EfficientIP Multi-Vendor Overlay Management for DNS and DHCP

DNS and DHCP rarely live in one place anymore. A typical enterprise runs Microsoft DNS on-prem, DNS records scattered across AWS, Azure, and now Google Cloud, while DHCP creeps out to edge devices as SD-WAN spreads. Neither protocol is contained to one platform, one console, or one team anymore, and neither has a shared record of who changed what. That’s not a DNS problem or a DHCP problem specifically, it’s a governance problem, and it applies to both equally. EfficientIP’s answer is multi-vendor overlay management: one control layer, built into SOLIDserver, that sits across whatever DNS and DHCP infrastructure you already run.

What is Multi-Vendor Overlay Management?

Overlay management means SOLIDserver sits as a control layer over your existing DNS and DHCP infrastructure rather than replacing it. You keep Microsoft DNS, your cloud DNS services, your Fortinet DHCP at the edge, whatever is already running, and SOLIDserver governs it centrally.

That fragmentation isn’t a minor annoyance, it’s become the default operating condition for most networks, with DNS split across providers and DHCP pushed further from central control every year. EMA’s DDI Directions report backs that up directly: 97% of respondents said it’s important their IPAM tool provides overlay management of third-party DNS and DHCP services, and 67.5% specifically need full DNS overlay management. Teams aren’t asking whether to solve this, they’re asking how.

The alternative overlay management avoids is ripping out working infrastructure, or managing each platform by hand and hoping the spreadsheet stays current. This is where a DDI (DNS, DHCP, IPAM) platform earns its keep, applying one governance model to DNS and DHCP instead of two separate headaches.

How SOLIDserver Overlay Management Works

Here’s how it looks in practice, using DNS Cloud and the Multi-Vendor Service Management (MVSM) module for Microsoft DNS as shown in EfficientIP’s recent overlay management demo. 

Read-Only Mode: Centralized Visibility Without Write Control

Existing Microsoft DNS servers get linked into SOLIDserver for visibility and synchronization, without handing SOLIDserver write access. 

In the demo, an admin creates a record directly on Microsoft DNS. 

Once created, SOLIDserver synchronizes and imports it, making the record visible centrally. 

It’s a safe onboarding path for teams that aren’t ready to centralize write control on day one. MVSM uses the same read-only pattern to link an existing DHCP platform, such as Fortinet, without taking over write control immediately. 

Active Mode: SOLIDserver as the Control Point

Here SOLIDserver becomes the source of truth. 

From the SOLIDserver management interface, a new record, gets created once, pulled from the IP address plan, and pushed out automatically.

In the same workflow, an alias gets created, automatically generating the corresponding CNAME record. The screenshot below shows both the A and CNAME records.

From a single validated change, both the A and CNAME records are automatically propagated and appear identically on Microsoft DNS and Amazon Route 53, the two external platforms in the overlay.

One controlled change, synchronized everywhere, tied back to the IP address plan, so there’s no orphaned record and no conflict in IP address assignm. The same active mode principle is what lets MVSM push and enforce DHCP scope configuration across Fortinet, Microsoft, and Linux from one place. 

One Overlay Management Model for DNS and DHCP

On the DNS side, DNS Cloud extends this overlay model to AWS Route 53, Azure DNS, and now Google Cloud DNS, governed identically to on-prem open source DNS, Microsoft DNS, and SOLIDserver DNS, through MVSM.

On the DHCP side, MVSM applies the same overlay pattern across Fortinet, Microsoft, and Linux, bringing platforms like network-edge DHCP under the same governance instead of a separate workflow.

Complementing DNS Cloud, MVSM extends the multi-vendor overlay model to on-premises Microsoft and Linux/Open Source environments across both DNS and DHCP services.

Same modes, same audit trail, same Universal Connector underneath. Different protocol, one model of multi-vendor overlay management.

How the Universal Connector Supports Overlay Management

The Universal Connector is the integration layer built natively into SOLIDserver. It is the same connector logic underneath DNS Cloud and MVSM alike and what makes overlay management possible. It breaks down into three functions:

• Manage is what covers DNS and DHCP overlay specifically, standardizing how SOLIDserver connects to third-party infrastructure without custom development per vendor. 
• Discover automates detection of new virtual environments and network assets as they appear, so overlay coverage doesn’t depend on someone manually adding every new platform. 
• Govern ties it together by updating IPAM or flagging drifts with every discovery and management action, keeping the Network Source of Truth (NSoT) continuously aligned as environments change. 

Operational Benefits of Unified DNS and DHCP Management

• One control plane for DNS and DHCP, instead of a separate console per protocol per vendor
• Safe, incremental onboarding of third-party or legacy infrastructure through read-only mode
• Records and leases tied back to the IP address plan, reducing conflicts on both protocols
• One consistent audit trail across on-prem, cloud, and edge, regardless of protocol

Watch SOLIDserver Overlay Management in Action

Everything above is exactly what was demonstrated in EfficientIP’s recent overlay management demo. It walks through both modes live, with DNS records created once in SOLIDserver and pushed across Microsoft DNS and Route 53 in real time. The demo itself covers DNS through DNS Cloud, not DHCP, but the same overlay principle applies directly to MVSM: read-only onboarding and active mode control, just on DHCP scopes across Fortinet, Microsoft, and Linux instead of DNS records.