became a company in 2001. They are now a leader in Internet
information and analysis to the Internet, telecommunications, information services,
performance solutions offering Traffic Management, Message Management
financial services, retail, media and advertising sectors. In 1999, Neustar acquired
and Performance Assurance for some of the leading brands on the web. Dyn’s
UltraDNS and has continued to be a leader in the Enterprise Managed DNS ever
headquarters are located in Manchester, NH and they have offices in San Francisco
since. In 2012, Neustar earned $831.4M (a 34% growth from 2011) and continues
and Brighton, UK. Dyn has nearly 300 employees. In addition to DNS, Dyn also
to expand its technology solutions through strategic acquisitions of Targus INFO
provides Email delivery service, API integration, DNSSEC and IPv6 support, active
(On-Demand Audience Target & Analysis), Evolving System (Number Solutions) and
failover, as well as traffic balancing and load management.
Aggregate Knowledge (Media Intelligence & Analytics).
easyDNS Overview
easyDNS is a Canada-based, private, self funded company in business since 1998.
easyDNS has over 110,000 domains in more than 100 countries around the world,
and processes approximately a quarter-billion DNS queries every day.
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Overview
Provider Market Share
To track market share, we mine the name servers for the Alexa top 10,000 sites monthly. Alexa tracks top sites based on number of visitors and traffic statistics and is generally
seen as a reliable source for this data. The tables below provide market share snapshots for DNS providers based on our independent mining. We use two techniques to
generate market share metrics - DNS hostname matching and class C IP matching. Non recursive query validations are used to verify the latter. Market share changes may be
attributed to changes in the makeup of the Alexa top 10,000 sites or provider changes.
Alexa Top 1,000 Sites
Fortune 500
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Alexa Top 10,000 Sites
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Overview
Market Share Growth/Loss
Top 20 Provider Changes
As part of our Alexa market share analysis, we also track Alexa top 10,000 sites that
have changed DNS providers since the previous month’s analysis. The following is a
list of the top 20 websites (ordered by Alexa rank) that have changed providers in the
past 4 months.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Overview
Technology Used
DNS Software
Geo IP Database
DNS Software is the respond to queries requesting a hostname be transferred
In order to implement Geo-Targeted, Location Based DNS, providers will typically
to an IP address. DNS providers can utilize off-the-shelf or proprietary software.
license Geo IP technology from one of two major vendors: MaxMind or Neustar
Off-the-shelf software has the advantage of established stability and performance,
IP Intelligence. These databases allow DNS providers to determine the geographic
while proprietary software can oftentimes provide better security and provide a
location of DNS resolvers (which are generally in the same geographic location
point of distinction for vendors.
as end-users), and provide a custom geo-targeted response. The following table
provides a breakdown of the Geo IP technology used by each provider that supports
this feature (Note: Anycast Zone Based DNS does not require this technology).
Provider
Software Type
UltraDNS
Proprietary
Dyn
Bind
Provider
Software Type
Route 53
djbdns
UltraDNS
Neustar IP Intelligence1
DNS Made Easy
Proprietary (Elite Resolution Platform)
Dyn
Maxmind
easyDNS
Bind
Route 53
NA
DNS Made Easy
NA
easyDNS
NA
1. Both UltraDNS and Neustar IP Intelligence are part of the same parent company, Neustar
2. Cotendo uses a custom patched version of the Maxmind database
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Overview
DNS Features
Health Checks - Failover�� 11
Health Checks - Load Balancing�� 11
Location Routing (Geo IP)�� 12
Zone Routing (Anycast)�� 12
DNSSEC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
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Health Checks Failover
DNS Failover resolves hostnames
PRIMARY
Health Checks Load Balancing
FAILOVER
Like DNS Failover, DNS Load Balancing
based on the availability of target hosts.
monitors the status of DNS hosts.
Hosts are monitored for availability
However, with Load Balancing there are
using ICMP (Internet Control Message
no active and failover hosts — instead,
Protocol) or more advanced methods
all hosts receive evenly (or weighted)
such as verifying that a HTTP server
distributed traffic (weighted traffic
is functioning. If the primary host fails
distribution is an optional capability
health checks, DNS can be automatically
of this feature).
reconfigured to resolve to a backup host;
HOST 1
HOST 3
DNS
DNS
routing is automatically restored to the
HOST 2
primary host when it regains availability.
UltraDNS
Dyn
Route 53
DNS Made
Easy
easyDNS





1
UltraDNS
Dyn
Route 53
DNS Made
Easy
easyDNS





1. Only 15 minute monitoring intervals supported. For Enterprise plan, after 3 failover zones, fee is
$5/zone/month.
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DNS Features
Location Routing (Geo IP)
Zone Routing (Anycast)
Location Based DNS allows a DNS record
Anycast Zone Based DNS is functionally
to resolve differently based on the user’s
similar to Location Based DNS. However,
location (or more specifically, the user’s
the former uses Anycast zones instead of
DNS resolver location). To accomplish this,
Geo IP technology. In practice, this limits
the geographic location is determined
the number of definable location based
using Geo IP technology like Neustar IP
rules definable to the number of provider
DNS
Intelligence or MaxMind. This location is
DNS
Anycast zones. For example, Dyn’s Anycast
then run through custom geographic DNS
Zone Based DNS (GSLB or CDN Manager)
rules. For example, DNS could resolve to a
allows users to define up to 7 rules per
server in Singapore for users in Asia and to
hostname corresponding to each Dyn
a server in the US for all other users.
Anycast zone: US West, US Central, US
East, EU West, EU Central, EU East and
Asia. In this regard, Anycast Zone Based
CALIFORNIA
WASHINGTON
,DC
DNS is more restrictive than Geo Location
Based DNS which may allow users to
define rules based on individual states or
even cities. Additionally, IP Anycast routing
can be problematic in some areas like Asia
resulting in incorrect responses (e.g. an
UltraDNS

Dyn

Route 53

DNS Made
Easy
easyDNS


1
Asia user may be routed to a US DNS server and hence resolve to a US, not Asia rule).
1. Route53 provides a unique DNS routing feature called “Latency Based Routing” wherein users are directed
to an AWS endpoint with the lowest latency (endpoint must be in one of the 7 AWS regions).
UltraDNS
1

Dyn

(7 Regions)
Route 53

DNS Made
Easy
easyDNS


(BETA, 4 Regions)
(4 Regions)
1. Discontinued service in favor of more effective Directional (Location Based) services.
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Features
DNSSEC
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security
Extensions) is a specification for securing
DNS information — DNSSEC was designed
DNS
to protect clients from forged DNS
responses. All responses in DNSSEC are
digitally signed; by checking the digital
signature, a DNS client is able to verify
PROVIDER
or
the information is exactly the same as the
information from the authoritative DNS
USER
server. The DNSSEC standard is backwards
compatible with DNS, clients that do
CLIENT
not support it are not affected adversely.
Although more and more organizations
are now rolling out DNSSEC on their name
servers, the actual number of signed zones
is still very low.
UltraDNS
Dyn
Route 53
DNS Made
Easy
easyDNS
Provider
Managed





User
Managed





Provider or User Managed DNSSEC
Manual generation and management of necessary DNSSEC certificates and digital
signatures can be very complex and cumbersome. Some providers simplify this by
automating these tasks within their management interface.
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Features
Pricing
DNS Query Volume Pricing�� 15
Feature Pricing�� 16
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Pricing (January 2014)
DNS pricing for some vendors is often a black box. While some providers provide public pricing and self sign-up, others require contact and negotiation with sales executives.
In the case of the latter, pricing can flucuate greatly depending on purchase size, negotiating prowness, the time of the quarter, and other extraneous factors.
The pricing matrix below provides a breakdown of estimated costs at various usage levels with each provider. To collect this information, we have independently researched
and contacted vendors that do not disclose pricing publicly.
DNS Query Pricing
Pricing Per Month
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1. $50 SMB plan uses fewer DNS POPs than Enterprise plans (currently 15 of 30 POPs
5. Pre-paid annually
2. List price - discounting possible when purchased in conjunction with add-ons
6. Enterprise Plan
3. Dyn Managed DNS Express - includes 1.2 million queries/month
7. Based on $125/mo corporate membership (includes 50 million queries) plus overages
4. Dyn changes based on 95th percentile queries per second (QPS). Pricing for fixed volumes
in the table is estimated
8. Based on Enterprise plan and published overage rate - discounts may be available
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Pricing
Advanced Feature Pricing (January 2014)
Each provider markets and prices the add-on features in this report slightly differently. In the matrix below, we’ve attempted to provide comparable pricing for each provider and
feature; footnotes are included where applicable.
Pricing Per Month
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1. Query surcharge for latency based routing - only target hosts in AWS data centers are supported. Query pricing
reduces to $0.125/ million queries for volume above 1 billion queries/mo
6. Dyn refers to these features as Traffic Director
2. UltraDNS refers to this feature as Sitebacker. Price is based on 10 million query bundle pricing (25% discount) with
2 monitored target hosts. Each additional target host is $113/mo ($150 without bundle discount) up to 5, then $90
up to 10, then $68
8. Per hostname
3. UltraDNS refers to this feature as Traffic Controller. Price is based on 10 million query bundled pricing
(25% discount) with 3 monitored target hosts. Each additional IP is $188/mo ($250 without bundle discount)
7. Zone Routing included with Load Balancing
9. Must prepay annually - the Business and Corporate plans include 3 and 10 failover hostnames respectively and up
to 5 monitored target hosts using 2-4 minute monitoring intervals
10.Requires $60/yr business plan. $1500/yr Corporate plan includes 1 geo-targeted hostname at no
additional charge
4. Pricing based on 10 million query bundled pricing (25% discount) with up to 5 target hosts. Each additional target
host is $100/mo
5. Per hostname
Summary
There is a lot to consider when comparing managed DNS providers. We’ve included what we believe to be a few relevant, objective and comparable evaluation criteria in this
post and our new DNS report. Organizations should consider the criteria that are most relevant to them when evaluating providers.
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Pricing
DNS Propagation Latency
DNS Propagation Latency�� 18
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Propagation Latency
DNS propagation latency is the amount of time required for a DNS change to be pushed to global provider POPs. Measurements are provided for both primary and secondary
DNS zones (where secondary DNS hosting is supported). The latency measurement provided is a median of measurements from 120 test nodes.
Primary Zone
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Secondary Zone
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Performance Analysis
DNS Performance Analysis
Performance Analysis Overview�� 20
Service Availability�� 20
Synthetic DNS Response Time�� 21
End-user DNS Response Time�� 23
Akamai. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
AWS Route 53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
CloudFlare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
DNS Made Easy�� 28
Dyn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
easyDNS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Ultra DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Performance Analysis Overview
The performance analysis in this report is separated into 3 categories: service availability, synthetic response times, end-user DNS response times; this data is captured utilizing
a combination of the CloudHarmony browser-based DNS test (http://cloudharmony.com/dnstest) and testing conducted using CloudHarmony’s network of 110 globally
deployed monitoring nodes.
Service Availability
The following table provides service availability metrics for the prior month, and year
to date (YTD). The metrics are based on the percentage of successful authoritative
Service
Availability of at
least 1 nameserver
Availability of
all nameservers
(non-recursive) queries made to provider DNS servers. Our network of 110 global
AWS Route 53
100.000
99.6120
monitoring nodes test DNS provider nameservers every 5 minutes using a random
DNS Made Easy
99.9998
99.7173
Ultra DNS
99.9998
99.6952
Dyn
99.9995
99.6471
EasyDNS
99.9991
97.9812
CloudFlare
99.9631
99.1567
Akamai
99.9556
99.0999
Alexa top 1000 site with DNS delegated to those providers. To eliminate false
positives, if during a single test interval a node experiences 2 or more failures with
different providers (indicating a potential network issue with the monitoring node),
that test is aborted and the results discarded.
The tables below provide 2 availability metrics.The first metric represents the
percentage of tests where at least 1 nameserver responded successfully to the
monitoring nodes during each 5 minute check, and the second represents the
same ratio for all nameservers (meaning all provider nameservers responded
successfully). Most DNS clients support retry logic, and hence more emphasis
should be placed on the first metric.
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State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Performance Analysis
Synthetic DNS Response Time
We monitor sythetic DNS response times using a combination of dig (a DNS utility)
each monitoring node. During each test interval, multiple measurements are taken
and our network of 110 global monitoring nodes. The purpose of this testing is
and the median, mean, min, max and standard deviation metrics are captured. The
to measure the amount of time it takes for provider DNS servers to respond to
response times used in the graphs below are derived from the median values and
queries from these nodes. These measurements are taken every 5 minutes from
aggregated into multiple geographic regions.
For DNS Response Time charts:
Outlined in green: Performance has improved since the previous report
Outlined in red: Performance has declined since the previous report
North America: 57 Monitoring Nodes
160
US West
US Central
US East
Canada
Median
Median DNS Lookup (ms)
120
80
40
0
21
Akamai DNS
AWS Route 53
CloudFlare DNS
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Made
Easy
Dyn DNS
Easy DNS
UltraDNS
DNS Performance Analysis
Synthetic DNS Response Time continued
Europe: 28 Monitoring Nodes
120
Western Europe
Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Median
Median DNS Lookup (ms)
90
60
30
0
Akamai DNS
AWS Route 53
CloudFlare DNS
DNS Made
Easy
Dyn DNS
Easy DNS
UltraDNS
Other Regions: 25 Monitoring Nodes
400
Asia/APAC
Oceania
South America
Median
Median DNS Lookup (ms)
300
200
100
0
22
Akamai DNS
AWS Route 53
CloudFlare DNS
DNS Made
Easy
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Dyn DNS
Easy DNS
UltraDNS
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time
To collect end-user DNS response time, we created a browser-based DNS test at:
1 second are discarded. The response times used in the graphs below are derived
http://cloudharmony.com/dnstest. We allow users to run this test for free, and pay
from a 90th percentile of the median values aggregated into multiple geographic
users to run it using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This test is also run using javascript
regions. The purpose of this section is to present DNS performance from an end-
tags on a few high traffic websites. To deploy this test, we delegated DNS for a
user’s perspective. This differs from synthetic response times in that it incorporates
domain with each DNS provider, and configured a wildcard DNS name (A) record
a more holistic, real-world metric that includes both DNS query time and latency
for each. The test alternates downloading a 5 byte javascript file using cached and
between actual users and DNS provider nameservers (including the entire recursive
uncached random hostnames. End-User DNS response time is calculated as the
DNS chain). The end-user response time heatmaps provide global performance
difference between these measurements.
analysis for individual providers. Regions are color coded according to the average
Multiple response time samples are taken during each end user test, and the
median and standard deviation are captured. Outlier response times above
performance in that region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
North America
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
23
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time continued
Europe
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
Other Regions
24
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time Akamai
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
146.68
171.67
386.99
99008
US Central
82.81
108.62
244.09
27908
US East
51.74
100.79
304.39
86145
Canada
79.11
152.77
377.39
373322
Western Europe
45.21
160.77
452.33
74755
Central Europe
65.25
214.06
407.1
66227
Eastern Europe
34.29
55.17
241.79
3187
92.3
138.84
316.21
100957
Asia/APAC
Oceania
133.35
148.12
284.54
41951
South America
307.81
285.02
269.54
2303
25
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time AWS Route 53
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
93.29
142.74
309.37
177540
US Central
110.41
151.58
310.14
71259
US East
41.32
94.14
229.15
173506
Canada
73.87
128.57
289.03
745647
Western Europe
69.36
131.94
329.31
150574
Central Europe
52.77
129.67
262.16
98893
Eastern Europe
109.48
152.47
342.67
12381
Asia/APAC
132.69
179.5
278.57
202307
Oceania
185.99
236.51
253.99
83444
South America
195.32
233.39
241.13
8925
26
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time CloudFlare
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
42.33
101.44
346.48
88439
US Central
42.08
65.42
221.38
35584
US East
23.89
58.99
258.99
86654
Canada
35.94
111.63
332.19
372111
Western Europe
40.59
149.62
367.04
75192
Central Europe
33.61
171.93
386.15
49328
Eastern Europe
60.59
333.27
550.05
6178
Asia/APAC
25.65
111.53
313.96
101095
Oceania
24.32
91.39
189.89
41712
South America
269.79
275.75
206.64
4463
27
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time DNS Made Easy
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
35.82
78.29
291.5
224348
US Central
39.32
55.09
262.71
90218
US East
23.29
40.16
187.91
220056
Canada
33.48
71.28
262.46
944267
Western Europe
37.45
86.56
307.9
190520
Central Europe
34.01
74.45
234.81
125913
Eastern Europe
42.11
71.05
236.14
15428
Asia/APAC
79.76
123.62
228.49
256165
Oceania
26.06
79.14
170.07
105197
South America
258.65
270.45
217.53
11240
28
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time Dyn
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
41.24
94.5
331.34
160999
US Central
44.25
76.75
396.77
64650
US East
28.23
72.71
297.51
156898
Canada
36.66
92.18
338.55
674565
Western Europe
42.7
110.71
362.45
136183
Central Europe
28.2
93.64
334.38
89010
Eastern Europe
44.64
66.98
281.12
11250
Asia/APAC
70.62
114.55
240.52
183043
Oceania
73.03
133.81
231.35
75796
South America
169.84
219.39
363.53
8109
29
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time easyDNS
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
77.96
152.86
434.04
187108
US Central
94.74
163.97
463.62
76416
US East
71.72
147.89
442.97
184361
Canada
87.03
171.23
459.06
790704
Western Europe
80.85
172.68
467.15
159028
Central Europe
112.88
198.82
450.29
104157
Eastern Europe
114.64
315.36
599.49
13226
Asia/APAC
196.17
259.18
381.92
212870
Oceania
242.92
318.01
361.01
88429
South America
324.39
408.96
468.74
9633
30
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
End-User DNS Response Time UltraDNS
This chart provides global performance analysis. Regions are
color coded according to the average performance in that
region. Green indicates faster and red slower DNS response
times for users within those regions.
Region
Median
Mean
Std Dev
Number
of Tests
US West
40.78
76.57
269.57
248754
US Central
43.86
61.04
254.12
98727
US East
26.01
44.27
173.85
241620
Canada
33.15
81.16
278.8
1037655
Western Europe
33.79
110.53
335.52
209283
Central Europe
26.27
116.98
324.26
136207
Eastern Europe
44.37
73.17
237.42
17097
Asia/APAC
142.87
146.12
231.24
281844
Oceania
180.31
157.47
208.2
116371
South America
183.99
219.86
252.24
12532
31
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
This content is available in the Premium Edition available at
http://cloudharmony.com/reports
DNS Performance Analysis
DNS Networks
AWS Route 53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
CloudFlare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
DNS Made Easy�� 36
Dyn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
easyDNS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Ultra DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
32
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
Provider Network Akamai
Akamai
Akamai has not disclosed specific locations of DNS POPs.
Akamai maintains 20 Anycast DNS clusters each with different
POPs and customers are assigned to a subset of these.
533
33
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Networks
Provider Network AWS Route 53
AWS Route 53
AWS Route 53
39 POPs
City
Country
City
Country
Sydney
Australia
Madrid
Spain
São Paulo
Brazil
Stockholm
Sweden
Hong Kong (2)
China
Ashburn, VA (3)
United States
Marseille
France
Atlanta, GA
United States
Paris (2)
France
Dallas, TX (2)
United States
Frankfurt (3)
Germany
Hayward, CA
United States
London (3)
Great Britain
Jacksonville, FL
United States
Chennai
India
Los Angeles, CA (2) United States
Mumbai
India
Miami, FL
United States
Dublin
Ireland
New York, NY (3)
United States
Milan
Italy
Newark, NJ
United States
Osaka
Japan
Palo Alto, CA
United States
Tokyo (2)
Japan
San Jose, CA
United States
Seoul
Korea
Seattle, WA
United States
Amsterdam (2)
Netherlands
South Bend, IN
United States
Warsaw
Poland
St Louis, MO
United States
Singapore (2)
Singapore
34
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
533
DNS Networks
Provider Network CloudFlare
CLOUDFLARE
CloudFlare
25 POPs
City
Country
City
Country
Vienna
Austria
Stockholm
Sweden
Sydney
Australia
Singapore
Singapore
Toronto
Canada
Los Angeles, CA
United States
Valparaiso
Colombia
San Jose, CA
United States
Prague
Czech Republic
Washington, DC
United States
Frankfurt
Germany
Miami, FL
United States
Paris
France
Atlanta, GA
United States
London
England
Chicago, IL
United States
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Newark, NJ
United States
Tokyo
Japan
Dallas, TX
United States
Seoul
South Korea
Ashburn, VA
United States
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Seattle, WA
United States
Warsaw
Poland
533
35
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Networks
Provider Network DNS Made Easy
DNS MADE EASY
DNS Made Easy
12 POPs
City
Country
Sydney
Australia
Frankfurt
Germany
London
Great Britain
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Los Angeles, CA
United States
San Jose, CA
United States
Miami, FL
United States
Chicago, IL
United States
New York, NY
United States
Dallas, TX
United States
Ashburn, VA
United States
Reston, VA
United States
533
36
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
DNS Networks
Provider Network Dyn
DYN
Dyn
18 POPs
City
Country
Sydney
Australia
Sao Paulo
Brazil
Frankfurt
Germany
London
Great Britain
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Mumbai
India
Tokyo
Japan
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Warsaw
Poland
Singapore
Singapore
Los Angeles, CA
United States
Palo Alto, CA
United States
Miami, FL
United States
Chicago, IL
United States
North Bergen, NJ
United States
Dallas, TX
United States
Ashburn, VA
United States
Seattle, WA
United States
37
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
533
DNS Networks
Provider Network EasyDNS
EASY DNS
EasyDNS
17 POPs
City
Country
Sydney
Australia
Paris
France
London
Great Britain
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Japan
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Phoenix, AZ
United States
Los Angeles, CA
United States
Palo Alto, CA
United States
San Francisco, CA
United States
San Jose, CA
United States
Washington, DC
United States
Miami, FL
United States
Chicago, IL
United States
Ashburn, VA
United States
Seattle, WA
United States
Zurich
Switzerland
38
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
533
DNS Networks
Provider Network UltraDNS
Ultra DNS
UltraDNS
30 POPs
City
Country
City
Country
Sydney
Australia
Johannesburg
South Africa
Sao Paulo
Brazil
Madrid
Spain
Toronto
Canada
Taipei
Taiwan
Vancouver
Canada
Phoenix, AZ
United States
Beijing
China
Los Angeles, CA
United States
Bogota
Colombia
San Jose, CA
United States
Paris
France
Denver, CO
United States
Frankfurt
Germany
Miami, FL
United States
London
Great Britain
Atlanta, GA
United States
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Chicago, IL
United States
Mumbai
India
Minneapolis, MN
United States
Dublin
Ireland
New York, NY
United States
Tokyo
Japan
Dallas, TX
United States
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Ashburn, TX
United States
Singapore
Singapore
Seattle, WA
United States
39
State of the Cloud DNS Report © 2014 CloudHarmony Inc.
533
DNS Networks

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