DNS vs Dynamic DNS vs Anycast DNS

Learn the differences between standard, dynamic, and Anycast DNS, and how Medianova implements Anycast routing for high availability and low-latency resolution.

While all three terms involve domain name resolution, they operate at distinct layers of the DNS ecosystem. Understanding these differences is essential for designing resilient, globally distributed, and latency-optimized architectures. Within Medianova’s DNS platform, standard authoritative DNS manages domain-to-resource mappings, while Anycast DNS provides geographically distributed resolution for speed and redundancy.

Standard (Authoritative) DNS

Purpose: Maps domain names to static resource records such as IP addresses, MX endpoints, or CNAME targets. Authoritative DNS acts as the single source of truth for each zone.

Characteristics:

• Deterministic lookups based on record type (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, etc.)

• Configurable TTL determines caching duration

• Managed through the Medianova Control Panel or API

• Suitable for stable, production environments

Medianova Context: Medianova provides authoritative DNS zones for each CDN Resource and Redirect domain, ensuring consistent propagation and versioned configuration control.

Dynamic DNS (DDNS)

Purpose: Automatically updates DNS records when an endpoint’s IP address changes — common in residential or small-scale deployments.

Characteristics:

• Client agents detect IP changes and push updates to DNS servers

• Records use low TTL values for rapid refresh

• Suitable for IoT, VPNs, or home networks

Medianova Context: Dynamic DNS is not typically required in Medianova’s enterprise CDN infrastructure, where IPs are stable and traffic routing is handled at the CDN and Anycast layers. However, it may be useful for internal monitoring or temporary staging zones that rely on dynamic endpoints.

Limitations:

• Not designed for production CDN workloads

• No guarantee of global propagation consistency

• Dependent on third-party DDNS clients

Anycast DNS

Purpose: Anycast is a network-level routing strategy used to distribute DNS resolution across multiple geographic nodes that share the same IP address. BGP automatically directs the resolver to the node with the most optimal network path, not necessarily the physically nearest one.

Characteristics:

• Same IP address announced from multiple data centers

• Network-proximity routing for lower lookup latency

• Seamless failover during regional or network-level outages

• High resilience against volumetric attacks (DDoS mitigation)

Medianova Context: Medianova operates Anycast authoritative nameservers (ns1.medianova.com, ns2.medianova.com) to ensure:

• Low-latency query responses across global regions

• Automatic route failover in case of node or path degradation

• Consistent propagation of DNS zone updates

Anycast is the backbone of Medianova DNS reliability, enabling faster resolution for CDN, Redirect, and CNAME requests.

Comparison Summary

Feature	Standard / Authoritative DNS	Dynamic DNS	Anycast DNS
Purpose	Map static domains to records	Auto-update changing endpoints	Distribute resolver traffic globally
Update Method	Manual or API	Client-triggered	Network-level (BGP)
Primary Use Case	Websites, CDN resources, mail servers	Remote access, IoT	Global, low-latency DNS
Caching Policy	TTL-based	Very low TTL	TTL-based with regional caching
Reliability Scope	Depends on single authoritative zone	Limited to single endpoint	Multi-node redundancy
Medianova Implementation	Core DNS management system	Optional for dynamic staging	Active Anycast DNS backbone

When to Use Each Type

Scenario	Recommended Approach	Medianova Feature
Stable production domains	Authoritative DNS	CDN Resource zone management
Changing IP endpoints	Dynamic DNS	External DDNS (if required)
Global high-availability resolution	Anycast DNS	Medianova Anycast Nameservers