Centrally Manage Your Windows® DNS/DHCP Servers with Proteus
BlueCat Networks’ elegant integration solution leverages existing customer investments in Windows® technology to provide a centralized management platform for IP addresses and DNS/DHCP services. The Proteus management layer provides visibility to any number of servers from a single, centralized view, delivering enterprise-class audit, tagging, and delegated access control to Windows DNS/DHCP servers in support of highly available networks.
Delivering Enterprise Intelligence to Windows DNS/DHCP Servers
You can integrate Proteus into your Windows network with minimal effort. After installing the ‘Proteus Management Agent (PMA) for Windows on a member server in a Windows Domain, you can then configure it to manage up to 20 Windows DNS or DHCP servers remotely, without the need to install software on systems running core network services.
Using this approach, administrators can either control the configuration of their Windows DNS and DHCP servers, or choose to run the PMA in Read-Only mode to collect and log all information and actions carried out in their environment.
After you have configured the PMA with target Windows DNS and DHCP servers, the data is imported into the Proteus appliance, mapping and cataloging your entire DNS and DHCP environment into the IPAM database.
Proteus and the PMA are non-disruptive technologies that integrate seamlessly into existing Windows DNS and DHCP infrastructures. Proteus complements Microsoft DNS and DHCP services by providing a centralized platform for DNS and DHCP service administration. Windows administrators benefit from greater visibility to all servers, sophisticated management tools, improved control, and enhanced service continuity. With Proteus, organizations extend the useful life of their Windows DNS and DHCP servers.
Benefits of the Proteus Platform
Centralized Management
You can view all of Windows DNS and DHCP data in Proteus regardless of which server holds the data. Being able to view and manage everything from a centralized view saves you time as you no longer need to navigate between separate server instances or between DNS and DHCP tools. A single IP-centric management interface saves you time and provides a more efficient management experience.
Integration of DNS and DHCP
Today’s devices are not just acquiring IP addresses dynamically; they are also registering DNS hostnames dynamically. Dynamic DNS (DDNS) removes the need to manually assign hostnames and eases the burden of DNS administration. As a result, DNS and DHCP services are now so closely intertwined that consolidated management of both is essential. The Proteus interface shows you an IP-centric view of each device including its DHCP lease information and MAC address as well as its dynamically updated DNS host record.
Auditing
Proteus includes full transaction auditing to provide real-time and historical data allowing you to answer the following essential questions:
- What action was performed?
- Who performed the action?
- When did the action occur?
- From which IP address did the action originate?
The ability to track user transactions allows you to comply with external regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability Accounting Act (HIPAA) and Sorbanes Oxley (SOX).
DHCP Alerts
DHCP alerts warns an administrator when a DHCP scope is either approaching capacity or if it being under-utilized. For example, an administrator can the system to send an email or SNMP message when a scope is at 85% capacity. In this way, the administrator can take action before a problem occurs.
Reports
Proteus includes several DNS and DHCP reports that summarize current DNS and DHCP data as well as changes to configuration. As well, the reports are customizable allowing you to modify them to present information in accordance with internal and external requirements. Report formats include PDF, HTML, CSV, and XLS.
Fine-grained Access Control
Role based administration allows you to define granular permissions throughout the system allowing you to distribute administrative workload and restrict access to those people who need it.
Workflow
Proteus includes a fully integrated native workflow system in which junior administrators’ changes must be approved before being implemented on the system, ensuring that accountability remains with those in charge.
Hierarchical Administration Model
The Proteus model of administration lets you assign access rights to users, regardless of their physical location, allowing you to distribute the administrative workload. In addition, large numbers of administrators can access the system concurrently making changes to those parts of the DNS and DHCP infrastructure for which they are responsible.
Scheduled and On-Demand Deployments* (managed mode only)
Proteus employs a separation of services model which keeps the management layer separate from the services layer. DNS and DHCP is configured and managed on Proteus and then deployed to the Windows servers. Depending on organizational needs, you can deploy changes on demand, or schedule deployments to occur at lower-peak hours when it makes more sense.
Data Check tools* (managed mode only)
Proteus includes several tools to ensure that your data is ‘clean’ as it enters the system. For example, as you enter new data into the system, it is validated for syntactical or logical errors. You can also schedule Proteus’ data checker to examine DNS and DHCP data for best practices and configuration errors. Our layered approach to validation helps to prevent those 3 am phone calls informing you that the system is down.
Discovery and IP Reconciliation
From Proteus, you can run the network discovery tool to find newly added IP-enabled devices across geographically-dispersed networks. After the discovery has finished, the IP Reconciliation component compares newly discovered addresses identifying unused IP addresses for reclamation and helps uncover unauthorized IP addresses (which can represent security vulnerabilities).
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