Introducing DNS Insights in the NS1 Connect Portal
DNS Insights has long been a powerful add-on for NS1 Connect customers, giving network and security teams visibility into DNS activity to uncover anomalies, diagnose issues and better understand traffic patterns. Until now, customers accessed DNS Insights data via Prometheus or Open Telemetry (OTLP) metrics sent to a customer managed time series database.
DNS Insights is now available directly within the NS1 Connect portal – making it easier than ever to access actionable DNS intelligence through a native, streamlined experience. By bringing DNS Insights into the portal, organizations can operationalize DNS observability faster, without relying on external dashboarding platforms, custom integrations or additional tooling expertise.
What is DNS Insights?
DNS Insights is an advanced analytics and observability capability that transforms raw DNS query data into actionable intelligence. It captures targeted DNS telemetry and presents it through intuitive dashboards designed to help teams quickly identify operational or security concerns.
While NS1 Connect includes standard reporting and traffic visibility, DNS Insights provides deeper observability with granular telemetry and advanced operational analytics.
The portal experience provides:
- Pre-configured dashboards with charts, graphs and tables for quick analysis
- Real-time and historical DNS traffic visibility
- Detailed metrics such as top domains, source IPs, geographies and ASNs
- Resolver and query analysis
- Actionable telemetry without the need to manage large volumes of raw DNS logs.
Dashboards are organized to support different analysis needs:
- Overview – traffic trends, query volume and overall DNS health
- Requester insights – breakdowns by IP, ASN, geography and PoP
- Threat analysis – identification of unusual query behavior and potential risks.
DNS Insights enables teams to move beyond simply monitoring DNS traffic to proactively understanding and investigating what is happening across their network infrastructure.
Why it Matters
DNS is one of the most critical layers of modern infrastructure and often one of the earliest indicators when something goes wrong.
Unexpected spikes in DNS traffic, unusual resolver activity or increases in error responses can signal:
- DNS misconfigurations and feedback loops
- Application connectivity issues
- Security threats or reconnaissance activity
- DDoS attacks
- Infrastructure performance issues.
DNS Insights helps teams proactively identify and investigate these events before they impact customers, services or applications.
With DNS Insights now integrated into the portal, customers benefit from:
Faster time to value – no external dashboard setup or time-series database configuration required.
Improved operational visibility – teams can immediately visualize DNS behavior and traffic patterns in real time.
Simplified troubleshooting – built-in analytics help isolate anomalies, error spikes, error responses and suspicious activity faster.
Better security posture – DNS telemetry can help detect penetration testing activity, DDoS attacks and exposed internal infrastructure.
Smarter infrastructure decisions – traffic distribution insights help organizations understand where users originate and optimize infrastructure placement accordingly.
How to Use DNS Insights
DNS Insights is available as an add-on for customers with the Premium package.
Getting started is simple:
1. Access DNS Insights directly within the NS1 Connect portal
2. Explore pre-configured dashboards for DNS traffic and anomaly visibility
3. Filter and investigate traffic by domains, regions, resolvers or ASNs
4. Identify unusual traffic patterns, spikes or errors in real time
5. Take action to optimize performance, improve reliability and strengthen security.
If you would like to enable DNS Insights or see it in action, contact your IBM representative or fill out this form now
Bringing DNS Intelligence to Everyone
The release of DNS Insights directly within the NS1 Connect portal means that customers can now access powerful DNS analytics through a streamlined, native experience that delivers faster operational insights and improve visibility across their DNS infrastructures.
For Premium customers, DNS Insights transforms DNS telemetry into actionable intelligence – helping teams improve reliability, strengthen security and optimize user experience.
Get Started
DNS Insights is available as an add-on for Premium NS1 Connect customers.
To learn more or request access, fill out this form or contact your IBM representative.
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