F5 Distributed Cloud DNS Load Balancer
Managed DNS providers software
Load balancing software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is F5 Distributed Cloud DNS Load Balancer
F5 Distributed Cloud DNS Load Balancer is a DNS-based global load balancing service that routes users to application endpoints based on policy, health, and location signals. It is used by network and platform teams to improve application availability and steer traffic across multiple regions, clouds, or data centers. The service is delivered as part of F5 Distributed Cloud and integrates DNS resolution with health checks and traffic steering controls.
Global traffic steering via DNS
The product supports DNS-based routing to distribute traffic across multiple endpoints and regions. It is suited for multi-region and multi-cloud architectures where clients must be directed to the closest or healthiest site. DNS-level steering also provides a simple way to influence traffic without requiring changes to application code.
Health checks and failover
It uses health monitoring to influence DNS responses and shift traffic away from unhealthy endpoints. This supports active/active or active/passive designs for disaster recovery and high availability. DNS-based failover can reduce dependency on a single load balancer or single region for entry traffic.
Part of broader F5 platform
The DNS load balancing capability is positioned within the F5 Distributed Cloud services portfolio, which can simplify procurement and operations for teams already using F5 for application delivery and security. Centralized policy and management can reduce the number of separate tools needed for traffic management. This can be useful when DNS steering must align with broader edge, security, or connectivity controls.
DNS caching limits control
Because routing decisions occur through DNS responses, client and resolver caching can delay traffic shifts during incidents. Low TTLs can help but may increase query volume and do not eliminate caching behavior outside your control. This makes DNS load balancing less deterministic than in-path load balancing for rapid cutovers.
Not a full DNS registrar
The product focuses on DNS-based load balancing and traffic steering rather than end-to-end domain registration and registrar services. Organizations may still need separate tooling for domain purchase, registrar management, and certain DNS administration workflows. This can add operational overhead compared with providers that bundle registrar and managed DNS tightly.
Platform complexity and cost
Adopting the service typically involves learning the F5 Distributed Cloud console, concepts, and policy model. For smaller environments, this can be more complex than basic managed DNS with simple failover features. Total cost can also be higher when the organization only needs straightforward DNS hosting and minimal traffic steering.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Mixed — primarily pay-as-you-go (metered) with optional Term Subscriptions and a Flexible Consumption Program (multi-year committed purchasing).
Free tier/trial: Free plan exists (Free/Individual/Team/org plans with default quotas). Free/time-limited trials are offered (product pages and demos provide "Request a free trial" / "Request a Free Enterprise Trial" and some Distributed Cloud services advertise trial periods).
Metered/usage items (documented on official F5 site — billing & docs):
- DNS Zones — quota example: 250 zones per month (metered per zone). (Docs: Billing FAQs / Default Quota Reference).
- DNS Load Balancer Records — quota example: 50 records per month (metered per record).
- DNS Load Balancer Health Checks — quota example: 200 health checks per month (billed per health check; health checks reused across pools billed accordingly). (Docs: Billing FAQs; DNS Health Check and Associated Billing).
- Globally Distributed Load Balancer — counted as Load Balancer (1 Load Balancer per month = 1 Application); minimums: per-load‑balancer metering and a minimum quantity requirement in addition to base (Billing FAQs).
- Other related metered units called out in billing docs (for context): API Protection requests, WAF requests, DDoS IP prefixes, client-side transactions, synthetic monitoring executions — billed per-unit as listed in Billing FAQs.
Purchase/consumption options (official):
- Pay-as-you-go via cloud marketplaces (e.g., AWS Marketplace PAYG availability announced by F5). (F5 blog: Pay As You Go with F5 Distributed Cloud Services on AWS Marketplace).
- Term Subscription (1/2/3 year terms) via partners/partners' private offers (official docs describe term subscription purchasing and billing; minimum 1-year term).
- Flexible Consumption Program (FCP-B) — multi‑year (minimum 3 years) committed spending program with minimum annual commitment; provides preferred pricing and premium support (official docs).
Notes / Key official statements from vendor site:
- Official F5 product pages and knowledge-base/docs describe metering units, default quotas, and purchasing models but do not publish dollar prices for the DNS Load Balancer service on the public site; customers are directed to Contact Sales / partner or the marketplace for PAYG consumption. (Product pages, Billing FAQs, Purchase docs)
- Some minimum quantity rules (for metering) are listed (for example: per-load-balancer minimums, per-request minima for certain services) but no public per-unit $ rates are published on F5-owned pages.
Example costs: Not listed on official F5 product or documentation pages (no USD amounts published on f5.com or docs.cloud.f5.com for DNS Load Balancer).
Discount options: Term subscriptions, Flexible Consumption Program (multi-year commit/volume discounts) and Private Offer via partners are documented as the channels for discounted/preferred pricing.
Where to get a price: Official site directs customers to Contact Sales, request a trial, or use cloud marketplace PAYG channels for usage-based billing information.
Seller details
F5, Inc.
Seattle, Washington, USA
1996
Public
https://www.f5.com/
https://x.com/f5
https://www.linkedin.com/company/f5/
