Azure DNS
By Microsoft
Azure DNS is Microsoft Azure's hosting service for DNS domains, allowing organizations to manage DNS records for their domains using Microsoft's global network of name servers alongside their other Azure resources.
Definition
Azure DNS is Microsoft Azure's hosting service for DNS domains, allowing organizations to manage DNS records for their domains using Microsoft's global network of name servers alongside their other Azure resources.
Overview
Azure DNS provides authoritative DNS hosting for domains, letting organizations manage standard record types (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, and others) through the same management plane — Azure Portal, CLI, or ARM templates — used for the rest of their Azure resources. Unlike Azure Active Directory, which manages identity, Azure DNS is purely about resolving domain names to IP addresses or other resources. A notable feature is Azure DNS alias records, which let a DNS record reference an Azure resource (such as an Azure CDN endpoint, Traffic Manager profile, or public IP address) directly, so the DNS record automatically updates if the underlying resource's IP address changes, avoiding a common source of DNS misconfiguration when infrastructure changes. Azure DNS also supports private DNS zones for name resolution within virtual networks, which is useful for internal service discovery that shouldn't be exposed publicly. For global traffic management beyond basic DNS resolution — such as routing based on latency, geography, or endpoint health — Azure DNS is often paired with Azure Traffic Manager, similar to how AWS Route 53 combines DNS hosting with more advanced routing policies in a single service.
Key Features
- Authoritative hosting for public DNS zones and records
- Private DNS zones for name resolution within Azure virtual networks
- Alias records that automatically track changes to referenced Azure resources
- Management through Azure Portal, CLI, PowerShell, or ARM templates
- High availability backed by Microsoft's global anycast name server network
- Integration with Azure Traffic Manager for advanced routing scenarios
- Role-based access control via Azure IAM for managing DNS zones
- Support for standard record types including A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and TXT