Using DNS to Achieve 2025 Sustainability Goals

Charlie Sprankling, a worldwide technical sales architect at IBM Network Automation, outlines approaches that minimize energy use

Every connective-based interaction on any device requires a domain name system (DNS) action—the unsung hero of our technology generation.

Most people think of DNS as the phonebook of the internet because it links IP addresses to a business webpage, application or file. Essentially, when we want an app or a website to appear, DNS is pointing to the IP address of the network.

However, with a hybrid cloud-by-design infrastructure, businesses can start losing visibility and control of the energy consumption of their technology due to the complexity of today’s networks.

The Shift Project, a think tank addressing climate change, reports that emissions from cloud computing are anywhere from 2.5-3.7% of global greenhouse emissions—bigger than commercial aviation. In order to achieve the company’s sustainability goals, this technology resource usage needs to be optimized, starting with DNS. But how?

Moving From Traditional to Modern DNS Practices

Most companies bring their DNS in-house to manage, since at a basic level, it’s simple enough to let run on its own—an “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.

The problem with this is that traditional DNS network layouts have energy-gobbling physical servers and appliances that utilize a ton of power for things like cooling, operation and manual efforts for maintenance and scaling. Due to the natural growth of our world’s infrastructure and way we operate, DNS needs to be resilient enough to deliver guaranteed uptime with incredible performance no matter where users are in the world—even during security threats like DDOS attacks.

Despite all of this, an easy solution is taking most, if not all, the DNS infrastructure to a cloud-based managed service to eliminate a lot of the manual inventions and physical energy consumption mentioned above.

Traffic Steering Carbon Away One DNS Query at a Time

Data doesn’t exist in isolation. It travels across networks that span the globe. Very much like the traveling we do for fun, the data transit consumes energy even if it’s just one DNS query.

Imagine if the destination was Paris leaving from New York. If the plane made stops in Canada, Iceland, London and Germany before making it to Paris, we’d say that route wasn’t optimized. The same thing can exist for DNS queries. Without intelligent routing services, those plane (DNS) hops can multiply up to a big number.

DNS queries can be most efficient when they are paired with Real User Monitoring (RUM) data from the Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) that help DNS queries route quickly. RUM data is near-live data that’s being recorded from users interacting with cloud providers and servers.

To ensure DNS queries are consuming energy efficiently, a few more helpful tips include:

• Optimizing data paths: directing queries to the nearest and/or least impacted servers will minimize the travel distance for each query. Also think about what CDN or cloud provider already has sustainable practices. Setting up specific rules to finely balance performance and availability will lead to better energy-efficient policies.
• Reducing energy and latency: From the start, make sure the routing is set up correctly. The DNS traffic steering configuration will lead to less energy usage and faster response times.
• Balance workloads: Our world operates best in real-time. DNS traffic is no different. There are ways to throttle traffic in some premium DNS providers and utilize RUM-based steering to provide the best connection point at any given time.

Use Analytics for Proactive Sustainability

One of the most foundational parts about sustainability is visibility and observability. If you actually know what’s happening and at what levels, you can understand how to improve.

DNS queries are filled with data as each user does a DNS lookup—the first step for anyone accessing an application or website on the internet. Most providers lack crucial DNS data, but premium providers have some functionalities to drive towards a more sustainable posture:

• Monitoring traffic patterns: Optimizing opportunities that reduce energy usage like TTL values for DNS records can go a long way. If you can’t see what’s going on with your queries, you can’t optimize.
• Security integrations: Between security data and DNS insights, network teams will be able to proactively address threats like DDOS attacks and get alerted to minimize business disruption.
• Forecasting and adapting: Query metrics can help anticipate demand and peak periods, making it much easier to optimize resources to prevent over-provisioning. For example, if there’s less traffic in the night, reduce the DNS answers handed out for an application and scale down servers.

Every DNS Query Counts

There are trillions of DNS queries that get processed every day from DNS and cloud hosting providers. Imagine taking a few steps toward using DNS as a lever in a company’s sustainability journey. Through thoughtful strategies, tips like those shared here and the right tools and provider, businesses can take actions that help reduce their carbon footprint to help achieve their 2025 sustainability goals.

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