Use cases

Organizations managing multiple domains need to configure nameservers and nameserver sets in a consistent, reliable, and scalable way. This use case enables DNS infrastructure teams to define, manage, and enforce nameserver configurations across domains through the use of reusable nameserver sets. It supports the creation, customization, and governance of nameserver defaults to align with architectural and compliance standards.

Managing DNS configurations at scale requires the consistent assignment of infrastructure components across domains. DigiCert®​​ DNS enables the dynamic and centralized configuration of nameservers and nameserver sets by eliminating inefficiencies, reducing misconfiguration risk, and improving security consistency across domains. DNS teams can define and manage reusable, governed nameserver structures to support automation, compliance, and operational scale.

This use case focuses on implementing DNS security controls that protect infrastructure and data while meeting regulatory and internal compliance standards. Key measures include authenticating DNS updates, controlling API access through managed credentials, logging DNS activity, and aligning operational policies with recognized security frameworks.

DNS is a high-value attack vector. Misconfigured or unprotected DNS services can lead to data breaches, domain hijacking, DDoS amplification, cache poisoning, and regulatory penalties. Many compliance frameworks also require that DNS activity be securely logged, monitored, and protected against unauthorized access. DigiCert®​​ DNS’s robust access controls - including API key management, token-based authentication, and TSIG enforcement - help organizations prevent credential misuse, configuration drift, and unauthorized changes, while maintaining visibility and alignment with security and compliance standards.

This use case covers the full lifecycle of domain management, including the registration, configuration, and ongoing maintenance of domain names and their associated DNS zones. It encompasses primary and secondary domain settings and enables domain-level redundancy, customization, and visibility.

A properly configured domain is crucial for ensuring that services are accessible over the internet. Mistakes in setup or delegation can lead to broken applications, lost web traffic and revenue, user dissatisfaction, and increased vulnerability to spoofing or hijacking. As organizations grow, managing domain configurations manually can become error-prone and inefficient. Organizations can ensure availability, consistency, and operational transparency by automating and centralizing domain configurations through DigiCert®​​ DNS. This approach also helps proactively identify risks and reduce troubleshooting time.

This use case addresses DNS service management in multi-tenant environments, where domains, record sets, users, roles, groups, and permissions coexist on a shared platform. Multi-tenant resource management requires centralized yet segmented resource provisioning and administration, isolated configurability, fine-grained access controls, and clearly defined operational boundaries that ensure security and maintain organizational autonomy.

Effective multi-tenancy ensures isolation, security, and operational efficiency. As organizations scale, the need for managed DNS offerings that maintain strict separation of tenant data becomes critical. Organizations risk unauthorized access between tenants, increased operational overhead, and potential compliance violations without proper multi-tenancy. DigiCert®​​ DNS simplifies multi-tenant resource management by enabling seamless user onboarding, granular tenant control, and centralized operations without compromising security or governance.

This use case addresses creating, updating, retrieving, and deleting DNS records that define how domain names map to various network services. It spans primary and secondary domains and ensures all records are correctly maintained across the DNS infrastructure.

DNS record accuracy is critical to service reliability, as incorrect or outdated records can disrupt core functions such as web hosting, email delivery, and security validation. As environments become more dynamic - with microservices, automated infrastructure, and cloud platforms - DigiCert®​​ DNS helps organizations reduce risk and increase operational agility by supporting agile deployments, smooth service migrations and rollbacks, and robust security and compliance efforts, while offering deep visibility into DNS configurations.

This use case focuses on enforcing fine-grained access control within DNS management by assigning roles and permissions to specific users or groups. With role-based access control (RBAC), administrators can tailor access based on job function, responsibility, or organizational structure. RBAC is especially vital in distributed teams, regulated industries, and multi-tenant or large-scale environments where different users interact with separate areas of the DNS infrastructure.

As DNS environments scale in complexity, controlling who can make critical changes becomes essential. RBAC enforces the principle of least privilege (PoLP), minimizing the risk of misconfiguration, unauthorized activity, and compliance issues. DigiCert®​​ DNS’s RBAC capabilities help organizations prevent unauthorized or accidental changes, meet regulatory requirements, and maintain a clear audit trail. By leveraging these controls, teams can reduce outages, improve security posture, ensure accountability, and streamline internal and external audits.

This use case centers around usage statistics reporting and activity log analysis for DNS environments, enabling comprehensive insight into domain performance, billing, and accounting. Organizations use this data to verify DNS changes, monitor service demand, detect anomalies, and support compliance and financial oversight through centralized yet segmented reporting and robust log management.

DNS performance is critical to the availability of nearly all digital services, making detailed usage statistics essential for maintaining high availability, understanding traffic patterns, and ensuring that DNS changes propagate as expected. DigiCert®​​ DNS's comprehensive usage reporting provides valuable insights into service demand, helps identify abnormal usage trends, supports data-driven troubleshooting and performance optimization, and verifies DNS change propagation and behavior. Additionally, DigiCert®​​ DNS’s log retention and analysis capabilities are key to audit readiness, compliance reporting, and forensic investigations.

This use case focuses on securely replicating DNS zone data between authoritative servers by managing zone transfers. It includes the configuration of primary and secondary IP sets, allowing precise control over which systems can send and receive zone data. Zone transfer management ensures that DNS data is consistently and securely propagated across environments, supporting both redundancy and operational efficiency.

Reliable zone transfers are essential for maintaining consistent DNS records across multiple servers or locations. By managing zone transfers through DigiCert®​​ DNS, organizations can ensure data integrity, enforce transfer permissions, and reduce the risk of misconfigurations or unauthorized access. This results in improved DNS reliability, simplified replication processes, and better control over distributed DNS infrastructure.